Table of contents:
- What is intersex?
- Why can a person be born with two genitals?
- Is having two genitals the same as being transgender?
- Congenital conditions with both sexes can be corrected, but ...
As many as two percent of the world's people are born with intersex disorders, but many people still don't know anything about this fairly common medical condition. People born with an intersex condition can have two different genitals - one penis and one vagina.
What is intersex?
Intersex, formerly known as hermaphrodite, is a condition in which a person is born with two genitals, or is born with genitals that cannot be categorized as male or female.
A person who is born intersex can have female physical characteristics, but have male genitalia and reproductive organs in their body, or vice versa. Or, a person may be born with an "ambiguous" shape of the genitals - for example, a girl who is born with a large clitoris size (so that it looks like a penis) or has no vaginal opening, or a boy born with a small penis, or with fruit. testicles that are divided in two to form resembling the lips of the vagina (labia).
Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of their cells have XX chromosomes and others have XY. This disorder does not cause any difference in the reproductive organs, however, there may be problems with sex hormone levels, overall sexual development, and changes in sex chromosomes.
However, intersex is not always recognized at birth. Sometimes, a person may not know that he is intersex until he reaches puberty, or when he realizes that he is infertile when he is an adult, or even when he dies and gets autopsy by a team of doctors. Some people can live with intersex anatomy without anyone knowing, including themselves.
Why can a person be born with two genitals?
The reasons for a person born with an intersex condition are quite diverse, and most of the reasons have to do with hormonal influences. The most common cause of intersex is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a condition in which the fetal adrenal glands are overproduced, creating ambiguous genitalia.
Another cause of intersex conditions is complete and partial androgen insensitivity syndrome. The partial androgen insensitivity syndrome causes ambiguous genitalia, whereas complete syndrome means that there is a vagina but no uterus, but also undescended testes.
The process of growth and development of all fetuses starts from conception until the 7th week of pregnancy. Then, female and male fetuses develop in different pathways, under the influence of hormones. If the fetus has unusual levels of certain hormones, or an abnormal ability to respond to hormones, intersex may occur. Intersex also often occurs randomly for no apparent reason.
Is having two genitals the same as being transgender?
Intersex people are usually different from transgender people. Intersex is a biological condition in which a person cannot be identified as one of the two sexes. Intersex people have certain external or internal characteristics that make them medically unable to determine whether they are male or female, although they may often identify as one gender.
Most intersex people get medical attention because doctors or parents see something odd about their bodies. On the other hand, transgender people are a group of people who have a gender identity that does not match their physical characteristics at birth. Transgender people have a different perception of gender identity from people in general - have female physical features but believe that she is male, for example.
What the two have in common is that both transgender and intersex owners usually choose one gender identity, and sometimes that choice requires hormonal treatment and / or surgery. Some people with intersex conditions may also decide to change their gender, so some people with intersex conditions may also identify themselves as transgender or transsexual.
However, despite these similarities, intersex conditions should not and cannot be equated with transgender and / or transsexual.
Congenital conditions with both sexes can be corrected, but …
In the past, the prevailing opinion was that the best solution to the condition of a child born with both sexes was to have sex change surgery as soon as possible. Often times, these surgical procedures are based on the appearance of the external genitals, rather than looking at the sex chromosomes of the genes in the body.
In sex change surgery for intersex children, doctors will generally remove testicular tissue and other male genital organs. This is done because the reconstruction effort of the female genitals is considered easier than "rebuilding" a fully functional male sex organ. So if the certainty of the baby's gender choice is "unclear", the child is often made a girl.
As time goes by, more and more medical experts have objected to underage sex change operations without the full knowledge and consent of the body owner. They urge parents to postpone their child's sex reassignment surgery as long as the child is physically and mentally healthy, and ideally involve the child in their gender decisions. Because, if parents decide the gender of their child, make mistakes, children can experience confusion over their true identity and may lead to depression and other behavioral problems, because children feel that the gender identity chosen by their parents is not who they really are.
The Intersex Society Of North America recommends that gender normalization operations for intersex children should not be performed until the child is old enough to make responsible judgments and decisions for himself.
According to Dr. Shubha Srinivasan, pediatric endricologist at The Children's Hospital Westmead Sydney, was reported by the News, gender normalization surgery is mainly performed if the child has certain medical problems. "There are various medical conditions that cause sexual development disorders, and each of these conditions is unique and has a variety of different issues," he said. For example, an intersex child may need surgery if precancerous cells are found in the gonads or if there is a problem with urine flow that could lead to infection.
But what is also important to consider is that normalization of the two genitals for intersex children and adults is not all about making them look "normal" and acceptable in society - surgery can also relate to problems with fertility, bowel and bladder function, and also sexual function.
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