Medically inaccurate novel exploits the intersexed and misinforms the reading public

[Peggy]

A somewhat entertaining read, but if writers (like this one and that of a certain other novel with an intersex protagonist) want to throw in the bimmick of intersex to sell a book no one would look at otherwise, they ought to at least do some research and fact-checking.

Plot outline (spoiler):

Wayne is born with a testis on one side of his body and an ovary on the other. He has a well-developed penis and also an externally opening vagina. His father decides he is to grow up as a boy and he has surgery to close the vaginal opening.

When Wayne begins to develop breasts at puberty, he is given testosterone pills which suppress female pubertal development and promote male development. However, Wayne has both masculine and feminine personality traits, and a baby sitter encourages his dual identity by calling him "Annabel", after her own daughter who drowned as a child. He is fascinated by the sequined bathing suits synchronized swimmers wear, and obtains one at around age 8, wearing it clandestinely (indoors only - the book is set in Labrador :rolleye13 ) until he outgrows it.

As a young adult, Wayne gets sick due to accumulated menstrual blood that has no place to go. Doctors treat this be reopening his vagina and reveal his hermaphroditic condition to him. Then he is confronted with the need to decide what to do about his dual selfhood.

Medical inaccuracies:

1.) True Hermaphroditism (i.e. testicular and ovarian tissue in the same person) does happen, and sometimes (but exceptionally) even as neatly as a testis on one side and an ovary on the other. However, no matter what the etiology of in-between genitalia, a well-developed penis would not coexist with an externally opening vagina. Development of the penis requires a high level of androgens prenatally, but unfused labia that leave the vagina open require a very low level of androgens prenatally

2.) When ambiguous genitalia look male-like externally but there is also a female reproductive tract, it is always connected internally with the urinary tract, so menstrual blood ends up in the urine and appears to be "hematuria". Human beings are never born with two separate sets of genitalia, one male and one female. It is always one set of structures.

3.) There is, unfortunately, no practical way to administer testosterone or similar androgens by orally by tablet.

The story as a whole closely resembles a MtF transsexual's fantasy, and left me wondering whether the author got her inspiration from (made-up) online stories of transsexuals discovering they were really anatomically intersex after growing up unaware of it, or perhaps similar fabricated stories reported as true in books. She appears to have definitely not gotten her information from accurate sources like the medical literature, let alone real life.

The nudity in the cover image, of what appears to be a prepubertal person without gender signifiers, seems calculated to appeal to fetishist fantasies. The (photoshopped in?) hint of breast fullness on the left side only suggests intended perpetuation of yet another medically inaccurate freakish misconception (that a human can have feminizing puberty on one side but masculinizing puberty on the other side).

Friendly greetings to all,

Peggy

[peaceandparty]

hi peggy

interesting and also some good points made

but the reality is is that the book is obviously fictional characters and essentially fiction

its like the movie film XXY
the protagonist is similar to wayne in the book
after the movie XXY
audiences were believing that I ,their famed xxy, am a true hermaphrodite
and that i must have the two external genetalia that "males" and "females" have!

so,there are many people out there warping realities
another but is this:medical science has continued to label so many bodies without negotiating with the people they label first or ever!
babies are continuously born with "ambiguous genetalia"
science can explain
but doctors cover these "errors" up with "corrective surgery"

we must break away from the idea that the perfect barbie and kens can never truly exist,forget about even mentioning the rarities of true hermaphrodites
barbies and kens in their human forms dont exist
lets break away from the two tiered sex system altogether

and not worry about films,books or articles that someone expresses for others to see,no matter how they see it!

we are all one but we are not the same

[Dianne]

That's why it falls into the genre of FICTION!

[louisev]

That's why it falls into the genre of FICTION!

Herein lies the paradox of 'fiction' - in order for fiction to be a meaningful and valuable product it has to have believability, and in certain genres, there are rules that require verisimilitude, otherwise, the work runs the risk of being labeled as fantasy, alongside the vampires and unicorns and Harry Potter. Historical fiction requires a certain adherence to history; crime fiction, adherence to forensic science and police procedure, etc It is a valid criticism of a book that purports to have an 'intersex' main character, that medical details should not be completely fantastical in nature. At that point it becomes bad fiction, and ends up being a disservice and at worse, provide misapprehension and disinformation. And Peggy brings up a valuable question which is, when novels such as this come out, are they really festishistic fantasies thinly disguised as 'intersex fiction' ?

[peaceandparty]

:smash:

order in the court!!

i guess with the above persons logic

we ought to stop directors making movies about aliens
seeing as we are not sure how the look like
we ought to stop making end of the world scenarios then too
seeing as we dont know exactly how that would ever happen

the film called XXY
would also be a film for many to criticise
because of its lack of preciseness on what exactly an xxy is
it gives a wrong impression of xxys as a whole
but its an excellent film,orth seeing for the points of identity,sexuality and fitting in and being an outcast based on societies perceptions as to what someones genetalia should look like ig they look a certain way

i think there is far too much criticisers and too many criticisms been made
think about this.....is it better that the author didnt write this book in your humble opinions?
should they go back to the drawing board?
and while we are telling these authors and directors to stop the scandalous fiction,should we also tell most of the medical establishment that they are also wrong in many of their reports on intersex people and their conditions?

i am on the side of the fence where we have ears and feelings
and good filters and respect for expression is high priority
baaaaah

[peaceandparty]

a few spelling mistakes made
due to a faulty keyboard and part evening blindness from my side

[Peggy]

Greetings, BLO-ggers,

Louise wrote,
...in order for fiction to be a meaningful and valuable product it has to have believability... Historical fiction requires a certain adherence to history; crime fiction, adherence to forensic science and police procedure, etc.

