CarolI think it's very important to distinguish between an abnormal individual and abnormal genitalia. Like you, Lisa, I have looked up the word "intersex" in the dictionary and it says absolutely nothing about the individual being abnormal, only the sexual characteristics. Now, I used the American Heritage Dictionary rather than Webster's, but I would be willing to bet that Webster's says nothing about the person being abnormal, either.Perhaps that is part of the problem here. We are so busy denying things....our daughters are NOT freaks, NOT sideshows, NOT abnormal....therefore NOT intersex. Well, of course, they're NOT any of these things.....whoever said they were??!! Perhaps that is a value judgment we are making, and a conclusion that we are jumping to, all by ourselves. Certainly, the dictionary says nothing of the sort.Neither does the dictionary equate intersex with being a hermaphrodite. Again, perhaps that is a conclusion we are coming to on our own, in our haste to judge and deny. It's interesting that so many people who are offended by the word hermaphrodite, also condemn an organization like ISNA. In fact, you are actually on the same side. On the ISNA website http://www.isna.org there is an article on just this subject. Look to the left on the homepage and click on the link that says "The word hermaphrodite." Here are a few excerpts:"The word "hermaphrodite" is a stigmatizing and misleading word. There is growing momentum to eliminate the word "hermaphrodite" from medical literature....."
"It's time to eliminate this quaint Victorianism from modern medical practice."
"The word "hermaphrodite" implies that a person is born with two sets of genitals -- one male and one female -- and this is something that cannot occur."
I'm not certain why this topic is of such hot debate among people who should ostensibly be on the same side. Perhaps we need to stop talking and denying, and start reading and listening, a bit more carefully.....we might find ourselves surprised by the things that we hear.