Anne Fausto- Sterling covers a range of very controversial and challenging issues. Her discussion really stems from the fact that our society only recognizes and embraces two sexes: male and female. Despite ancient civilzations acceptance and admiration for those born hermaphrodites, our modern civilization has strayed very far from this path. Because our culture is becoming extremely sexualized, we are also seeing more pressure being put on individuals to perform their correct gender roles. Females are expected to be prettier and thinner than ever, while males are expected to be in shape and masculine. Although there is a rise in metrosexuality, for the most part these gender roles are adhered to. Thus, the 1.7% of the population that falls in between male and female on the sex- spectrum face a very harrowing life in our black & white society.
Unfortunately, the "standard procedure" for children born intersexual is quite controversial and very hastily executed. When a baby is born with neither/ both or either genitalia the doctors act as quickly as possible to fix this problem. Parents do not have any time to reflect on the situation or reach out to people in similar positions as them, they are forced the make a decisive and life changing decision within a matter of hours. Many prominent figures in the medical field have debated over intersex children and what the proper recourse is. Albert Ellis believed that nurture was more important than nature. If you raise the baby to be a female than that's what it will be. Later, John Money and his team would also come to this same conclusion. Others, such as Dewhurst & Gordon thought that assigning a sex to a new born was essential to prevent them from living a life of shame and freakhood. Doctors are extremely careful in how they word their diagnosis to the parents of an intersex child. They do not want to tell them that their child is inbetween a male and female, so they usually say that they have some sort of abnormality. Doctors do this because when they re-assign a sex to the child it is crucial that the parents believe in the child's sex- for development sake.
Fixing the newborn is usually a very tedious and long-term process. Numerous surgeries, examinations, tests and drugs are needed to allow the child to cosmetically be a sex. Fausto- Sterling points out that these surgeries are very dangerous and unnecessary. Although the child will now have the appearance of a male or female, their organs usually do not function properly. Thus, many intersex children who undergo sexual re-assignment cannot achieve sexual climax, penetration and/ or birth. These surgeries also leave scaring and insensitivity in the child's sexual areas. Fausto- Sterling also believes that male gender re- assignment is done for social purposes and not medical. When a new born has a small penis doctors are inclined to operate so that the child can feel comfortable in social situations. Usually an intersexual male will be infertile, which leaves doctors to simply concentrate on how the penis looks and functions. Thus, the penis is being changed for its relation to other individuals instead of the child's. This is a dangerous path to take. Doctors may hastily convert a small penis into a vagina without giving the penis proper time to grow. This is done because it is much easier to make a male into a female, than it is to re-construct a penis.
As mentioned earlier, doctors do not tell the patient or the parents the full truth and instead abide by societies standards to transform the child into a male or female. The child who has undergone surgeries is not told of their true identity, because they need to be protected fro, the truth. The effects of these lies are seen in the case of John, who lost his penis at 7months old due to a circumcision incident. Doctors transformed John into Joan, hoping that he/she would be able to live a normal life. John / Joan also had an identical twin brother, which would allow researchers to study nature v. nurture. John Money was particularly interested in this case because he was a strong proponent of nurturing in comparison to nature (biology). Milton Diamond strongly opposed this theory, because Money was arguing that all humans were essentially sex- neutral at birth and that nurture could determine a child's sex. When Joan was thirteen years old BBC reported that she was not well adjusted to living as a female. She displayed many male characteristics and eventually had her breasts removed and a penis constructed to complete her transition back to being a male. Diamond concluded that the brain was prenatally gendered and thus re-assignment would usually fail.
It is clear that for the parents of intersexual children there is no easy path to take. Fausto- Sterling suggests that we expand our concept of sex to include: herms, merms and ferms. Of course this is very controversial in a society that has traditionally only had two sexes. She believes that infant genital surgery should be stopped and the patients should be allowed to decide when they are of age. There is no need to perform cosmetic surgery just to make the child conform to our two sex system. Though I am not totally opposed to this notion I do find it troubling that she would compare these operations to that of FGM. Fausto- Sterling briefly discusses doctors who have blatantly ignored parent's wishes and performed these operations, which I find reprehensible.
I currently struggle to figure out where I stand on this issue. I think that children born intersex are going to have a very difficult life with or without surgery. With that being said, I do not think I would particularly like a society that had five sexes. This may be because this idea is so new to me. I know that a two sex society is exclusive, but I'm not sure how comfortable I would feel with the utopian society Fausto- Sterling describes. Again, this may be due to ignorance or just a sheer lack of understand as to how that type of society can function.
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