Yes, and that even applies, in a different way, to genres of fiction where the setting itself is fictionalized . Most science fiction depends on yet-to-be-invented technologies, but the best of it doesn't strain our credulity too much about what could be invented. The important thing, though, is that science-fictional technology is recognized as made up for entertainment.

PeaceandParty wrote,
i guess with the above persons logic...we ought to stop directors making movies about aliens ...[and] ... end of the world scenarios then too...

Some fiction creates a whole made-up universe with its own set of rules. The animated cartoon, The Fintstones, with its dinosaur-powered machines and other humorously preposterous anachronisms has a lot of value as entertainment. Of course, no one over age five really believes that The Fintstones is an accurate portrayal of how our paleolithic ancestors lived.

The trouble with a book like Annabel is that most readers will think the medical (and psychological) aspects of the story are just as accurate as the fact that it snows in Labrador. They won't think that part is fiction also; they might even think the book is educational.

PeaceandParty wrote,
...its like the movie film XXY the protagonist is similar to wayne in the book...

The medical information in the film XXY is not so much inaccurate, as incomplete and confusing. My main objection to XXY (and my second objection to Annabel) is that it uses the concept of intersex for sexual exploitation.

*** XXY Plot Spoiler (& graphic content) Warning ***

XXY the film has a ridiculously contrived, unrealistic, sexualized plot.

Alex, the androgynously named and appearing 15-year-old protagonist of XXY has ambiguous genitalia and grew up as a girl. (A few details suggest she has CAH, not an 47XXY karyotype.)

Alex approaches one of her parents' houseguests, a reluctant boy her own age, with adult-like predatory seductiveness. When she soon thereafter lures him into an abandoned building, - surprise! - she penetrates him. Alex is afterwards conflicted, but the boy wants to continue the affair. Later, in an extremely hokey plot device, the boy's father tells him that he had been reassured by his involvement with the girl, Alex, that he does not have homosexual tendencies. Ironically, the boy realizes that what he likes about Alex is that she is able to penetrate him anally.

XXY... it's an excellent film worth seeing for the points of identity,sexuality and fitting in and being an outcast based on societies perceptions...

I actually didn't think the film XXY was like that at all. My impression, as a person who grew up (like the film protagonist) with genitalia that contradicted my sex-of-living, was that it had very little to do with the real-life problems inherent in that situation and everything to do with exploitative audience titillation. If they had made a porno movie titled Hermaphrodite Freak Orgy, I would have minded it less; at least that would have been honest about the film's intent.

...is it better that the author didn't write this book [Annabel]...

Are you basically saying that any media exposure intersex gets is a plus, that we shouldn't quibble about the details? (Just as some doctors seem to think patients ought to be grateful for any and all treatment they receive?)

I'm against censorship, so I'm reluctant to say any book should not have been written, - but - once a book is published, it is fair game for criticism.

The author and publishers of Annabel (and similar fiction) should not get credit for presenting medical and psychological facts accurately - because they did not.

They should not get credit for writing about issues important to real-life intersex persons - because they did not.

They should not get credit for avoiding trashy, sexualized, tabloid-like exploitation - because they did not.

...while we are telling these authors and directors to stop the scandalous fiction, should we also tell most of the medical establishment that they are also wrong in many of their reports on intersex people and their conditions?...

Yes, definitely we should become aware of what the medical establishment is reporting (by actually reading what they report) and give our own educated, informed, and well-thought-out criticism.

One thing we should not do is reject anything and everything that comes from conventional medicine based only on the source; and then embrace anything and everything that comes from an alternative source. I'm thinking here not just of fiction written for entertainment, but also of a number of books written in recent years by social scientists and ivory-tower academics. These books are very critical of the conventional medical establishment but don't always reflect much knowledge or insight about real-life intersex persons.

Friendly greetings to all,

Peggy

[louisev]

One thing for certain is that I won't be reading "Annabel" - or watching "XXY" or reading "Middlesex" for that matter, any year soon!

[peaceandparty]

One thing for certain is that I won't be reading "Annabel" - or watching "XXY" or reading "Middlesex" for that matter, any year soon!
i wonder why ever not!
again ....just wondering


peggy
xxy the movie is truly not very sexually explicit
its a european independent style film
not your typical hollywood- show no bare breasts or especially not even a hair from the pubic hairs of any characters-film

though if you think of
eyes wide shut

[Andre]

One thing for certain is that I won't be reading "Annabel" - or watching "XXY" or reading "Middlesex" for that matter, any year soon!

You know, I have always wanted to watch it but the fact that XXY is only the title and a rather false representation of KS (as it is CAH), I really am not so curious. Enough that most will get what KS is quite false never mind CAH. Would you believe my daughter's dermatologist "diagnosed" her as CAH because her T was high ? She is 11 going on 12, guess where the hormones are at this point ?

I called him an idiot.

Andre

[galens47]

I've watched XXY, my mom wanted to see it when she visited me. It was ok, but definitely false.

Andre - A derm has no business Dx'ing endo issues.

Louisev and Peggy - I agree that the fiction based on science needs to be accurate. However; if the author were to have a caveat stating that the ideas are stylized or of fantasy, then the sky is the limit for expression.

I have a copy of middlesex but have not cracked it. I feel it is useful to read/watch whats out there to help debunk the myths.

Cheers,

G

[The Female Eunuch]

the other danger is that fantasy stories of impossible intersex conditions lead to people thinking intersex is itself a fantasy.

[louisev]

the other danger is that fantasy stories of impossible intersex conditions lead to people thinking intersex is itself a fantasy.

Which many people are pre-disposed to do anyway, I agree wholeheartedly. When I explained my situation to a friend of mine, she thought I was making up some sort of bizarre story and insisted that I was completely "feminine enough". It was maddening.