Q1- What does it mean to be intersexed?

Q2 - Is there a clear biological boundary between male and female?

Q3 - Are the intersexed part of what certain groups and the media call the third sex?

Q4 - Are intersexed people transsexual?

Q5 - Why do you claim that "normalisation" of intersexed infants is a crime against humanity when the official Human Rights organizations and their agencies do not denounce these practices as serious crimes?

Q6 - Presently, what happens (legally and administratively in particular) when an intersex child is born? What can the parents do before the child is possibly mutilated? What depends on the parents and what is imposed on them?

Q7 - What are the sexual orientations of the intersexed?

Q8 - What special methods can be used to raise the consciousness of intersex issues in traditionally conservative Europe?
 

See also FAQ published by Intersex Initiative

Q1 - What does it mean to be intersexed? 

An intersexed person is an individual whose internal and/or external sexual morphology has characteristics not specific to just one of the official sexes, but rather a combination of these different factors.The former terms used were hermaphrodite, pseudo-hermaphrodite, androgyne, etc. There are many different ways of being intersexed. This is why the term intersex is preferable since it includes all the different variations. Intersex is not as rare as often believed and many people are intersexed, although it may not be visible at birth. Some intersexed persons are easily recognised as intersex at birth, with others only recognised later, especially during adolescence. Many people whose intersexuality is obvious are treated medically and are considered to have anomalies which need to be "corrected" by surgery and hormone replacement therapy. FINE, along with all other intersex organizations in the world, opposes these procedures.
See our page on: Against all genital mutilations
For example, let's consider the variations of intelligence within a particular population. There will be a very large majority of persons with average intelligence, with few people either far below average or far above average. Neither those of lower than average intelligence nor those of higher than average intelligence are abnormal. Nature is such that there are variations among people. It would never occur to a doctor (unless he were a Nazi!) to correct those with lower or higher than average intelligence by treating them to become more in line with those of average intelligence, who make up the majority. Nevertheless, the current medical approach of "normalising" intersexed children is just this absurd. Society treats them like monsters and as rare medical specimens to be put on exhibit for medical students.  However, they are not monsters or rare medical specimens. They are a natural part of the vast richness of biological diversity, a reason often used to protect plants and animals. The reason for this is because we live in a society that denies the laws of nature as applying to the human species. Other societies have not had this same cultural concept. It may seem coincidental to some, but these cultures have been matriarchal and peace-loving. 

Example: The "third sex" of the Inuits. Bernard Saladin d"Anglure, anthropologist, Laval University, Canada.

For the medical community, we, the intersexed, are suffering from a syndrome.  Our answer to the doctors: It is you, the doctors, especially from the old school who are principally men, who are suffering from a syndrome:  SOS: Sexist Obscurantist Syndrome and also cliteromania, a very common psychopathology within the medical community.

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Q2 - Is there a clear biological boundary between male and female? 

