Why is it that only a person with tissue from each gender exsisting in their gonads is considered a true hermaphrodite? Gonads are not the only thing that make a person a certain sex, right? Why is it that it's not genetic make up that dictates the use of this term? So then why is it that those chimiric concerning both genders are not true hermaphrodites?...or even 47/xxy for that matter? Why is it solely in the reproductive sense when most true hermaphrodites can't have children in the first place? Isn't there alot more to reproduction then the ovaries and testicles?

I have alot of other questions because I was thinking earlier....Question that can actually be answered probably rather than trying to understand the logic behind a term.....Perhaps there is logic there...I don't know. I was just thinking about it.

I can't remember my questions because when I start thinking about things I get overwhelmed by how complicated it all is and I forget my questions.

I think one was how common was it for someone who is 47/xxy to be a true hermaprodite cause it seems like it would work that way since they have xx AND y......but thats not how it seems to work.


and a term I have heard and read about in a medical encyclopedia that made no mention of intersex was "masculinizing ovarian tumor"

What's that?

What makes that happen?


I'll come back with the rest of my questions when I'm not too exhausted to remember what I was thinking about.

oh...here's another...

Would an example of complete sex reversal be Turners syndrome with no apparent ambiguity but a female phenotype? (Can you tell I've been reading websites?...too bad I can't understand what those big freakin' words mean)

Or what would be an example of complete sex reversal?....Does phenotype or gonads dictate that?

Don't tell me it's when someone has an operation cause I'm thinking something totally different.

"true hermaphrodite" is an outdated medical term for people having 2 or more different sets of chromosomes. It has not necessarily anything to do with gender or sex and a "true hermaphrodite" can have a normal reproductive system.

http://www.gpnotebook.co.uk/cache/590676011.htm

true hermaphroditism

Hermaphroditism is an extremely rare state in which there are both ovarian and testicular tissues:

* there may be a testis on one side and an ovary on the other; or
ovotestes may be present; these are a histological mixture of ovary and testis
The development of the internal and external genitalia varies over a continuum between the typically male and female:

* most have a uterus with other ductal structures being more variable
the phallus varies from a small penis to a large clitoris
a bifid scrotum may appear as enlarged labia

Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease, Cotran, R.S., Kumar, V & Robbins, S.L., 1989, 4th edition, W.B. Saunders Company, p.135

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Not to incite a debate...those are not my intentions but I find it ironic that I just got two different answers.

Is this because of time frame or because of a difference in sources?

My question still remains because a true hermaphrodite...as I understand it...can quite possibly be 46/xx....that's from reading sources like the link above.

So, medically, did it once pertain to chromosomes and if so...how did it change? How did it come to be that the formation of gonads decided who was seen as a true hermaphrodite?

I don't know...it seems to me that the grey area is so big between genders that it makes me wonder what "true grey" is and if there is really a true black and white.

I've always had a problem dealing with the gap between the genders and how the extremes of the polarities manifested itself in this world....the origin of opposites and how they make us so different in not only our bodies, but our minds and our ways of life. This and being straight has brought me to the conclusion that it was put there solely to challenge my will altogether.







I'm kidding.



Some more questions I have are.....has the frequency of intersex changed greatly throughout history.....if there is any way to know that, but that's not really a medical issue.

My other big question among the others is...if there are people on this site that have gone all the way into adulthood without knowing the answers to 'obvious' ambiguities....and if there are cases of complete sex reversal producing a male phenotype with the genetic make up of a female who may not know ...EVER (because I understand that most if not all cases Turners syndrome presents itself at puberty if not before).......then do any of you suspect or have some kind of documentaion that intersex is WAY more common then most people think it is....???

Here's an explanation from the Intersex Initiative (IPDX)


and another one at ISNAs website http://www.isna.org/drupal/node/view/16