Question

Please explain what is meant by the concept of genital ambiguity. What lessons does research offer us regarding the relationship of chromosomes and hormones to gender? What do the authors mean when they suggest that the research indicates that neither sex nor gender is dichotomous and that the categories male and female can be inconsistent? Furthermore, sometimes physicians rush to surgically "correct" genital ambiguity stating that this is influenced as much by cultural factors as by medical ones. Explain what this means. Do you agree or disagree that doctors should perform surgeries immediately on the intersexed babies or wait until they can make the decision themselves? Please explain.

Answer 1

Ambiguous genitalia is a biological conditions in which the born infant's external sexual genitals are not formed clearly, i.e. one cannot differentiate as to whether its a male or a female. The baby with this rare condition have their genitalia not formedor have physical characteristics of both the sexes. This isn't symptomatic of a disease but rather it is a form of sex development disorder. Usually the externally formed genital does not match the genetic sex of the baby. The medical team provides the best possible treatment in finalising the sex of the baby, along with the ethical decision from the parents in concern. This can highly stressful for the parents and for the baby, if the condition is left untreated. A major psychological distortion that a child with ambiguous genitalia develops(if left untreated) is gender identity disorder and a sense of spilt psyche, wandering between the lines of 'who am I'?. When authors suggest that the research indicates that neither sex nor gender is dichotomous is that gender is a socially constructed term. The characteristics exhibited by males and females are prescribed by the societal norms.The way both gender expresses emotions is defined by the patriarchy and social structure but the experiences of emotions among both the gender are same. The feel sadness and pleasure with same intensity, but the expression of these varies in each. Even biologically, there are inconsistency in clear cut division between males and females. For example, hormones like testosterone which is responsible of development of secondary sexual characteristics in males, are also present in women, and likewise hormones like estrogen which is responsible for development of secondary sexual characteristics like formation of breast in females, are also present in male body. The only difference is in the production of these hormones, which varies in the bodies of both the sexes. Therefore, there is no clear cut division between males and females and neither there exist a definitive dichotomy between both.Last both not the least, one must be aware of the fact that if genital ambiguity is not treated in infancy among infants, it can create major physical and psychological problems when the infant grows old. For example, unexplained death at early infancy, development of abnormal physical structire during puberty,infertility and absent of menstrual cycle in teenagers with untreated genitalia ambiguity is common. Even though I believe in 'your body, your choice' , but it is more ethical for the parents to decide whether they should allow the doctors to perform surgeries immediately to avoid any kind of risk in future. If this condition is left untreated due to lack of decision on part of the parents, not only the child will suffer physically, but would go through psychological trauma of facing identity crisis and sense of self worthlessness. Hence, parents should be the guiding force and decide what they want best for their children.

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