To various degrees, each of us has secondary sex characteristics common to both sexes and less often genitalia characteristic of what is considered to be the opposite sex. A woman who was totally female would be a caricature.  She would resemble an infant. A man who was totally male would resemble an ape.  His brow would be very prominent and he would be covered with body hair, fur (this does exist): Complete Sensitivity to Androgen Syndrome (CSAS). You can observe that there are many women with a "masculine" appearance as well as men who appear feminine.  There are many different colours and nuances within the rainbow. Intersexed individuals are similar to other people and no more abnormal than a man who is very hairy. Their intermediate sexual characteristics are simply more evident than those of the majority of people. Within the current biological framework, there is in principle a genetic difference between men and women but these differences are not discreet but merely statistical tendencies which describe most people within one or the other category. In general, men have two different chromosomes, one Y and one X (XY), and women have two X chromosomes (XX). There are exceptions to this statistical tendency because there are men who are XXY and women who are XY. Overall, an embryo remains "female" until the eighth week of development. Then, an XX foetus will be only slightly virilised and will become a "girl". An XY foetus will be exposed to more male hormones and will be more virilised as a result. "His" female genitalia will be transformed into a penis and scrotum. The similarities  between both male and female genitalia are still obvious however. For example, the glans of the penis is the visible result of the transformation of the clitoris. The clitoris on average is 8 cms long. Male genitalia are formed by the "fusing" of the labia into a scrotum and the "virilisation" of the clitoris into a penis. Look at your penis and you will observe that it still has traces of its origins. You will notice a sort of "seam" in the front. This is caused by the fusing of the labia of the original female genitalia. It is called a raphe and is no longer as evident. If the raphe is more visible or "bloated", it can be an indication of an increased level of female hormones in the body. It may not even be closed or be located in the perineum (partial feminisation) up to the balanic region of the glans (almost complete virilisation). In medical terms, this is known as hypospadias, which is divided into glanular, coronal, penile shaft and perineal hypospadias.  If the urinary meatus is located farther down on the penis, these boys/girls will urinate sitting down. A patriarchal society will not tolerate a boy having to urinate like a girl and the child will be subjected to repeated "normalisation" surgeries which are very painful for the child. Often theses surgeries will go on for several years. The trauma of such procedures will last throughout life, often with aftereffects to urinary function. Very disturbing accounts have been collected by the Human Rights Commission of San Francisco from adults who have been victims of these inhumane procedures during their childhood. All of them said they would have preferred keeping the intersexed bodies they were born with. This one limited example concerning hypospadias enables us to see that the degree of virilisation for a boy is more or less accomplished by the response of the body's receptors to male hormones. The degree of sensitivity of androgen receptors is genetic. It varies from individual to individual and from ethnic group to ethnic group. Intersex is more common among Asians or people of Celtic origin who have genealogical links to the ancient Neolithic people. (If you have an -O blood type, there is a high probability that you have inherited genes from Neolithic people - such as the author of this text.) 
Virilisation induced by homones continues throughout life. Women often experience slight virilisation after menopause. In rare cases (1/20 ' 000) in which there is an almost total insensitivity to male hormones, despite being genetically male with XY chromosomes, the person, who will be very healthy, will have completely female genitalia and in some cases fertile. 
In conclusion, with our current knowledge, it is not possible to discern absolute differences between people of different sexes because even the XY caryotype is not sufficient for defining only one sex, without exceptions. And when a rule has an exception, it is not a rule in scientific terms.The differences are only statistical with a higher incidence of people with XY being male and XX being female. The basic sex of mankind is female and becoming male is an outgrowth from the female which occurs on a vast scale with many gradations. In the laboratory, it is easy to prove that mammals are basically female. If a mouse embryo which is XY is given molecules which inhibit male hormones during foetal development, there will be a totally healthy, fertile female. We can even induce many different intersexed states depending of the dosage of the male hormone inhibitor. No, Eve was not born from Adam. To the contrary.

F = Female - M = male  - IF = intersexed female - IF = intersexed male 
In the middle of the chart are those who are extremely intersexed, those who pose a problem for our current societies which feel a need to assign them to one or the other of the two official sexes.  As can be seen from the curves, the two most statistically prevalent sexes remain the only two official sexes, but even there we see there are degrees of virilisation in females and feminisation in men. Each of us is to some degree intersexed without knowing it. By considering only morphological aspects, we can see that there really aren't just two sexes. There are only degrees of maleness and femaleness with no absolute border between the two, just like water (the pure female does not exist) to which we have added varying amounts of salt. The sex of humanity is female to which nature has added varying degrees of maleness. And also important is the fact that we each have different social and cultural contexts which affect our individual experience and interpretation of what male and female are.  But this is not our biological sex but rather, gender. And gender is also divided into many different nuances and gradations.  Logically, one would not accept assigning a person a legal sex, if would take all this into consideration. Otherwise, why not indicate the size of one's feet or their race? 

For more information:
- David Bainbridge, geneticist, The X in Sex, Harvard University Press, 2003. 
- Steve Jones, geneticist, Y, The Descent of Men, Little-Brown, Londres, 2002. 
- Brian Sykes, geneticistat the University of Oxford, La Malédiction d'Adam: un futur sans hommes, Albin Michel, 2004. 
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Q3 - Are the intersexed part of what certain groups and the media call the third sex?

Traditional identities and the media, except for the queer feminist movement, have not escaped the psychosocial conditioning of sexual polarization into just two categories, or at least their classification within the conventional two sex categories, male and female. The third sex, according to them, would be a new sex which would be categorized in relation to the two official sexes, which, in effect, only reinforces the binary structure of sex, with a wart squeezed in between which would be the third sex. In so doing, we have not escaped the sexism implicit in such a binary system, something which FINE, the Organization for Intersex International (OII) and many other intersex activists in Europe and around the world reject because it most likely would further segregate intersexed people from their rightful place within society. 

