Leading Post: Of Gender and Genitals & Should There Be Only Two Sexes

Anne Fausto-Sterling – Of Gender and Genitals

This chapter is very informational with descriptions of the 4 different types of intersexuality: CAH, AID, XO, and XXY. Sterling also sheds light on how physicians respond when they are encountered with a sexually ambiguous infant. Sterling shows how infant genital surgeries are rash and impulsive decisions and are based off of baseless standards such as penis size. What is more outraging is how the decision can be made based on which surgery is easier for the surgeon. The manner in which physicians approach intersex infants supports our society’s strong disapproval for anything that strays away from the norm and even the health of these intersex patients are insignificant, thus, arbitrary medical decisions are acceptable.

Another problem is how uninformed physicians want the parents to be. The parents are not told the whole truth and are not given enough time to deliberate and make a decision. Surely, not enough time is given to the child to choose for him or herself. Sterling’s description of how physicians operate in this type of situation makes me wonder about malpractice and if society even cares if this is seen as malpractice…

Anne Fausto-Sterling – Should There Be Only Two Sexes?

Sterling proposes her 3-step plan towards positive change in this chapter.

1.) A change in medical management of intersexual infants and a cessation of unnecessary infant genital surgeries
2.) An assignment of a provisional sex
3.) Provide long-term counseling for the parents and the child.

I like Anne Fausto-Sterling’s 3 steps towards change, especially the first one regarding the cessation of infant genital surgery for cosmetic reason and social results. I think that it is outrageous for physicians, who ostensibly have our best interests in mind, to disregard the high failure rate of such surgeries, the happiness and well-being of the patient, as well as the function of specific body parts in order to please the two-gender system.

The medical argument about aesthetics over function makes me think about the second wave feminists and the fight for sexual revolution. This entire argument over the clitoris and the belief that male sexual pleasure is more important fits right into the agenda of second wave feminists. This is something that should be given more attention to because physicians are basically inducing lifelong physical and mental pain to their patients. Some patients say that they never truly recover from a clitorectomy, vaginoplasty, or phalloplasty. Patients suffer from dense scarring, hypersensitivity, and even the inability to achieve orgasm. If the medical field exists to heal people and maintain the health of people, the medical field’s response to intersexual infants does not reflect this philosophy. Someone needs to be called out because something has got to change.