A person born XY with testes (usually in the abdominal cavity). The external genitalia are usually female but can be ambiguous. Their gonads are exclusively testes, but the genital ducts or the external genitalia are incompletely different along male phenotype. CAUSES It is extremely heterogeneous with multiplicity of causes common to all is defective virilization of the male embryo, which usually results from genetically determined defects in androgen synthesis or action or both. The most common cause is Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS).
This is when the body doesn’t respond to the androgen being produced. There are different variations: Complete (CAIS or testicular feminization) and Partial (PAIS). This condition has a variety of names and occurrence rates. (Hermaphrodite Education )4 Apart from the cases mentioned above, there is still contention as to the inclusion of Turner’s syndrome, Klinefelter’s syndrome, gonadal dysgenesis, gynaecomastia as hermaphroditic conditions, because of their resemblance to sexual ambiguity. THE REALITY OF HERMAPHRODITISM “Do hermaphrodites truly exist? ’ some people ask. Yes, they do.
Many cases have been reported in texts. Alice D. Dreger, 1998 in her book Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex, discussed a lot of encounters between hermaphrodites and medical professionals, with special emphasis on Britain and France5. An interesting case of a hermaphrodite was reported: In 1843, Levi Suydam, a 23 year old resident of Salisbury, Connecticut, asked the town magistrates to validate his right to vote as a Whig in a particularly divisive local election. The opposition party raised objections, saying that Levi was really a woman and therefore unable to vote.
A doctor examined him and declared that he had a penis and was therefore a man. Duydam voted and the Whig candidate won by a single vote. Within a few days after the election, Suydam had his monthly menstrual bleeding (Fausto-Sterling, 1993). 6 THE WORLD OF HERMAPHRODITES The main problem facing hermaphrodites stem from the societal expectation of duality of sex. It is the right notion that you have to be a male or a female.. All aspects of society respond only to these two extremes. To be neither of the two or be both at the same time can be quite debilitating to those affected and their families.
This has made for the position to view sex as continuum more appealing as it would diffuse tension created by this disorder. 6 The social emergency under which their parents operate at the time of the delivery of such persons has duly contributed to the decision made for medical invention of sex. This implies surgical procedure that corrects the ambiguity and makes it possible for the upbringing of those hermaphrodites with a specific gender: male of female. This could also be as a result of the historical belief that allowing such medical procedure would prevent inadvertent homosexual relations.
6 There have been reported cases of Human hermaphrodites who have lived heterosexual lives. (Hugh Young, 1937). 6 There are those who just follow the gender of their upbringing by being solely male or female. According to a review , hermaphrodites’ sexual longings are not primarily determined by their internal and external somatic characteristics, but rather by their upbringing. In the majority of the cases both true hermaphrodites and pseudo hermaphrodites, if they are raised as males, play a masculine sexual role and if raised as females, a feminine role.
The conclusion is drawn that heterosexuality or homosexuality in hermaphrodites are primarily caused not by direct hormonal or other physiological factors but rather by environmental ones (Ellis, 1945). 7 It is therefore, pellucid that the personal impact on reality of having no specific sex is that of gender ambiguity; there is confusion as to the specific role they have to play. Their decision is primarily influenced by their upbringing. If there are other options, then, they also have a right to choose where to belong based on prevailing environmental factors.
The concerns of this group of people are being addressed by the InterSex Society, founded in America, United Kingdom, and also in North America by hermaphrodites.. One of their propositions is a patient-centered therapy approach9 which allows for the patients, their parents and physicians decide the best line of action suited for the condition. This would have to overcome ‘the medical or social emergency’ of the situation when the patients are born, for it to be acceptable and effective.
REFERENCES
1. www. wikipedia. org/wiki/Hermaphrodite 2. Book Review, Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex.www. hup. harvard. edu/catalog/DREHER. html 3. Robbins and Cotran, Pathologic Basis of Disease 7th Edition /Genetic disorders 4. Hermaphrodite Education and Listening Post www. Users. fdn. com 5. Alice D. Dreger, 1998 Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex 6. Human Hermaphrodites, www. Devbio. com/article 7. Albert Ellis, The Sexual Psychology of human hermaphrodites, www. pep-web. org 8. Picture , from www. Symposium. com through www. ask. com/hermaphrodite picture 9. Intersex Societies. www. isna. org[North America], www. ukia. co. uk [UK],