There are more than two sexes. There is a third, a fourth, even a fifth sex, etc. within a continuum from very female to very male. The very female and the very male (we are referring only to the obvious biological morphological aspects of an individual so as to avoid any confusion with subjective and cultural considerations, usually referred to as "gender") would make up only 2 % of the population. The majority of people are in a very generalized sense intersexed. 

FINE is for a society in which sexism would be abolished. No legal definition of sexes, no gender assignments, no legal sex on birth certificates, and no official sexual orientation categories. FINE has a forward-looking, feminist agenda which includes all humanity as part of the wealth of biological and cultural diversity, a reflection of the natural world in which the human species must live without domination and selfish exploitation to the detriment of future generations.
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Q4 - Are intersexed people transsexual?

As indicated by the name, the intersexed are those individuals who are situated between the two officials sexes. They are naturally more or less masculine or feminine. Their Intersexuality is genetically determined. It is not something they have chosen, any more than the color of their eyes. Transsexuals are comprised of individuals who psychologically feel that they belong to the sex opposite their legal sex. They desire to change their appearance, voice and attire to transition to the so-called opposite sex which they feel they are. They often require medical assistance to transform their body surgically and with hormone treatments. This decision is their right as an adult. 

Many intersexed individuals have been subjected to similar treatments at very young ages which can result in their being transsexualized by force. This is a basic difference. 

In summary, an intersexed person is morphologically in between the two official sexes, whereas the transsexual, in general, does not have the morphological attributes of the sex they are transitioning to. In general, most intersexed people do not transition. They usually remain just as they are.

What adds to the confusion in many people's thoughts on this topic is that since 2002 in Europe, some transsexual associations have used intersex as an additional argument for their own cause, claiming that they are psychologically intersexed, which would assimilate us to a sub-category of transsexuality. The general public and authorities could develop a tendency to consider intersexed individuals as a new type of transsexual. This is why FINE, which speaks only on behalf of those born intersexed, their friends and parents wishes to reduce the confusion between intersex and transsexuality because it complicates the efforts made by our organizations to obtain national and international laws to protect intersex children and adults which would be different from those required by transsexuals, which we are not. 

Another indirect link exists between the intersexed and transsexuals. Transsexuals have benefited from the experience involved in the surgery used to "normalize" those of us who are intersexed. These techniques have been subsequently applied for adults who desire to change sex. And there has been a lot of experience to perfect these techniques because intersex is much more common than transsexuality. There are 40 times more intersexed people than transsexuals. The experimental techniques used to assign a sex to these poor children which began in the Fifties is now useful for transsexuals. One should also take note of the fact that these sex assignment techniques or "normalization" procedures are a result of the experiments carried out in Nazi concentration camps. 

See Also : AIS support Group Australia Inc : Definition of Intersex now in legislation

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Q5 - Why do you claim that "normalisation" of intersexed infants is a crime against humanity when the official Human Rights organizations and their agencies do not denounce these practices as serious crimes? 

As of 2005, this is not completely true. On April 28, 2005 the Human Rights Commission of the City of San Francisco (USA) published a very long report on this subject, part of which we will translate. The members of the Commission, comprised of intersexed individuals, doctors, sociologists and eminent scientists and legal experts in human rights, declared that "normalisation" is a very serious violation of an individual's basic human rights. This condemnation by an official organization is an historic event.

However, it is true that most Human Rights organizations and other organizations which defend children have not yet done anything. We do think that our cause will eventually be considered by these organizations. In the meantime, what are the reasons for the lack of concern? There are many: 

-The "normalisation" of the intersexed children is still considered a classic medical treatment necessary to correct abnormalities. Therefore these organizations have not been concerned because it basically seemed to be an issue specific to medical ethics. It is important to remember that not very long ago, homosexuals were considered abnormal. Hormonal and psychiatric treatments were used to "normalise" them also. At present, laws have changed and to some degree protect homosexuals. Then transsexuals became more visible and were also the victims of "normalisation". They were considered until very recently as "lunatics" who needed psychiatric treatment. This is still the case to some degree in Europe. Now that homosexuals and transsexuals are considered normal, Human Rights organizations intervene on their behalf. This will also be the case for the intersexed. Society will start to take note of our existence and with pressure for intersex organizations will recognise us as "normal". Ipso facto, Human Rights organization will follow and take up the defence of the intersexed. 

