Hermaphrodite Headlines Raise Inter-Gender Issues

Both cases have led to a wide range of comment from readers, ranging from supportive and encouraging, through a wide spectrum or more or less informed opinion to outright contempt and disgust. Apparently the possession or lack of appropriate genitalia are highly emotive.

This is perhaps due to a huge pool of confusion surrounding the whole issue of intersexual people, the now common term for what used to be known as a hermaphrodite. It’s another area of sexual ambiguity that many seem to be emotionally ill equipped to deal with.

So what exactly is a hermaphrodite?

Well, in biological terms, it’s simply an animal with both male and female reproductive organs. In human terms, it has been applied to “any person incompatible with the biological gender binary.” The problem is that this can cover a range of cases. In brief, there are three broad types of hermaphrodite in humans:

• Internally, a “true” hermaphrodite has both male and female organs, both ovaries and testes. Externally, genitalia varies from male or female, to a combination of both or may be ambiguous-looking.
• Internally a “female pseudo” hermaphrodite has XX chromosomes, ovaries and a womb, but these may be connected externally to masculine genitalia.
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  Conversely, a “male pseudo” hermaphrodite has XY chromosomes and internal testes connected to external female genitalia (as in the apparent case of Caster Semenya)

This is further confused by an apparent lack of agreement amongst the knowledgeable as to the exact cut off point in determining sex. Some claim the chromosomes will always be the determining factor, whereas others suggest even this will not always provide a satisfactory answer.

It may be helpful to think of sex not in binary terms, but rather as a sliding scale, since all males carry oestrogen, the female hormone, and some develop breast tissue, whereas all women carry testosterone, a small percentage having prostrate glands. Finding the exact middle of this sliding scale and apportioning all those on one side as male and those on the other as female may work for the majority, but it certainly causes confusion, at the very least, for those who fall around the dividing line.

Having said that, for some pseudo male or pseudo female inter-sex people, the matter may not cause much of an issue, or even be known to them, unless or until they try to have children, when incompatible sexual organs inevitably make this impossible without surgical intervention.

In the matter of sports, the level of testosterone in a “male pseudo” hermaphrodite, as in Caster Semenya, poses questions of fairness to other female athletes. In matters of pop stardom, they would appear to be wholly inconsequential. And yet the worst of the vitriol in the comments from blog readers is concentrated in comments raging against a female singer.

The answer to this lies, perhaps in two places. Firstly, the origin and handling of the rumours, which began on gossip sites intended for popular consumption, and were probably never intended to be anything more than entertainment, versus an international governing body of sport, conscious of and sensitive to political repercussions. The latter was always going to be more careful to avoid slanderous or inciting comment than the former.

Secondly, and perhaps more tellingly, there is the matter of the femininity of those involved. The issue of sexuality versus sex. And that is a whole other matter. Whilst Semenya’s physique may be androgynous, it is not out of place amongst other female athletes, whose diet and training regime is designed to maximise performance. Lady Ga-Ga on the other hand as a pop singer and wearer of revealing outfits, is selling a fantasy. And doubts raised about her sex can be expected to intrude on that fantasy.