I first started questioning this when I found out, several years ago, about individuals who were intersex (old term "hermaphroditic") from birth. As in, some people are born with mixed genitalia and/or sexual organs from both genders. It is often difficult to identify what gender that intersex children belong to, so many are assigned a gender, usually female (it's probably easier to explain if there is any sort of a vaginal opening or onset of female puberty later on). Perhaps not everyone belongs to the two traditional genders, male and female.
I came across a group on Facebook that wants Facebook to provide more than just "male" and "female" as its choices for gender in its profile description. This group wants Transgender, both male-female and female to male, to be included. I agree, partially. As a run-of-the-mill straightie, I always thought that transgendered individuals considered themselves members of the gender that they joined later on in life. A small qualm that I have with this group is that it includes Queen and King in its list of prospective genders, in addition to Androgynous. Queen and King sound more like titles than genders. Androgynous, I don't know...everyone, I assume, has either the organs or the chromosomes to define which gender one belongs to. I think that these are somewhat fair criteria, because one's organs can be changed to suit one's preferred gender.
Nevertheless, I wish this group luck, because I see no harm in making it known that one is transgendered if one so desires.
I think most hermaphrodic people are mostly one gender or another (like a male with ovaries, or a female with testes inside of her body). I don't really know how it works, anatomically, but I think it's pretty rare. I'm also not sure what their chromosomal composition would be. As for transgendered people, I don't know if that really counts as another gender, because it depends on how we define it. I normally think anatomically/ genetically, which still leaves some obscurity, like with hermaphrodites as you pointed out, and I know there are some rare diseases where people have chromosomal make ups like X or XXY (although they do still have clear genders)
Being intersexed is more than just ambiguous genitalia. Intersex is a condition that is currently considered chromosomal and hormonal. Phenotypical sex is usually how we are all designated at birth. Phenotype is just one of those fancy medical terms that can be explained in very simple language and it simply means, looks like. ie a boy is usually pronounced a boy because his genitals look like a penis and scrotum, or in medical terms his phenotype is male.
Transsexuals are rapidly becoming accepted in medical terms as being intersexed, even though there is rarely any variance in the chromosomes and phenotype. More and more doctors are beginning to understand that a persons sex should not be determined by their phenotype and that there is a lot more factors in play.
It is for this reason I think that officially there should be three sexes available for official use, M, F and X. M and F are obvious, but an X is something more ambiguous that would fit most other groupings. I like X because it is non-specific and not degrading to an individual. You don't understand how frustrating it is to turn up to get my passport and have a big M placed on it even though I present and live as a female.
Here are some things you should look up if you wish to understand intersexed conditions better:
- Skoptic Syndrome
- Disorders of Sex Development (also known as “DSD”)
- Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
- Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome
- Klinefelter’s Syndrome (also known as XXY Syndrome)
- Swyer Syndrome (also known as XY Gonadal Dysgenesis)
Cathii
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Those who know everything have learned little from life.
That's a great idea!
~Violinstef
"King" & "queen" refer to :"drag king" & "drag queen". Generally, this refers to people who perform gender on stage. Those that do see this as their identity, just as you or I see our gender (or others) as male or female or others do as transgender, transsexual, gender bender, genderqueer, etc.
My view of gender has been growing (as is the gender world itself). People described it to me as a binary system (one or the other), linear, or a spectrum. It felt like my mind couldn't fully wrap around it until I got a visual. I share it here so it might help you. No, it doesn't involve crashing a bathroom. *lol*
On a night that is clear (preferably in a rural area), lie on your back and look at the sky. See all the stars. Each one is a different distance from each other...some further, some closer, some bigger, some smaller, some more to the right or left & some so far out there you can't even see them. Then think of each one of these stars -- so many they are without number -- as each individual's expression of their gender, whatever that might be. Of all the 6 + billion people in the world, no two express their gender the same way. There is no one right way to be a man or woman. There is currently no across the board way to define man or woman -- genitals, chromosomes, secondary sex characteristics -- none of them are foolproof.
The notion of gender as either/or, male/female is an outdated notion. Variance is a normal part of life...just ask Darwin. This occurs in the animal kingdom & we are a part of that kingdom. That polarized binary is now impeding individual's rights because others are trying to force them to fit in boxes that we now have the knowledge to know are insufficient to encompass all of human experience or natural diversity.
P.S. Those who identify as Intersexed have told me that the term "hermaphrodite" is no longer considered politically correct & can be seen as offensive, especially if used by someone who is not.
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"Freedom is an expensive thing." ~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
the point I was trying to get across. I think there should be more than two official genders. And I hope that my use of "hermaphrodite" wasn't rude, I was noting it as an antiquated term.
~Violinstef
I travel the United States speaking, writing & educating on that very subject (gender). It's a concept I've believed for quite some time,but only truly began to grasp it when I met people who identified as Genderqueer, felt like my brain broke, but lying on my back one night looking at the stars it just clicked.
To be truthful, terms in the gender world are changing so fast they can come in & out of vogue so quickly it's admittedly difficult to keep up with. As with anything, the best policy is always have the best intentions & be willing to change them....you get used to it after a while. *lol*
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"Freedom is an expensive thing." ~ Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.