Most claims about what the corpus callosum does are based on data about its size and shape. But how in the world can scientists produce accurate measure­ments of a structure as complex and irregularly shaped as the corpus callo­sum? Looked at from above, the CC resembles a raised topographical map (figure 5. i). A pair […]

Suppose my utopian vision, as described in the last chapter, came to pass. Would all gender differences disappear? Would we award jobs, status, income, and social roles based only on individual differences in phy­sique, intellect, and inclination? Perhaps. But some would argue that no mat­ter how widely we opened the door, ineluctable differences between groups […]

Simply recognizing a third category does not assure a flexible gender system. Such flexibility requires political and social struggle. In discussing my ‘‘five sexes’’ proposal Suzanne Kessler drives home this point with great effect: The limitation with Fausto-Sterling’s proposal is that legitimizing other sets of genitals. . . still gives genitals primary signifying status and […]

Those who defend current approaches to the management of intersexuality can, at best, offer a weak case for continuing the status quo. Many patients are scarred—both psychologically and physically—by a process heavy on sur- table 4. з Psychological Outcomes of Children Raised as Males with Unusual Genitalia DEVELOPMENTAL PATTERN (sample size) CHANGE IN assigned sex […]

Modern management manuals devote a great deal of thought to how to get parents to go along with suggested treatments. Clearly it is a matter of great delicacy. And so it must be, because parents can be intractable. Sometimes they assert their own views about their child’s sex and about the degree of surgical alteration […]

The statistics tell the story. Although the medical literature exudes confidence about the feasibility of genital makeovers, the procedures are complex and risky. From 30 to 80 percent of children receiving genital surgery undergo more than one operation. It is not uncommon for a child to endure from three to five such procedures. One review […]

Personal accounts from intersexuals who have experienced genital surgery breathe life into some otherwise dry facts. Foremost among these is that long­term studies of genital surgery are scarce as hen’s teeth.32 Nevertheless, the medical literature is rife with evidence of the negative effects of such surgery. In a survey of the existing medical articles, a […]

Stop infant genital surgery. We protest the practices of genital mutilation in other cultures, but tolerate them at home.9 Some of my medical colleagues are apparently so scandalized by my thoughts on intersexuality that they refuse to discuss them with me.10 Perhaps they think that I am sacrificing the well­being of unfortunate children on the […]

— ЛЗ Hermaphroditic Heresies In 1993 I PUBLISHED A MODEST PROPOSAL SUGGESTING THAT WE RE­place our two-sex system with a five-sex one.1 In addition to males and fe­males, I argued, we should also accept the categories herms (named after ‘‘true’’ hermaphrodites), merms (named after male ‘‘pseudo-hermaphro­dites’’), and ferms (named after female ‘‘pseudo-hermaphrodites’’). I’d in­tended to […]

All choices, whether to treat with chemicals, perform surgeries, or let geni­tally mixed bodies alone, have consequences beyond the immediate medical realm. What might the phrase ‘‘social construction’’ mean in the material world of bodies with differing genitals and differing behavior patterns? The feminist philosopher Judith Butler suggests that ‘‘bodies. . . only live within […]