1st of all I would like to thank you for not biting off my head. I did not mean to offend anyone, but this is the controversy board, I was reluctant to read your post and I was very glad to see you handled the inquery in a civilzed, politically corretc fashion. That I must truely thank you for. But I do have a few comments in responce to yours, I will go backwards from 6 to 1.
#6.
But that should be the decision of the person the surgery would be performed on, wouldn't it?
And yes sir you are absolutely correct. As we have heard time and time and time again there are a number of individuals who wish they were left alone and allowed to make the descision about surgery for themselves. But I was illustrating how the sight of something "outside of the box" can make many parents quick to look at surgery as a viable option despite the risk. I have seen lots of ambiguous genitalia over the years, so I have a pretty "big box"but this one took me me by surprise in terms of size, and the fact the picture was in color, the child was older than in most pictures you see, and alot of the child (other than the genetalia) was in the picture. for me removed the MEDICAL element, this is no longer a specimine it is a person. And from there my logic gave way to emotions, momentarily.
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.
#3 in regards to the masturbation I did not mean to imply that masturbation should be encouraged or forced upon. It is a natural progression of self discovery that happens all by itself, it starts early and usually continues for the rest of one's life. At some point as a parent, the "birds and the bees" will come up and so will the topic of masturbation. I just thought if the child was given the opportunity to make the descion for surgery, it would be (best in my opinion) to know that orgasms may be impaired. But with the state of current medical technology loss of sensation is not as much of a risk as it was 20 years ago, but none the less the risk still exist.
#2 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.
I do apologize, allow me to clarify, I was speaking in reference to those men/women who undergo a sex change operation. Part of the proceedure involves a year long psychological evaluation. I did not mean to imply that ALL gay/lesbian persons behaved opposite of their physical sex, just a few do.
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.
#1. I can chew on this one for days, unless the person is a chimera or an xx/xy mosaic, thereby making them a TRUE hermaphrodite. All other conditions that can be classified as intersexed, only effect either males or females. Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (formaly Testicular feminization) effects only males, 5 alpha reductase defficciency is very very very similar to AIS and it to effects only males. Progesterone induced virilization effects only girls. Micro penis and hypospadias effect only males, and even then they are only classified as intersexed when the cases are severe. Klifeeter syndrome (I know I seriously mispelled that) effects only Males. Transposition of the SRY gene to the X chromosome of a female will produce a male with female genes or the deletion of the SRY gene from the Y chromosome will produce a female with male genes.
Once you take a serious look at who, what, where, why and how sexual differentation takes place, you will soon find yourself lost in a sea of almost endless possibilites, and there it becomes very difficult to place someone in a catagory of male or female. Anyone else who does'n fit the mold is called intersexed. Which as you pointed out (unless you know some one who can possibly be classified as such, or have an extensive understanding of the word) most people severly don't understand the meaning of the word intersexed. For example, the difference between AIS and 5 ARD is how testosterone is proccessed in the body at the cellular level. The difference between Klienfelters syndrom and Gynemastica (a condition that is not deemed intersex) is on the genetic level. Both appear to be men, both have penises and testicles, both have breast. Klinfeter syndrom, the person has at least 2 X chomosomes in addition to the Y. The gynemastic suffer has a normal compiment of male genes. I can go on and on, but I think i've gotten slightly off my point.
In regards to CAH the virilization effects only girls (not all of them) but none the less virilized girls regardless of the underlying cause are "officialy" classifed as intersexed, until a true diagnosis can be made, until the diagnosis is made one can't be sure that the child is a girl at all . CAH is unique becasue the underlying cause #1 effects both sexes, #2 it can be life threatening, #3 and most important, the underlying cause has absolutely nothing to do with sexual differntation and has nothing to do with male/female genes. has nothing to do with gonadal tissue. The underlying cause is the adrenal gland and it's functions, or lack there of.
You pointed out CAH girls are used to boost the total number of intersexed claims. Which may be true. But allow me to point out CAH in girls is almost the most common form of "not sure if it is a boy or a girl" and it is the easiest to both spot, diagnose and treat. AIS is just as common, but much harder to spot, especially if it is a complete form of the syndrome. Also with CAH if a parent is distressed about how their girl looks below the belly button, surgery can be used to make "adjustments" (even though I don't lik the idea of cosmetic surgery, that is the reality of the situation). Surgery can't make an complete AIS person a boy or a man. In the past boys with micropenis, sometimes some small it's no bigger than the average clitoris, have been castrated and raised as girls because the doctors couldn't "build him up" and that creates another Joan/John case.
I see CAH is used deffinately to fuel the fire of for genital surgery and the controversy surrounding it. Once agian AIS surgeries to feminize what appear to be virilized girls (but there not) are just as common as surgeries for CAH (at least they appear to be based on what i read) but CAH is at the fore front and AIS and others are on the back burner. I have run out of steam on this issue and I now have a headache. But i think I have given enough to continue this conversation at a latter time. I apologize if I have offended anyone it is not my intent, I just seek knowledge and understanding.
