Intersexuality or hermaphroditism: what is it?
intersex means a human being whose genitals have a mixture of both male and female characters, so that the nature of his sex can not be specified. The origin can be various: hormonal or chromosomal, an accident which occurs during the gestation, at the time of the division of the cells.
intersex can be defined as the failure of sexual differentiation, because the individual will present sexual characteristics common to both species. This difference may be visible from birth or may be observed later, at the age of puberty.
Only karyotype examination allows to establish accurately abnormalities that affect the sex chromosomes.
A little girl can be born with a clitoris bigger, a boy with a penis smaller, and sometimes the lips will be completely closed which necessarily requires surgery. There is a great diversity of cases, many combinations are possible ...
hermaphroditism is slightly different from intersex. By a biological action, the individual can be morphologically male and female simultaneously or alternately. Hermaphroditism is considered, like intersexuality, as a disease congenital, even if this state does not lead to any pathology ...
In most of the cases, a hermaphrodite is infertile, even if there are some rare cases of ovulation.
Often people tend to confuse androgyny and hermaphroditism ... The physical appearance of an androgynous person is uniquely confusing because a true hermaphrodite has both male and female sexual attributes.
Intersexuals and hermaphrodites can have a sexuality difficult, because of this ambiguity ... They thrive with difficulty because they are generally rejected and marginalized by society because of this difference, especially since the intersex are immediately classified women at the official level.
Being intersexed is a disease congenital which should not lead to systematic mutilation as is the case in some countries where many are mutilated from birth.
Each case is unique and there are characteristics that differentiate each case of intersex or hermaphroditism.
Girls with a clitoris larger are undergoing clitoridectomy and boys who have a small penis mutilated to be transformed into a girl, which has consequences for the sexuality future of the mutilated person. Sometimes, as adults, some people do not know everything about their medical history, because families tend to hide it: hard to confess to his child as an adult that he has been operated ... Discover that one has hidden sexual organs can be an emotional shock.
Recently, the case of Caster Semanya, the South African female athlete gold medalist at the Berlin Worlds sparked controversy. Medical tests established her hermaphroditism when she had never been examined before, which earned her a gold medal and raised the issue of sexism in our societies.
Our advice
Associations are fighting to make society accept this difference, in the name of the violation of human rights, because surgery occurs when the child is only a baby and he can not decide his fate ... It is important that a child who has not undergone surgery or who has been mutilated can benefit from psychological counseling, because this difference can have repercussions on his or her lifestyle and sexuality.
intersex can be defined as the failure of sexual differentiation, because the individual will present sexual characteristics common to both species. This difference may be visible from birth or may be observed later, at the age of puberty.
Only karyotype examination allows to establish accurately abnormalities that affect the sex chromosomes.
A little girl can be born with a clitoris bigger, a boy with a penis smaller, and sometimes the lips will be completely closed which necessarily requires surgery. There is a great diversity of cases, many combinations are possible ...
hermaphroditism is slightly different from intersex. By a biological action, the individual can be morphologically male and female simultaneously or alternately. Hermaphroditism is considered, like intersexuality, as a disease congenital, even if this state does not lead to any pathology ...
In most of the cases, a hermaphrodite is infertile, even if there are some rare cases of ovulation.
Often people tend to confuse androgyny and hermaphroditism ... The physical appearance of an androgynous person is uniquely confusing because a true hermaphrodite has both male and female sexual attributes.
Intersexuals and hermaphrodites can have a sexuality difficult, because of this ambiguity ... They thrive with difficulty because they are generally rejected and marginalized by society because of this difference, especially since the intersex are immediately classified women at the official level.
Being intersexed is a disease congenital which should not lead to systematic mutilation as is the case in some countries where many are mutilated from birth.
Each case is unique and there are characteristics that differentiate each case of intersex or hermaphroditism.
Girls with a clitoris larger are undergoing clitoridectomy and boys who have a small penis mutilated to be transformed into a girl, which has consequences for the sexuality future of the mutilated person. Sometimes, as adults, some people do not know everything about their medical history, because families tend to hide it: hard to confess to his child as an adult that he has been operated ... Discover that one has hidden sexual organs can be an emotional shock.
Recently, the case of Caster Semanya, the South African female athlete gold medalist at the Berlin Worlds sparked controversy. Medical tests established her hermaphroditism when she had never been examined before, which earned her a gold medal and raised the issue of sexism in our societies.
Our advice
Associations are fighting to make society accept this difference, in the name of the violation of human rights, because surgery occurs when the child is only a baby and he can not decide his fate ... It is important that a child who has not undergone surgery or who has been mutilated can benefit from psychological counseling, because this difference can have repercussions on his or her lifestyle and sexuality.
