On 29 Sep 2011 at 12:21, Beth Benoit wrote: Just a little nitpicking....the character in Middlesex is a pseudohermaphrodite. A "true hermaphrodite" is much less common. A true hermaphrodite has sex organs of both genders, not just organs that appear to be ambiguous, such as what may appear to be an enlarged clitoris or a micropenis. 5-ARD affects only males.
Then Beth said: I probably should have made my previous post a little more clear: a 5-ARD male, while possibly having some primary female sex characteristics, will not have true female reproductive organs and will not have a uterus and ovaries, and thus cannot become a "mother." ------------- I agree. There is no such thing as a "true hermaphrodite". People have only one kind of primary sex organ. It may be male-typical, female-typical, or in-between, but no one has one of each kind. Alice Dreger has a witty and authoritative discussion of this issue here: http://alicedreger.com/both_sets_of_genitals.html I also agree that the term I should have used in describing the protagonist in _Middlesex_ should have been "intersex" rather than "transgender" (I'm out of practice on these matters). For one, that's what the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) advocates, as they describe in their FAQS, here (http://www.isna.org/faq/transgender ) and here (http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex ). And also here (http://www.isna.org/faq/hermaphrodite ). Tricky stuff. Stephen -------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada e-mail: sblack at ubishops.ca --------------------------------------------- --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=13038 or send a blank email to leave-13038-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
