Things used to be so simple. Fifty years ago, grandmothers asserted that girls were made of “sugar and spice, and everything nice” while little boys were made of “snips and snails and puppy dog tails.” But what happens when a child is born with a mixture of sugar and spice as well as snails and puppy dog’s tails? A recent media explosion (such as a feature on “60 Minutes”) has shined the light on what is commonly being referred to as “intersexed” people—a term used to describe a set of medical conditions that features congenital anomaly of the reproductive and sexual system. That is, intersexed people are born with sex chromosomes, external genitalia, or an internal reproductive system that are not considered “standard” for either a male or female. Sadly this condition is real, and unfortunately the victims find themselves in both a physiological and a political battle. Besides any visible abnormalities, these individuals often are sterile, lacking either a complete male or female reproductive system. Additionally, many individuals in the gay and lesbian community are holding up the hands of intersexed people in an effort to say: “Look, we are like them. We were born this way.” However, scientific evidence is becoming available that demonstrates intersexed people are vastly different from homosexuals.

While the term intersexed is not yet found in most current medical dictionaries (e.g., the second edition of the acclaimed Stedman’s Concise Medical Dictionary), hermaphroditism is. This term—used prior to the politically correct era—is defined as the presence in one individual of both ovarian and testicular tissue (1993, p. 461). Current estimates indicate that 1 in 2,000-3,000 persons are born with what has been termed “non-standard gender.” Of these, only small percentages are classified as true hermaphrodites. These children, frequently sterile, are born to unsuspecting parents whose hopes and dreams often are crushed as the confusion and reality of the situation sets in. Many times in these cases, a gender-identity team from a hospital is employed to further determine the actual sex of the child. Adolescents with abnormal sexual differentiation present a unique challenge to their healthcare providers—should the child be surgically altered to be a male or a female? In the past, this lifelong decision generally was made immediately after birth. And any necessary surgery was performed for cosmetic reasons, the result being that the function of the genitals was compromised. Today, clinicians are rethinking recommended protocols.