Amanda Johnson

Intersex Rights

Learning about intersex individuals truly opened up my eyes to facts and figures I was
never aware of, and quite frankly, I am disturbed by the subconscious ignorance and judgment
people, including myself, have placed on those who don't fit the schema of what society
considers acceptable as "male" or "female." About one in every 2000 individuals is born with an
intersexed condition.
1
This number is so much higher than what I would have ever deemed to be
true. If these conditions are not so rare, why are human beings so quick to judge? Why when a
child is born this way doctors are so quick to interfere with their genitalia in order to assign them
as male or female, rather than allow that child to grow up and express the identity they decide to
choose?
Often when people here about someone who is born with male and female characteristics,
the word tranny is thrown out, but really, the correct term would be an intersex individual.
Intersex is when an individual is born with a condition in which their reproductive or sexual
anatomy doesnt fit with the typical definition of male or female.
2
Many people believe that this
probably just means a person is born with both a penis and a vagina, but this is false. I did not
realize how many different conditions there really were that would make someone intersex, until
reading the article assigned to us for the class. For example, there is a condition called Mayer-
Rokitansky-Kuster- Hauser syndrome, which is where a person is born without an actual vagina
as well as primary sexual characteristics, but the vulva, clitoris, and chromosomes are not
affected, so one may not know they have the condition until later in life.
3
Because of the society
we live in, I cant even imagine as a woman how devastating and humiliating it would be to
discover that you werent born with a vagina. Societal thoughts and beliefs would make me feel
as if I was some type of freak; as if I wasnt normal. It was heart breaking to me reading about
the young girl who realized she had this condition, and the only thing the doctors cared about
was reconstructing a vagina for her. What about the psychological help she would need from the
shock in this situation?
Another devastating and surprising thing that I learned was that if a child is born with a
clitoris or a penis that arent between the normal sizes ( for a clitoris 0-0.9 cm, and for a penis,
2.5-4.5 cm), the doctor can mutilate the genitalia to fit the normal size of either the clitoris or
penis
4
. In my opinion, the fact that doctors are able to do this is wrong to me. I believe that the
only person that should have the right to choose what sex a human being is, would be the human
being itself. Not to mention a doctor deciding genitalia for an infant can cause identity and body
issues later in life. Say the genitalia has a size of 1.6 cm, and the doctor decides to mutilate it to
the normal size and assign the infant female, but the child grows up showing more and more
signs that they should be male. Imagine the confusion, stress, and psychological tragedy this
person would suffer through. Do we really live in a world where people would rather have
people suffer through identity issues, possibly battle depression, than a child born with
characteristics that dont technically classify them as male or female? Nearly 30% of all
completed teen suicides have been related to sexual identity crisis, and students who identify as
transgender are five times more likely to miss school because they feel unsafe due to

1
Plante, Rebecca. Sexualities in Context. pg.72 Chapter 3. Print.
2
Plante, Rebecca. Sexualities in Context. Pg.71. Chapter 3. Print.
3
Plant, Rebecca. Sexualities in Context. pg.75. Chapter 3. Print
4
Plant, Rebecca. Sexualities in Context. pg.74. Chapter 3. Print.
bullying.
5
This percentage is heart breaking. I believe an ethical way to deal with a baby being
born with male and female characteristics would be to allow that child to grow up, and decide
what gender role they want to portray. Who they want to be. I know this sounds much easier said
than done, considering this could be confusing for a child as well, but maybe doctors could
provide this child with counseling, until the child does decide who they want to be. If the child
grows up, and wants surgeries to be done, then that person can get those surgeries done. I think it
is that person and that persons choice only to decide; not a doctor. Doctors should think about
the long term outlook when trying to assign an intersex individual a gender and not focus so
much on genitalia. In fact, society in general should focus more on the well-being of others, and
not so much on stereotypes and genders assignments. We are all human, and we are all made up
of different parts. It would be amazing if we could all embrace our differences rather than pick
on one another and not be so judgmental and cynical.





5
Moore, Crystal. "Unusual Sex: The History of Intersex and Transgendered Individuals in America." Sexualized
Society. N.p., 30 11 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://sexualizedsociety.blogspot.com/2014/01/unusual-sex-
history-of-intersex-and.html>.