I have a few questions for a position paper....

[kasitl]

Ah, I hope I'm following the rules correctly....

Hey, I’m doing a paper on why gender-assignment surgery should not be preformed on infants, and I was wondering if I may ask a few questions, as I need some sources and can not remember the name of a documentary I saw that would provide some “case studies”/ examples.

First, does anyone have, or can link to, any first-hand accounts of having received the surgery as a child? Are you happy with your parent’s choice, or are/were you displeased in any way? Did you have to undergo multiple surgeries? Does your anatomy function properly, or are there complications (leakage, need for hormone replacement, etc)? Did you have gender-identity issues, or any other psychological issues related to your anatomy and the surgery while growing up? If so, to what degree, if it’s not too personal a question?

On the flip side, for those who were not given surgery as a child, are you happy that you were left unaltered? Did you suffer confusion about your anatomy or gender identity while growing up? If so, to what degree, if it’s not too personal a question? Did other children tease you about your anatomy? If so, was this particularly hurtful compared to any bullying received for other reasons, was it about on par, or less hurtful?

Sorry for popping in and joining just to ask a few questions and go. ^-^’ I’m not intersexed myself, but I rather dislike people doing “cosmetic” surgeries on kids that can’t consent, let alone speak, so I thought it’d be a good topic for a position paper (and hey, a good way to educate some others that this issues exists; when I showed my teacher the outline, I had explain what “intersexed” means...).

Thanks.

[Priestess]

Originally Posted by kasitl

First, does anyone have, or can link to, any first-hand accounts of having received the surgery as a child? Are you happy with your parent’s choice, or are/were you displeased in any way? Did you have to undergo multiple surgeries? Does your anatomy function properly, or are there complications (leakage, need for hormone replacement, etc)? Did you have gender-identity issues, or any other psychological issues related to your anatomy and the surgery while growing up? If so, to what degree, if it’s not too personal a question?

yes
no
yes
1, that I know of.
no
yes
yes, but I didn't realize it until in hindsight
serious, life-sabotaging/ruining.

[Priestess]

If your paper isn't an emergency, you can turn on private messaging in your control panel after 5 days or 5 posts, and I might have less cryptic answers.

[RGMCjim]

I was born with ambiguous genitals in 1957. I had no surgery. My parents were told that only exporitory surgery could tell what my internal sex was, but that was an extreme thing to do for something that really didn't matter. The doctor told my parents to dress me in green and yellow, call me a nick name and wait to see what happened. The older I got the more I looked, acted and was seen as a little boy and that's what I called myself. I identified with Daddy. So, my parents raised me as a boy. Gym class was not a problem. My father explained my "birth defect" to my gym teachers and they looked out for me and took care of me. I was told very young that I would not be able to have children like other men, but I could adopt. (I eventually did just that!) I never had gender dysphoria, never struggled with identity issues. I did struggle with sexual orientation issues because I'm gay and being intersexed complicated that. I tried to force myself straight and it didn't work. I didn't start puberty and had to be given hrt which I've been on my whole adult life.

My mother seemed ok when I was young but should have had counceling that was never offered. She was convinced I was a monster, it was her fault for taking the progestin and that everyone was going to blame her for my being a freak. Her problems influenced my relationship with my youngest brother, but I had a good one with my other brother. My Dad and fraternal Grandmother had no problems with my being different.

At the age of 44 I had my first full workup for being intersexed and learned that I'm actually XX, have small ovaries and uterus that don't and couldn't ever work, and a closed over vagina which they opened for me. I later found out that in addition to progestin exposure in utero I have CAH.

I strongly recommend that you buy "Intersex and Identity the Contested Self", by Sharon Preeves. It will be an invaluable resource for your paper and you can get it from amazon.com.

Best of luck!

Jim

[kasitl]

Thank you both for the replies! ^_^

Priestess - The paper is due tomorrow and I just finished writing it, so a PM will not be necessary. Though vuage, the information you provided was sufficient, and worked into the paper very well. Thank you. ^_^

RGMCjim - Thank you as well. Unfortunately I don't have the time to order the book for this particular paper, but I'll keep it in mind for future reference, as it may be handy for a future paper/creative work/role-playing/pleasure reading. It sounds like a very interesting book....

Thank you both once again. ^^

[Priestess]

Oh, you're welcome. But I'm almost afraid to ask how intersex fits into role-playing?