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http://www.nature.com/news/sex-redefined-1.16943
Sydney M
An interesting article from Nature
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Comments
Wish they would have added in-utero changes also
Non-chromosomal ones, chemical ones for wont of a better word. I strong suspect I am one of the Diethylstilbestrol babies, my mother being given it to 'support' her pregnancy and stuff. I had abnormally small genitalia though functional. Point is, genetic or not, we should be given the latitude to determine our own sexual identity. Too bad that was not encompassed in the article ending.
I think the article does just as you ask.
“My feeling is that since there is not one biological parameter that takes over every other parameter, at the end of the day, gender identity seems to be the most reasonable parameter,” says Vilain. In other words, if you want to know whether someone is male or female, it may be best just to ask.
The final few lines of the article.
Angharad
This is important !
I'm XXY, and they say the Y chromosome was too defective to do much. Yet, I fathered children. I wish I could say that I know most people will read it, but since the article is not about sex, or making money, perhaps not.
Gwen
If in doubt, ask.
This article is beautifully summed up at the end:-
"So if the law requires that a person is male or female, should that sex be assigned by anatomy, hormones, cells or chromosomes, and what should be done if they clash? “My feeling is that since there is not one biological parameter that takes over every other parameter, at the end of the day, gender identity seems to be the most reasonable parameter,” says Vilain. In other words, if you want to know whether someone is male or female, it may be best just to ask."
Nature 518, 288–291 (19 February 2015)
Rhona McCloud
I didn't find out that I was intersex until...
I didn't find out that I was intersex until I was 4 years into my transition. Like most trans people, I became aware at an early age that something was wrong with me, that I was different and just wasn't like any of the boys I knew. Growing up in the 1950's and 60's in a small rural farming community, there was no way for me to find the information I needed to figure out just where I fit into the gender spectrum, so I just continued to live in ignorance for much of my life. After switching to broadband internet in 2006 and by late 2007 I finally was able to figure out that out that I was trans. I started my transition in Feb 2008 by starting to see a therapist. By July I was about to start on HRT and had just had a physical exam to insure I didn't have any health issues that would prevent me from starting HRT. A week latter I was severely injured in a work accident that took me over a year to recover from. Of course that put my transition on hold as well. So as a result, I wasn't able to start HRT until March of 2012. During my first visit with my endocrinologist, he discovered extensive surgical scars that could only be from having under gone gender assignment surgery when I was an infant. One my second visit, he gave me the results of of my blood tests and that my hormone levels were "all wacky" He went on to explain that based on my physical characteristics and my wacky hormone levels strongly suggested that I might have CAH and that further testing was required.The additional tests came back negative for CAH and that I was 46XY. Further tests have ruled out PAIS and all of the common causes of intersex conditions. However, they did show that whatever intersex condition its that I do have is still actively effecting me at the molecular level. (This did at least explain the case of gynecomastia that I had developed a few years earlier.) This ruled out exposure to DES. One possible DSD that he mentioned is 3-Beta HSD Deficiency, which is related to CAH. However, as my medical insurance won't pay for any additional testing, I will likely never know just what intersex condition it is that I have.
Tamara Jeanne