The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough: Anne Fausto-Sterling

THE FIVE SEXES: WHY MALE AND
FEMALE ARE NOT ENOUGH

ANNE FAUSTO-STERLING
ILLUSTRATION OF THE ISSUE
In 1843 an Individual, Levi Suydam, asked Salisbury, Connecticut to allow him to
vote in a hotly contested election( this person had to ask for the right to vote
because this was 80 years old before women were allowed to vote)
A lot of people objected to the petition because it was said that this person was more
female than male. What do you mean?
A doctor examined him, found a penis and so said he should be allowed to vote and
this vote changed the outcome of the election.
Days later the doctor examined him more closely and Vaginal Opening.
So the debate started all over again: male or female?
EITHER/OR
Western culture is deeply committed to the idea that there are ONLY TWO sexes.
Even our language refuses to acknowledge that there are other possibilities. Must
refer to a third person as he or she.
Legally, every adult must be male of female. If you happen to be somewhere in
between, a choice must be made on your birth certificate.
So what is the problem? If the state has an interest in maintaining a two party sexual
system, it is in defiance of nature because people are not all born completely male or
completely female.
BIOLOGICALLY SPEAKING...
There are actually many graduations running from female to male. In nature, we fine a
spectrum of people, a range, not an either - or.
Intersex- used as a catch all phrase for this spectrum
 Herm (hermaphrodites) posses one ovary and one testis
 Merms (male pseudohermaphrodites) - a possess testes and some aspects of the female genitalia
but not ovaries.
 Ferms (female pseudohermaphrodites) - possess ovaries and some aspects of the male genitalia
but lack testes.
All pseudohermaphrodites possess two gonads of the same kind (all ovaries or all testes) and
they also possess the usual chromosomes for their sex (XY male, XX female), but there
external genitalia and their secondary sex characteristics do not match the chromosomes.
AUTHOR'S ARGUMENT
These three categories deserve to be recognized as three other kinds of sexes (Merms, Herms,
Ferms).
In fact, the author argues further that sex is a vast, infinitely malleable continuum that defies the
constraints of even five categories
One researcher has some evidence that suggests up to 4% of births are intersexed (other stats
show 2%, 1to 50)
For most this number seems shockingly high. Consider why this might be.
Most intersexed individuals are recognized at birth.
The individual is then often put into a particular F or M sex category through surgery. It is often
unlikely that extended family or friends would even know. Some individuals may not even
know they had surgery as infants.
Q: Why does the medical community wants to surgically make these individuals male or female
'right away' or quickly?
BECAUSE
There is an assumption that there are:
 (1) ONLY two sexes, (2) that ONLY heterosexuality is right and (3) that
physiological health can only be attained if one is fully female or fully male.
In theory it is possible for a true hermaphrodite to become both father and
mother of his/her child!(since they have both eggs and sperm).
In practice it is not possible because the tubes do not align in such a way that
the egg and sperm can meet.
HISTORY
This is OLD NEWS! Hermaphrodites are featured in stories about human
origin.
Examples:
Early biblical stories say Adam was a hermaphrodite,
Plato, ancient Greek philosopher, refers there were three sexes,
Jewish books give rules for the correct behavior of the intersexed,
In the Middle Ages Europe forced the intersex to choose a female or male life
and then STICK to it or be punished.
MORE CURRENT ISSUE
Some states allow you to change your official, legal sex if you have had a sex change. Other
states say, that despite your surgery, your sex cannot change (since your chromosomes have
not).
Young- studied hermaphrodites and wrote a book about the life of these individuals.
One patient, Emma, had both a penis and a vaginal opening (making it possible for her to
have heterosexual sex with either gender).
In conversation she said she would often rather be viewed as a man but she was unwilling to
give up her status since it provided her with free time and money to live the life she wanted
to live (as a wife who doesn't have to work).
CONT.
Other doctors have written that to live an intersexed life is to be subject to anguish and
despair. An intersexed life leaves one doomed to live as a freak, alone and frustrated.
So, they say it is very fortunate that we can medically 'fix' the problem.
However, studies that follow the intersexed before such surgeries were possible show that
not ONE was psychologically disturbed and not ONE committed suicide.
The Question: Why should we care if there are people whose biological equipment enables
them to have sex 'naturally' with both men and women?
Answer: There is a cultural NEED to maintain clear distinctions between the sexes. Society
mandates the control if intersexual bodies because they blur and bridge the great divide.
THE PROBLEMS OPPONENTS
RAISE:
What would be the psychological consequences of taking the alternative route
- raising children as unabashed intersexual?
Fraught with peril?
What about cruel kids?
What about showering in front of others?
What bathrooms do these kids use?
How do parents help then get through puberty?
RESPONSE
Almost without exception without these children have grownup
and adjusted to unusual status. There is not instance of a psychotic
or a suicide in the lot of those studied.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
What information in the article was new to you or surprised you or seemed odd to you? How
did this change your thinking about the issue or fail to do so?
The type of clothes we buy our children, the names we allow ourselves to choose for our
children and many of our choices and actions concerning our children seem to depend on
their sex. What should you do if a future baby of yours is intersexed? Whose advice would
you seek out? Do the doctors have the best answers for you? Why or why not?
If you decide to alter the sex of the child to male or female, at what point in the child's
development should this be accomplished? What make this time the RIGHT time?
DIFFERENCE OR DISABILITY?
There is more discussion today about viewing what used to be considered
disabilities are differences that should be respected, not problems to be changed.
So, for instance, many little people are committed to refusing surgery and drug
treatment that could allow them to grow inches taller (through repeatedly breaking
and re-growing bones, thus lengthening them or through a grown hormone).
Some who are blind or deaf also don't view themselves as disabled, but rather as
living life differently from those who can see or hear. This difference valuable, some
say, since they understand life differently (feel/sense the word in different ways than
others). Could or should being intersexed be viewed in the same way? Is this
something that does not need to be fixed? Or is this new movement off-track?

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