-Human Rights organizations are not aware of intersex and the "normalisation" procedures that intersex infants are subjected to. 
-These organization, even when the information is available to them (this is our mission) cannot act rapidly because these organizations have an immense amount of work. They cannot do everything and there are an enormous amount of Human rights violations around the world. 

-Intersex organization are a very recent phenomenon. The first to appear was only in 1993 in the USA: ISNA

-Having been misinformed, many intersexed individuals believe they are abnormal (just as many homosexuals and transsexuals did for a long time). The majority of intersexed persons are not aware that they are quite numerous because of the secrecy and taboos still prevalent in our societies. It is the Internet which has gradually facilitated contacts among intersexed individuals, allowing them to join with their feminist allies to combat the misinformation concerning them. 

-Consciousness raising efforts on behalf of intersex issues will remain the work of progressive thinkers for many years to come. Such efforts are a challenge to our present societies and will have consequences far beyond the mere recognition of intersexed individuals and our concerns.  They will have far-reaching effects, including the advancement of feminist and GLBT issues, the destabilisation of the present dogma of polarisation between just two sex categories,  an artefact emanating from a patriarchal organization of our societies. This will be a great step forward for humanity. As a matter of fact, history and anthropological research prove that the less a society is dominated by man, the more peaceful it is. A patriarchal society is against nature, a deviation which generates generalised aggression as is typical of any unbalanced organism. This is particular characteristic of "male male" humans with the consequences we are quite well aware of, such as crimes of a sexual nature and war. 

-Intersexed individuals have been subjected to traumatising procedures which have affected them very seriously and which often paralyse them. Many are ashamed of their intersexuality and do not have the energy required to become involved in the very recent intersex organizations. Our number one priority is to protect intersexed infants and adults from further persecution.This persecution will not end until society admits that we are normal and there are several sexes.  We have to change the present mindset within our societies. This is no small undertaking after 6000 years of patriarchal social structures firmly entrenched. Our most natural allies are progressive feminists. In the United States, progressive feminist magazines have been the best at defending the rights of the intersexed. 

Example:http://www.msmagazine.com/oct00/makingthecut.html 
This article describes the pathological cliteromania within the medical community which continues to cut off women's clitorises, and in our present societies, for lack of other solutions, to mutilate intersexed infants.

As we can see, our so-called advanced societies are the champions of genital mutilation.  Medical "normalising" procedures far exceed ritual genital mutilations in Africa.
See our page: Against all genital mutilations
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Q6 - Presently, what happens (legally and administratively in particular) when an intersex child is born? What can the parents do before the child is possibly mutilated? What depends on the parents and what is imposed on them?

1 - In most Western countries, the parents are subjected to the pressure exerted by a committee of doctors. The sex most often chosen by this committee is usually female because it is easier to cut something off than to construct. In countries where it is much more prestigious to be a boy, the child is more likely to be assigned male. No amputation will be performed. Instead, the child will be prescribed hormones for virilisation. 
2 - The parents have to make a decision very rapidly and usually within the guidelines set forth by the committee because they usually have no information about intersex. The parents are persuaded into believing their child is abnormal and that it is suitable to correct the anomaly by means of surgery and hormone treatments.
3 - In some (very rare) cases, when the parents refuse "normalisation" treatments, the doctors can not oppose them.  The only known cases in which treatment was refused are in favour of the children, one of which was the child of a doctor.  Ref: Human Rights Commission, City of San Francisco, April 25, 2005. 
4 - While waiting for society to evolve, the sex to be officially registered on the birth certificate would be the one that most would agree on using a common sense approach, as was the case before 1950. Then later, the individual could decide which of the two official sexes seemed the most appropriate for her/him. FINE is of the opinion that the most logical approach would be to end all need for legal sex categories for intersexed people or anyone else.
One should take note that legislation in this area has already evolved in some countries, especially in Australia.

