1. Intersex Rights: Background
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 09-12-17 11:49
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- 1. Intersex Rights: Background
- Biological Sex
- Typical female
- Chromosomes
- **
- Genitals
- External
- *****
- ********
- Internal
- Vagina
- Uterus
- External
- Gonads:
- Ovaries
- Chromosomes
- Typical male
- Chromosomes
- XY
- Genitals
- External
- Penis
- Scrotum
- Internal
- Prostate
- External
- Gonads
- Testes
- Chromosomes
- Typical female
- Intersexuality
- Any atypical combinations of chromosomes, internal and external genitals and gonads
- Often accompanied by differences in hormones and secondary sexual characteristics
- Body shape, hair growth
- Some (only some) intersex people have ambiguous genitals
- e.g.
- Partially fused labia
- An organ that is indeterminate between a ******** and a penis
- Possible because male and female genitals develop from same foetal tissue
- Genital development is same in male and female foetuses up to a point where development branches due to influence, or absence of influence, of testosterone
- e.g. the penis and the ******** both develop from the genital tubercle; in a foetus exposed to higher testosterone levels, the genial tubercle will develop into a penis, and in a foetus exposed to lower level of testosterone, the genital tubercle will develop into a ********
- Ambigious genitals result when development does not fully follow typical male or female path due to an intermediate level of testosterone
- Genital development is same in male and female foetuses up to a point where development branches due to influence, or absence of influence, of testosterone
- e.g.
- Causes and Identification
- Causes include unusual combinations of chromosomes (e.g. **Y) and unusual levels of, or sensitivity to, hormones
- Body produces more androgens than is typical (Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia)
- Body produces androgens at a typical level but is insensitive to them (Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome)
- Sometimes intersexuality is apparent at birth (usually in cases of ambiguous external genitalia), sometimes not
- 1.7% of all births are intersex
- Causes include unusual combinations of chromosomes (e.g. **Y) and unusual levels of, or sensitivity to, hormones
- Historical treatment
- Prior to 1950s, intersex conditions were not really treated as a medical issue
- In 1950s, theories of gender identity as socially acquired, and hence as open to medical and parental influence, became popular
- A paradigm developed of surgical assignment of sex based on prospects for constructing 'normal-looking' genitals
- Total secrecy from patient and even sometimes from parents
- Intersex Rights Activism
- Began in 1990s
- Intersex Society of North America (later Accord Alliance) founded in 1993 by Cheryl Chase
- Intersex activists have drawn attention to, and protested against, various aspects of the practices concerning the treatment of intersex people
- They have also aimed to improve visibility and understanding of intersexuality
- Biological Sex
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