Women's Studies 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Sex Reassignment Surgery, Medical Ethics, Pseudohermaphroditism
14 Jul 2016
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Document Summary
A revision of an essay she wrote in 1993. Suggested need to expand current two-sex system to include at least five sexes. Intersexual individuals reflect the inadequacy of our two-sex system. System needs to reflect the full range of human sexual diversity. Intended the proposal to be provocative and to raise awareness, but didn"t necessarily intend her naming of the five different sexes to be taken seriously. Addresses recent changes she has seen in the social climate regarding intersexuality. People whose bodies, chromosomes, or hormones contain characteristics of both sexes. State of one"s gender identity or gender expression not matching one"s assigned sex. Suggested two-sex system be replaced by a five-sex system. Herms: true hermaphrodite; people born with both a testis and an ovary. Merms: male pseudohermaphrodites; born with testes and some aspects of female genitalia. Ferms: female pseudohermaphrodites; people born with ovaries combined with some aspect of male genitalia. Meant to be tongue in cheek, but taken very seriously.
