Who Makes What Most?
What in most fetuses turns either into a penis and scrotum or a clitoris and labia can also develop into something in between. And while most babies are born with either ovaries or testicles, some are born with both, or one of each. Many cultures have categories for such in-between people; in India, for instance, they're called hijras, dress as women, and are expected to have sex with men.
In America, however, medical doctrine for the past 40 years has dictated that babies born with ambiguous sex organs be surgically corrected. Estimates on the percentage of babies born with some sort of sexual ambiguity range from 1 percent to 4 percent (that's some 3 million to 10 million people, notes William O. Beeman, an anthropologist at Brown University). It's a sufficiently common occurrence in hospitals that at least one training video exists showing doctors how to make an intersexual baby into a proper girl–one whose vagina can accommodate her future partner's penis. It's also common enough that different medical subprofessions have evolved different responses. "Pediatric urologists make boys," says Cheryl Chase, founder and head of the Intersex Society of North America. "Gynecologists and endocrinologists make girls. Of course there tend to be more girls made, 'cause surgeons say 'it's easier to dig a hole than build a pole.' " She estimates there are some 2,000 operations on American intersexual children a year.
[David Berreby, "Quelle Différence? Biology dooms the Defense of Marriage Act", Slate, 11 September 1996.]
In: All, Curious Stuff, Raised Eyebrows Dept.