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BDSM Dictionary : Intersex: history
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This entry is part of the BDSM Dictionary hosted by Informed Consent.
This is the version from 17 Sep 06, 9:13 PM. The full history of this entry will show any more recent versions.
Intersex: anyone born with a genital or 23rd pair chromosomal abnormality may be described as having an "Intersex Condition".
Such is society's longing for normalcy and simplicity that it only allows for two sexes: male and female. People born with an intersex condition cannot be said to be definitively either male or female. Dependent on their chromosomal make-up, they are usually assigned to one gender or the other at birth, either electivly (such as in Kleinfelter's syndrome where the child is outwardly male, but has an XXY chromasomal make-up, or Turner's syndrome where the child is outwardly female, but has an XO chromosomal make-up}, or by surgery if there is any genital ambiguity. This is done to engender their integration into society. However, there are frequently problems associated with this forced assignment to one or other gender.
People assigned to what they feel as "The wrong sex" by surgery at their birth sometimes choose to then undergo another Sex Change to become the sex they felt they should have been all along. Others are forced into hormone treatments at puberty, again to "make them conform to society norms" and find that the intended changes are rapid and usually irreversible.
There are many Intersex activists, working towards their aceptance in a similar manner as Homosexual, Transgender and BDSM activists.
---- Further reading
(This entry in the BDSM Dictionary incorporates text from the Intersex article in Wipipedia.)
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