Examples :
- a child with a penis (without a meatus), a vagina, a uterus, and ovaries would be registered as female, without amputation of the penis and even if his/her  chromosomal sex is "male".  Once an adult, the individual could be a fertile intersexed "female". In ancient times when the patriarchal structure of society was even more firmly entrenched, such a child was immediately put to death. Today, an abortion is recommended if the scanner picks up this "anomaly". Killed before birth instead of afterwards. This is progress, right?!!
- a child with a penis and a meatus situated between the balanic region and the perineum, with or without undescended testicles, and a vagina would be registered as male.

5 - Since intersex is not legally recognised as either normal or abnormal, there is no law or legislation for intersexed children or adults. As a result, the arbitrary nature of most decisions surrounding the issue seem to prevail. However, the law does forbid genital mutilation and other forms of mutilation which are not medically necessary to preserve the life of the child.
It is important to note that the appearance at birth is subject to change. There can be a gradual biological shift either more to the male or female as the child matures. Ovaries can become testicles and undescended testicles can become ovaries. Ovaries and testicles are subject to change. The phenomenon of changing sex is particularly well known in the animal kingdom. This is how fish (our very ancient ancestors) which, like mammals, possess a pair of XY or XX chromosomes are able to change sex if there is a deficit of one or the other sex.  Nature does not lack an imagination. It is our society, which is anti-nature and dogmatic, which does.

See also: FINE's Advice to Parents
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Q7 - What are the sexual orientations of the intersexed?

Their sexual orientations are similar to everyone else's if you base them on the arbitrary criteria prevalent in our societies. For the intersexed, the issue of sexual orientation categories is not of utmost importance. We are so used to the customary sexual orientation categories based on just two sexes that it will be necessary to radically change certain fundamental principles before being able to question the dogmatism implicit in these categories.

As a result of these fundamentalist binary principles, society is extremely reluctant to accept the reality of intersex. For centuries, the existence of intersex has been hidden. Society is afraid of this natural phenomenon. Indeed, it does put into question the bipolarity of the sexes which are the foundations of such social institutions as marriage, gender identity of individuals and the sexual orientation of  those who cannot be classified in reference to the two official sexes. In fact, what relevance do homosexuality, bisexuality and heterosexuality have in describing a person who is morphologically a blend of male and female? The intersexed person would remain heterosexual regardless of which of the two conventional sexes she/he was attracted to. To be homosexual, the person would be attracted only to other intersexed individuals who had the same proportion of male/female characteristics, that is, exactly the same intermediate sex. However, there is an infinite variety of nuances of intesex (see Q2) between the two official sexes. And furthermore, there is also an infinite variety of secondary sex characteristics within each official sex. Everyone is aware that there are women who are more or less "masculine" and men who are more or less "feminine". This is intersex at a secondary level. Queer Theory has a similar perspective. The existence of the intersexed confirms much of the underlying premises of queer theory. However, FINE does not see as its mission to elaborate such theories which it will leave to its friends who are specialists in sociology.
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Q8 - What special methods can be used to raise the consciousness of intersex issues in traditionally conservative Europe?

FINE has nothing against the medical community itself. Modern medicine saves many lives and doctors are people dedicated to serving the health needs of others. 

It is the totalitarian society which is responsible for the inhumane treatment that intersexed children are subjected to. The medical profession, as part of this totalitarian society does not escape the cultural influence which demands only two sexes. It is only logical that the medical profession would see that one of its duties is to correct what appears to them to be  abnormalities which is part of their professional training. 

Although intersex is not directly related to homosexuality, a comparison can be made between the two. In fact, society did consider homosexuals as suffering from an abnormality. And the medical profession which, as has already been stated, cannot be separated from the surrounding social environment treated homosexuality as a pathological condition requiring psychiatric intervention and after 1950 virilising hormone treatments were used. When society started considering same-sex attraction as normal, doctors stopped treating homosexuals. 

We could mention other similar examples, most notably masturbation by girls which was considered a pathology related to hysteria. The recommended treatment was as simple as it was radical: the excision of the clitoris. Our misogynous patriarchal society has always suffered from a particular pathological condition that we derisively call SOS Sexist Obscurantist Syndrome, which is characterized by an obsession "to normalise" at all costs all aspects dealing with genitals and customs. To cure the medical community of this syndrome is doomed to failure if society does not evolve. 

It  will be queer feminist organisations and intersexed human rights advocates who, in the not too distant future, could influence our society and thereby the medical community.