Articles available on line (Please note: Articles included do not reflect the views of OII in many cases. They are provided for information purposes only. For OII's views, please see our Official Positions and our Declaration of Fundamental Principles.)
For current events and news, please see OII's Intersex News Service
Articles by Dr. Milton Diamond
For articles by Dr. Milton Diamond: Click here
Excerpt: The belief that Homo sapiens is absolutely dimorphic with the respect to sex chromosome composition, gonadal structure, hormone levels and the structure of the internal genital duct systems and external genitalia, derives from the platonic ideal that for each sex there is a single, universally correct developmental pathway and outcome. We surveyed the medical literature from 1955 to the present for studies of the frequency of deviation from the ideal male or female. We conclude that this frequency may be as high as 2% of live births.
CRISIS AND MUTATION OF THE APPARATUS OF SEXUALITY: THE BURSTING OF THE CATEGORY OF SEX by Colette St-Hilaire
In recent years, alternative media, popular culture and scientific publications have provided fertile ground for the emergence — if not the production — of sexual ambiguity and marginality.
The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough By Anne Fausto-Sterling (The Sciences March/April 1993, p. 20-24)
Excerpt: Anne Fausto-Sterling is Professor of Biology and Women's Studies in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University. Professor Fausto-Sterling's new book, entitled Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality, appeared in February, 2000.
See also: The Five Sexes Revisited.
I. A Description of the several Sorts of HERMAPHRODITES, and how the Law regards them in respect to Matrimony.
II. Intrigues of HERMAPHRODITES and Masculine FEMALES, and of the outward Marks to distinguish them.
III. The material Cause and Generation of HERMAPHRODITES, of unnatural BIRTHS, Generation of MONSTERS, extraordinary CONCEPTIONS, &c.
Poetry.
Transmuting Gender Binaries: the Theoretical Challenge by Surya Monro, Leeds Metropolitan University
This paper provides a cross-cultural account of gender diversity which explores the territory that is opened up when sex, gender, and sexual orientation, binaries are disrupted or displaced.
The birth of an intersex child prompts a long term management strategy that involves a myriad of professionals working with the family. It is estimated that genital anomalies occur in 1 in 4500 births. There has been progress in diagnosis, surgical techniques, understanding psychosocial issues, and recognising and accepting the place of patient advocacy.
There’s been no shortage of debate about the change in nomenclature for intersex conditions recommended in the 2006 Consensus Statement. The debate over the new term— “disorders of sex development”—has proven incredibly heated because it is deeply, achingly personal, centering on who gets to define, determine, and label the truth of one’s life.
The newborn with abnormal genital development presents a difficult diagnostic and treatment challenge for the primary care pediatrician. It is important that a definitive diagnosis be determined as quickly as possible so that an appropriate treatment plan can be established to minimize medical, psychological, and social complications.
Barbara Thomas XY-Frauen (www.xy-frauen.de) AISSG UK (www.medhelp.org/www/ais)
Only two intersex people were in attendance at this Consensus Conference which resulted in drastic changes in both the terms used for intersex and protocols concerning assignment and care. Barbara Thomas was one of them. Who chose these two people to speak for the intersex community and where did they get their information about how intersex people really feel? We in OII are aware of almost no intersex person in the world who was consulted about this. Thousands of intersex people who have contacted OII feel betrayed that people would speak in their name without consulting them first.
Please note: OII in no way approves this consensus statement and presents it only for educational purposes. For more information about this "consensus", please see: DSD Controversy
Postgenderism is an extrapolation of ways that technology is eroding the biological, psychological and social role of gender, and an argument for why the erosion of binary gender will be liberatory. Postgenderists argue that gender is an arbitrary and unnecessary limitation on human potential, and foresee the elimination of involuntary biological and psychological gendering in the human species through the application of neurotechnology, biotechnology and reproductive technologies.
