#1. I have noted, particularly in post from a year or to ago. People here have a serious issue with the term intersexed. Being purely logical (as i try to be) Intersexed issimply a term used to classify ANY condition when the genitals can't be easily classified as Male or Female. When the Dr takes a look, rather than saying boy or girl he says hmmm???. As a example, we all agree CAH females are female, a condition classed as intersexed is Hypospadias which effects males. I never understood why until I saw a picture of a severe case of hypospadias. The external genital appearance was identicle to that of a CAH female at Prader 4. I understand words carry wight beyond thier basic meaning, the term intersexed is no different, but that is my 2 cents.
The biggest problem with the term intersexed being applied to CAH children is the agenda behind such usage. To say CAH is an intersex condition ignores the fact that only girls would fall under the broad definition, and only a few of them. That leaves an unnecessary stigma on those who are not even remotely near, even the broad definition. As for those who do fall under the broad definition, there remains the stigma of people misunderstanding the term as the narrow definition (people who are both male and female). Since no CAH person would be categorized as such, and there remains no real necessity (aside from the political agenda) to use the broad definition, the term is misapplied when used for CAH.
One of the arguments used to include sexual orientation as a classification for anti-discrimination laws is the false claim that it is genetic. By including CAH as an intersex condition the number of people supposedly affected by "intersex" status is greatly increased, yet I have heard people presume that that means all people with CAH are sexually ambiguous. That therefore becomes a red herring in the various debates over homosexuality and the law.
#2. I havent seen it here very often, but elsewhere, I have seen the word Gender used interchangably with sex. I recently went to a website for 3D ultrasound, and one of the tings they offered was "determine your babies gender" That burns me up, I have a real issue with that and I just wanted to voice my frustrations. Lets be logical, SEX is the physical attributes of most multicellular organisms directly related to what type of reproductive cells that organism generates. The male sex produces sperm, the female sex produces eggs, hermaphrodites produce both. GENDER is the behavior assosiated with the sex in human society. Males are supposed to act a certain way and females are supposed to act a certain way. When a person is gay or lesbian psychologist call the gender disphoria, the behavior is opposite of the physical sex. (I know my spelling sucks, please don't get on me about it, my spelling erros don't deminish the validity of my statments)
That's the first time I've heard that distinction being made. The American Heritage Dictionary notes the distinction while Websters does not. I think you are using some bad definitions, though in regards to homosexuals. Not all homosexual men act feminine, and not all lesbians act masculine so claiming that homosexuality produces a gender/sex behavioral flip/flop ignores reality. Sexual preference is not the sum total of one's sexual identity.
BTW, my spelling is usually bad, too. That's why I wrote and included the spell checker that can be used on posts here.
#3 I understand surgery for medical reasons, I used to be strictly against surgery for purely cosmetic reasons, but I have come to realize 99.9% of the people who make such descisions are not driven by pure logic. Emotions play a role, the emotional conciderations of the child is taken into acount and a whole lot of other things go into the descision a parent would make for their child. Personally I am a big advocate for orgasms. That is something I can't see myself willing taking away from my child. True surgeries have improved a great deal since yester year, but it is still a risk to sensation and orgasm. I had thought to myself if surgery for cosmentic reasons is the route you had choosed for your child to take has anyone concidered waiting till after the child has learned to masturbate and maybe then have some understanding as to what they may loose.
There are some serious emotional/psychological drawbacks to masturbation, so encouraging or promoting it would be a bad thing. Unless there are medical reasons for surgery -- it's best to wait until the child is old enough to participate in the decision.
#4. In most pictures I have seen of CAH and a few other intersexed conditions. The glans are exposed. I have seen lots and lots. In only 2 were the glans not exposed and covered by foreskin. I have seen in a very old medical book 3 cases of CAH, the child circumcised because they initialy were raised as males. So my questioned is this. Are CAH females or intersex children for that matter routinely circumcised or is the foreskin easily retracted, particularly for picture taking purposes (I know it sounds like a realy stupid question so allow me to rephrase it.) do male type circusisions take place on those with ambiguous genitalia on purpose or by accident in modern times (1980s and beyond)
I couldn't answer this. I have no experience with it.
#5. Final question, I have see a photo of what I would concider Prader 4.5, essentially a male like penis, when erect there is a slight chordee of the glans (not sever but noticeable doward curve), of course there is cryptorchidism, but the urogenital sinus is not completely sealed, and opens at the base of the phallus.
I recently visisted a spanish website about CAH, I don't speak or read spanish but you know what they say, a picture is worth a 1000 words. Anyway they went through the prader scale 1 - 5 with actual photographs. Obviously Prader 5 in identical to a male with undesended testes. the picture immddiately after that was of an individual with what i concider parder 4.5. Based on the development of the child from the lower chest to the knee, the relative size of the child in relation to the hand of the examiner, and the fact the child used her right hand to lift up her shirt (the right elbo and a piece of the forarm was partialy visible. I concluded the child was relatively old (compared to most other pictures of this sort). But no hair was present on the genitals which means the child had not yet reached puberty. I did note how large the clitoris was, virtually identicle to a penis, and much larger than the clitorises in the previous 5 pictures (relatively speaking) so my question is, does the clitoris just keep growing and growing if left untreated?
Again, I couldn't answer this. I have no experience with it.
