Introduction to Intersex and Intersexuality

Abstract

There is an extraordinarily special moment in life for many couples--the magical day when they welcome a newborn child into the word. Everyone is excited for the pink or blue, male or female baby that is being brought into this world. Naturally, people try to prepare for these moments. They set up a nursery, stockpile diapers, and begin to buy clothes and other items so they can be ready for the child about to be. While this would ideally be straightforward thinking and acting for new parents it is not always this simple. Picture the parents prepared and anxious for the news--they are having a boy, or they are having a girl. However, no one can truly prepare themselves for the news that their child is neither male nor female, but that the newborn infant is intersexed. Another term used today to understand the complexity of this situation is to describe this is as someone born with ambiguous genitalia. However, this term still does not fully explain the infrequent situation where this occurs. There are several components that must first be examined in order understand the terms intersex and intersexuality