The Importance Of Intersexuality

Although being intersex is somewhat common, there remains a magnificent lack of awareness amongst the general population. Even as our culture has made strides toward greater understanding and acceptance of transgender rights, intersexuality is something that remains under-recognized and taboo to many individuals. Intersex inhabitants are those whose biology does not meet society’s traditional definitions of sex and gender. Sex refers to biological differences such as chromosomes, hormonal profiles, internal and external sexual organs. Gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates and portrays as masculine or feminine. However, society often times confuses gender and sex. Society sees that females should be with males

Max was born to parents who had struggled to conceive a child for many years. After three failed attempts to conceive, Max states “they prayed and prayed for a healthy baby. Too late, they realized they'd meant normal” (Max Beck). When Max was born Max was a perfectly healthy child, yet the doctors were not able to determine Max’s sex. He was born with sex characteristics that are not complementary to the binary definition of male or female. After weeks of tests, the doctors found that Max had two sets of chromosomes which were XY and XO. Max’s genitals consisted of “‘a rudimentary phallus’ and ‘fused labio-scrotal folds’” (Max Beck). His parents decide to raise him as a female. They named him Judy. After much trial and tribulation regarding gender identity, Max decided that his true identity was being a male. Like many others, Max Beck has been scrutinized by society because of the individuals need to be able to group and categorize people, and one of these most important categories that has even become a controversial issue is sex. The term sex binary ultimately refers to that there are only two sexes which are male and female. Those who do not perfectly align with these two categories, are to be somehow “shaped” until they do. Max Beck was seen as a problem.His doctors and his parents chose to overcome this and deal with using surgical methods to make him as normal as

Gender identification begins in the womb with the differentiation of the sex organs. This is what typically makes a person anatomically male or female. Sex chromosomes establish the anatomical sex of the fetus. This occurs through sex chromosomes. When a fetus has both an X and a Y chromosome, it is a male and it portrays male gender identity and male typical behaviors. A fetus with two X chromosomes is a female and portrays female gender identity and female typical behaviors. However, there are rare instances in which the genitalia developed does not correspond to the gender identity or role of a person. This is known as a Disorder of Sexual Difference (DSD) or gender dysphoria. Hormones also have an effect in gender development and identity. In fact, there are two effects in gender development and identity. Hormones influence the development of an individual from conception to sexual maturity on a psychological and behavioral level that distinguish between the sexual characteristics of the individual. Additionally, hormones also have an activational effect which is triggered in adolescence right after the development of the sexual organs. The activational effect triggers the reproduction cycle in sexually mature individuals. This usually begins in late