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* Transsexuality *
Transsexual people perceive themselves as members of gender or sex that is different from the one they were assigned at birth. Many transsexual people pursue hormone and/or surgical interventions to make it easier to live as members of the gender or sex they identify as.
* Intersexuality *
"Intersex" is the word that describes those of us who, without voluntary medical interventions, possess bodies that doctors can't neatly classify as male or female. This includes people who have chromosomal sex other than XX (female) or XY (male), or primary or secondary sex characteristics that defy the medical definitions of male and female. Somehow, doctors get freaked out when a newborn baby is found to be intersexed, and often mutilate her or his genitals to conform them to the doctors' idea of what a normal baby should look like, even though intersex conditions usually do not threaten the health of the infant. Parents are often not given enough information or support to make an informed decision regarding their babies' care.
Examples of intersexuality include:
(1) "Hermaphrodite": An old medical term describing intersex people. Many intersex activists reject this word due to the stigmatization arising from its mythical roots and the abuse that medical professionals inflicted on them under this label. Some intersex people use this word as a "pride word" like "queer" and "dyke," but non-intersex people should avoid this term.
(2) "Ambiguous genitalia": Many intersex activists contest the use of this phrase to describe their bodies because the ambiguity is with the society's definition of male and female rather than their bodies.
(3) "True hermaphrodite and Male- or Female- Pseudo Hermaphrodite": Medical taxonomy of intersex people, also known as "herm, merm and ferm." Aside from the fact these distinctions are virtually meaningless in the lives of intersex people, these terms imply authenticity and ranking of intersex people and thus dis-empowering.
* Intersexuality & Transsexuality *
Some transsexual people and their advocates argue that transsexuality is a form of intersexuality that manifests in brain, citing preliminary researches suggesting a possible biological "cause" of transsexuality, or "gender identity disorder."
However, this argument completely misses the point that intersexuality is not about whether or not something is biologically rooted, but about how our bodies are treated by the medical authority as we grow up and live. While some transsexual people are in fact also intersexed, most transsexual people do not experience involuntary medical "treatment" to "correct" their physical sex, for example.
The complex nature of gender identity becomes problematic in various ways as trangendered persons find themselves in conflict with set societal gender constructions:
The Oppression of Trans & Intersex People Transgendered people's acceptance in GLB community Revolutionary or Reinforcing Old Stereotypes? Violence Against Transsexuals |
