The Five Sexes PDF

Hermaphrodite by Ann Fausto-Sterling - a Biologist and Historian  Comes from the Greek names ‘Hermes’ and at Brown University ‘Aphrodite.’  In her article, ‘The Five Sexes,’ Fausto-Sterling challenges the conventional way of HERMES –the...

Hermaphrodite by Ann Fausto-Sterling - a Biologist and Historian  Comes from the Greek names ‘Hermes’ and at Brown University ‘Aphrodite.’  In her article, ‘The Five Sexes,’ Fausto-Sterling challenges the conventional way of HERMES –the messenger of the gods, patron of categorizing people as exclusively ‘male’ or music, controller of dreams or the protector of ‘female’ livestock.  The article provided a glimpse of the APHRODITE- the goddess of sexual love and beauty intellectual debate on Nature vs. Nurture. According to Greek mythology, those two Western culture is deeply committed to the Gods parented Hermaphroditus, who at age 15 idea that there are only two sexes became half male and half female when his body fused with the body of a nymph named Salmacis, “Biologically speaking, there are many gradations who fell in love with him. running from female to male.” INTERSEXUALITY ITSELF IS OLD NEWS One can argue that spectrum lie at least five sexes According to Plato, there once were 3 – and perhaps even more sexes- male, female and hermaphrodite- but the third sex was lost with time Medical literature uses the term intersex as a The Jewish books of laws (TALMUD and catch-all for 3 major subgroups with some mixture TOSEFTA) provided regulations for people of of male and female characteristics. ‘mixed sex’. At the end of the Middle ages in Europe, 3 major subgroups of intersex: hermaphrodites were compelled to choose their 1. HERMS- the so-called true hermaphrodites who sex/gender and ‘stick with it’ possess one testis and one ovary; 2. MERMS- the so-called male The Mysterious case of Levi Suydam pseudohermaphrodites who have testes and some  In a period, when women were not allowed to aspects of the female genitalia but no ovaries. vote, being a true hermaphrodite challenged 3. FERMS- the so-called female the rule. pseudohermaphrodites who  is a 23 year old resident of have ovaries and some aspects of the male Salisbury, Connecticut. genitalia but lack testes.  S/he was more female than male and thus could not be allowed to cast a ballot Sex is a vast, infinitely malleable continuum that  To settle the dispute on whether Suydam is a defies the constraints of even five categories female or male, was tasked to examine Suydam.  Based on Dr. Barry’s diagnosis, Suydam was allowed to vote. However, after the premature diagnosis, it was discovered that Suydam menstruated regularly and had a vaginal opening JOHN MONEY  Psychologist of Johns Hopkins University; Intersexed person specialist in the study of congenital sexual-  Infants with ambiguous sex organs are entered organ defects. into a program of hormonal and surgical  psychologist/sexologist who believed that a management. person could be raised different from his/her  The main reason is that for them to have a biological sex. “normal” life as heterosexual males or females.  He suggested that intersexuals may constitute as many as four percent of births. His most celebrated case, John/Joan, challenges Hugh H. Young (1937) his research on sex reassignment.  Urologist, Johns Hopkins University  In 1967 John was turned into a girl by doctors  He published a book on intersexuality entitled, at Johns Hopkins Hospital. “Genital Abnormalities, Hermaphroditism and  John/Joan suffered in an accident (loss his Related Adrenal Diseases.” penis) during a circumcision when he was only  One of his more interesting cases was a 8 months. hermaphrodite named Emma who had grown  John’s penis was burned during the up as a female; Emma had both a penis-size circumcision, when the electro-cautery needle clitoris and a vagina. (a device used to seal blood vessels as it cuts) malfunctioned. Though it is uncertain if it was DEWHURST AND GORDON (1969) really a mechanical malfunction or doctor’s  In their book, “The Intersexual Disorders,” they error. provided medical and surgical approaches to  In December,1966, the parents of John saw Dr. intersexuality. John Money on a TV program, promoting the Johns Hopkins Hospital as the world’s first The scientific dogma on intersexuality Gender Identity Clinic. “Without medical care, hermaphrodites are doomed to a life of misery.” (Fausto-Sterling, 1993) “He was saying that it could be that babies are born neutral and you can change their gender. Where does the Misery Comes from? Something told me that I should get in touch with  Science able to discipline the ‘unruly bodies’ of this Dr. Money.” -John’s Mother the hermaphrodites through sex reassignment.  On whether the misery is brought by medical  John/Joan experienced the journey from boy complications or a societal pressure ‘to belong’ to girl and back again. He undergone 2 (in either male or female category) is still a phalloplasty to reconstruct his penis. He got contested terrain. married and had three adopted children.  Dr. John Money was one of the experts who Why a need for sex reassignment? advised the sex reassignment of John. Thus, “The answers seem to lie in a cultural need the surgery was done plus a 12-year program to maintain clear distinctions between the sexes.” of social, mental and hormonal conditioning. (Fausto-Sterling)  According to Money, the primary factor that determined an intersexual child’s gender The central mission of medical treatment would be identity was not biological traits but the way to preserve life. that the child was raised. Thus, hermaphrodites would be concerned Modern Anglo- Saxon legal systems require that primarily not about whether they can conform to newborns be registered as either male or female society but about whether they might develop potentially life-threatening conditions. STATE LAWS Control Sex determination Illinois- the state requires a certification The treatment of intersexuality provides a from the performing physician that a sex clear example of what the French historian Michel reassignment was made, before any changes in the Foucault has called biopower birth certificate. Foucault explained how knowledge (such as New York Academy of Medicine has taken an in biochemistry, embryology, etc.) has able to opposite view control our body.  Even if the external genitalia was altered, the chromosomal sex remains the same The irony of freeing the intersex from ‘misery,’ by imposing a certain kind of discipline in the body.  The scientific community has avoided contemplating the alternative route of unimpeded intersexuality. Fausto-Sterling questioned the intention of science in reassigning an intersex into either male or female. Intersexuality confronts scientists/ scholars on the debate between essentialism and constructivism Essentialist View  Sexuality is a biological drive or instinct; female and male nature are fundamentally different.  The mode of thinking that assumes that all manifestations of gender difference are innate and transcultural and historical.  Donald Simons (1979) attempted to demonstrate that there is a female human nature and a male human nature that are distinctly different.  Freud’s theory of sexuality is essentialist in that it describes sexual libido as an innate biological drive. Social Constructionist View  Sexuality, sexual meanings, sexual identities and gender relations are socially defined and controlled.  Sexual behaviour and sexual meanings are subject to the forces of culture.