So it doesn't create another tangled tangent on another thread. Question: Child is born a hermaphrodite, they are given sexual organs to define them into one way or the other, and hormone treatments as they reach puberty in order to ensure they develop in the chosen way. As they grow up, they decide they are not the gender they were given at birth. What are the implications of this?
IIRC that actualy happens/ed a lot. If I remember correctly hermaphrodites are always surgically made into a particular gender (cant remember which) and this has cuased many problems when the person realises they arn't what they are supposed to be.
Not always. It's up to the parents. There are adult hermaphrodites wandering about the planet to refute your statement.
Isn't it rare to be born with two complete sets of functioning genitalia? Or are there a select group who can literally go fuck themselves?
It's rare, but it happens. I think the most common version though is having both underdeveloped, or in a form where you can't tell what is what (eg gigantic clit versus miniscule penis), or neither at all.
To me the implication of your scenario tends to point out that gender identity is genetic and not hormonal or influenced by societal inputs.
Not really... Firstly, how does saying injections of hormones means that hormones are not influential? Secondly, as you see from the poll, there are multiple options that exclude the societal vision of gender as being exclusively man or woman. Character limits prevent me from writing "biological sex" where appropriate in the poll.
Hermaphrodite and should be whatever gender they choose - male, female, bit of both, neither, etc. The parents and doctors shouldn't be needlessly surgically or hormonally messing with a person's body without the person's consent, which can wait until the kid's nine or ten and has some idea of who they are.
Actually, puberty could end up the deciding factor if the child was left alone. I think I would be inclined to wait and see if I was the mother of such a child. It would be unfortunate enough that the subject was confused without making it worse for my offspring by guessing wrong.
They've also found cisgendered females with XY, cisgendered males with XX, and of course there are the XXYs and mosaics . . . sorry, chromosomes aren't the be-all-and-end-all of sex that folks would like to think.
No point in our pursuing this discussion, you fancy gender as nothing more than a state of mind, no need to involve science in what to you is strictly a matter of faith. So let me cut to the chase and again say, god bless, and your beliefs are just as valid as any others.
Oh I wouldn't discount the value of chromosomes when it comes to gender identification. Claiming that chimerism disproves a connection between chromosomal make-up and gender seems foolish. If anything it suggests our understanding of the connection is not complete, not that there is none.
