Why are intersex people treated like this?

5 Comments

Some people aren't born biologically as male or female they have both parts. These people are called hermaphrodites or intersex. So what do you do when you are born between sexes? You're forced into one. Some take surgery to pick a gender. This surgery normally removes a lot of nerve tissue making it difficult or impossible to reach orgasm. This decision to do surgery is generally controlled by their parents and doctors at an extremely young age. These people remember their surgeries from early life and often wish that it never happened. Even if they didn't get surgery in their youth they are still forced to identify as a man or woman even though they are in between.

People born intersex are as common as red hair or twins. And what happens to them? We pretend that they just don't exist. How is it right to pretend a group of people simply don't exist? Other cultures recognize the third gender, would be so hard to include a third gender option on paper work instead of forcing them to choose between male and female.

We should allow a third gender option 9
Things should stay male and female 2
Other 1
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Comments ( 5 )
  • dappled
    11 years ago

    It's one of our little hidden shames. I read that 2% of people are born intersex. That sounds awfully high given that I've only ever met one intersex person (that I know of), but them's the figures I saw quoted.

    I vote one million percent for a third gender and if an intersex person wants to reassign to one of the more common two genders when they're an adult, that's probably understandable, although more recognition of a third gender might mean people actually sticking with it and (hopefully) forming relationships as themselves and not as something they've been reassigned to.

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    • TerryVie
      11 years ago

      Ya, i once read up that in western countries it was changed a while, and they are now automatically turned into females in many countries.(same as they don't even ask about organ donation unless you have an ID saying you refuse).
      I think your percentage is a bit high, but i'm not sure...maybe 0.2%? 1 in 500 sounds more right. Still, i'd think they should be allowed to stay as they were born! They can still decide for themselves later if they identify more strongly with either side.

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      • dappled
        11 years ago

        I know you can't trust what you read on the internet but I just did a bit of Googling. The lowest answer I saw was 0.4% and the highest 4%. It seems insanely high but I wonder how often it happens, the baby undergoes immediate surgery, and then nobody ever says anything. My last girlfriend, for example, was born without an anal opening. They had to make one for her. The only reason she knows is because her family thought it was funny, and told her.

        What's also just occurred to me is people who people they have the wrong gender and undergo sex changes. What if they were people who were born intersex and their parents had them dealt with but chose the wrong gender?

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        • TerryVie
          11 years ago

          well, as said, they often don't even tell the parents/don't give them a choice any more.

          I think the reasoning was somewhere along the lines that if they are intersex, the penis is often smaller than average, sometimes very small, and they often became victims of ridicule, and their physical build will also be "smaller and weaker" than a regular males, plus it's easier to fully remove the male parts without potential danger.

          It's weird if you think about it. Many people including their parents may never know. Maybe i'm homoflexible with small breasts because i was born that way? *shrug* Really makes one think. Though i'd have to wonder how deviant i would be if i WAS intersex -_-
          maybe the instant operation is better after all...(J/K)

          oh well, either way i'm all for three genders!(4 if you also add neutrum to the list then. I knew one for a while.)

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  • Gasmasker
    11 years ago

    Allow for 4 genders: Male, Female, Both, and None Of The Above. :)

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