Intersex, Androgynous, hermaphrodite 陰陽同體
Intersex是指先天基因遺傳突變而產生的陰陽同體人。通常這在一出生時就已經同時具體了兩性的性徵或性器官，但就醫學觀點，這叫「congenital anomaly」或「Gender Identity Disorder」，就是先天性別體系不正常，無法歸類到傳統男性、女性。因此通常當負責接生的醫師遇到陰陽同體嬰兒會建議該父母將嬰兒作「矯正」手術，讓他(她)可以日後過一般正常男女兩性的生活。而通常醫生都會建議父母幫孩子轉為男性，理由是要做出一根陰莖要比做出一個陰道要困難多了(You can dig a hole but you can't build a pole)，除非這嬰兒有很明顯的女性性徵。
而Intersex通常又稱Androgynous或hermaphrodite。通常在過去的醫學觀點，真正的true hermaphrodite很稀少，但具有陰陽同體的嬰兒，根據美國統計的經驗大約是每2000名嬰兒就有一位會有陰陽同體的性徵。而根據最近Johns Hopkins University一項研究報告結果指出，在一項16人的調查指出，這些人在出生時都是具有「小陰莖("micropenis" (where the penis fails to grow for the final two-thirds of the embryo's development))」的嬰孩，在後來長大成人後，有12人接受自己成為男性，有4人轉為女性。因此其比例是3:1。(資料來源: http://gidinfo.home.comcast.net/intersex.htm)
但在同樣主題卻有另一份不同的報告指出不同的觀點，而顯然這份報告觀點是更趨近所謂陰陽同體本位的，摘要如下：
Sixteen participants (76%) were mainly satisfied with their male sex of rearing established by physicians and parents. Five participants (24%) reported dissatisfaction with their male sex of rearing, 1 of whom preferred to think of himself as intersex and 1 reassigned her gender to that of a woman in early adulthood. Fourteen participants (78%) were mainly satisfied with their physician/parent-established female sex of rearing. Four participants (22%) reported dissatisfaction with their female sex of rearing. Among the dissatisfied women, 1 reported that her female homosexual orientation was an obstacle and as a result she would have preferred a male sex of rearing, and 1
subject reassigned his sex to that of an intersexed man in early adulthood. Satisfaction with physician/parent-established sex of rearing did not differ between men and women. [ source ]
其實，研究性別現象在早期的醫學界是非常男性霸權主義的，因此那些醫療研究員往往都是以兩性的觀點在看所有的「不正常的」性別現象，例如在1973年以前，醫學界還一直認為同性戀是一種疾病，患者需要治療以「矯正」他們的性向，但現在看來，會覺得這樣的觀點很可笑。同樣的，現在的陰陽同體者也正面臨類似的狀況，他們必須面對、對抗傳統的醫學觀點或社會認同。
也因此，當LGBT activists也考慮將Intersex一起加入這性別族群的運動而成為「LGBTI Movement」即希望陰陽同體者在未來亦有相關的團體組織為他們爭取社會地位及權益。況且對於醫學界而言，其實陰陽同體者亦是很少被研究的領域，如果抱持任何舊觀念來研究，往往是造成當事者的痛苦。目前已將「LGBTI Movement」放入的組織有East Bay Pride (Oakland)、ACLU Northern California LGBTI及the University of California's system-wide LGBTI Association。
名詞小辭典：
Hermaphrodite：Victorian doctors believed that the gonads were the seat of "true sex," and thus created a system of nomenclature -- in the absence of any knowledge of genetics, endocrinology, or embryology -- which categorized people as "male pseudohermaphrodite," "female pseudohermaphrodite," or "true hermaphrodite." It's time to eliminate this quaint Victorianism from modern medical practice.
The word "hermaphrodite" implies that a person is born with two sets of genitals -- one male and one female -- and this is actually something that cannot occur.
The qualifiers "male" and "female," because they are based only upon the gonadal histology, frequently contradict the sex of assignment, and thus are very misleading and disturbing for parents and patients.
The qualifiers "pseudo" and "true" are even more harmful, because they imply a sort of authenticity, or lack of same, that carry powerful emotional baggage.
As with any contraversial term there are those that support using it. Some intersexed people want to reclaim the word, free of it's Victorian medical misuse.
舊有的陰陽同體者的分法：
Female pseudohermaphrodite - Two ovaries (女性假性陰陽人- 即有兩個卵巢)
Male pseudohermaphrodite - Two testes (男性假性陰陽人- 即有兩個睾丸)
True hermaphrodite - Ovary and/or testis and/or ovotestis (真性陰陽人- 即有同時具有兩個卵巢和兩個睾丸，甚至有的還有卵睾)
Mixed gonadal dysgenesis - Testis plus streak gonad (混合性的(生殖腺)發育不全- 即有睾丸加細小的生殖腺)
Pure gonadal dysgenesis - Bilateral streak gonads (純粹的(生殖腺)發育不全- 即男女兩種生殖腺都發育不全)(A streak gonad is dysgenetic and resembles ovarian stromal tissue. No germ cells are present.)
至於現代新的分法是：
Chromosomally Intersexed - probably the most common form of intersexuality involves people who are either missing a sex chromosome or have extra sex chromosomes. The effects of such a condition vary widely. Some people show no outward signs of being intersexed while in others it is apparent at birth.
Genetically Intersexed - technically would encompass "chromosomally intersexed" people too. However it usually refers to individuals who have normal chromosomal makeup (XX or XY) but have a faulty gene on one of those chromosomes resulting in an intersex condition.
Physically Intersexed - the person has physical characteristics of both male and female. Usually this refers to a person with "ambiguous genitalia" (genitals that do not appear to be "normally" male or female). However it is also sometimes used to refer to anyone with a genetic or chromosomal cause, since those are physical characteristics as well, albeit at the molecular level. This term also encompasses those who present with ambiguous genitalia caused by developmental anomolies in the womb of environmental (termed "Iatrogenic"), rather than genetic, cause.
若是想要進一步資料可到這裡。
http://www.ama.com.au/web.nsf/doc/WEEN-5GA2YX
http://www.intersexinitiative.org/articles/index.html
http://www.intersexinitiative.org/articles/glma-bornqueer.html
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