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Intersex/disorders of sex
development: normal variation or
pathologic state?

intersex

conditions are more frequent that has been supposed (she offers the figure of
1
...
6 She writes,
While male and female stand on the extreme ends of a biological continuum, there are
many bodies
that evidently mix together anatomical components conventionally attributed to both
males and females
...
If nature really offers us more than two sexes, then it follows that our current
notions of masculinity and femininity are cultural conceits
...
7 He argues that FaustoSterling’s position that society should accept all conditions that lie between the
binary male/female concept of human sexuality will not alleviate the suffering of
affected individuals
...
Sax’s application of the term “intersex” is narrower than that of FaustoSterling
...
” This more restricted definition reduces Fausto-Sterling’s estimate
of 1
...
018% about 50,000 “true intersexuals” compared with
her estimate of 5,000,000 individuals
...
surveyed the
Swedish population and found that if all congenital abnormalities are considered,
including hypospadias and cryptorchidism, the incidence might be as high as
1:200 to 1:300
...
In fact, he makes the statement that summarizes our
present understanding of the term:
The biological mechanisms of intersexuality are complex and for the most part,
understanding them is still a work in progress
...
The author argues that the most important criteria in assigning a gender
to an intersexed newborn is the future gender identity, regardless of the chromosomal
constitution, gonadal secretions and aspect of the genitalia
...
He points out that the creation of an
intersex individual can occur at any stage between the moment of sex
determination which is the consequence of the sex chromosomes and sex
differentiation, the result of the action of gonadal hormones on the developing
embryo
...


Given that our expanded understanding of the complexity of the intersex
condition is very recent; it is easy to understand the rationale of Money et al
...
10 He did
not have the advantage of our current concepts of the molecular biology of
these conditions
...
Money writes,
it is evident that gender role and orientation is not determined in some automatic,
innate or instinctive fashion by physical, bodily agents, like chromosomes, gondal
structures, or hormones
...
it is also evident that sex of assignment and rearing does not automatically and
mechanistically determine the gender role and orientation
...


Thus he concluded,
Ihe[The] less ambiguous our patients could be made to appear as a result of well-timed
plastic surgery and hormonal therapy, consistent with their rearing, the sturdier was
their psychologic healthiness
...

There are no data to suggest that postnatal social environment can change early
brain development programming
...




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