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Intersexuality: What Should Careproviders Do Now

E. Howe

Published 1998 in Journal of Clinical Ethics

ABSTRACT

The articles in this issue of JCE ask how intersexuals should be medically treated, based on what we know now. They urge, above all else, that surgeons no longer operate on infants born with ambiguous genitals to create “more normal looking” genitals. To answer the question of whether this surgery should be done, it is necessary to answer several more far-reaching questions, some of which strike to the core of who, as humans, we are. How, for instance, do we acquire our sexual identity? Is it through nature or nurture? Can parents’ love protect their children from the harmful effects of social stigma? If it can, can parents overcome any prejudice they may have acquired, so that they can provide this love, and how can they accomplish this? Can persons have fulfilling intimate sexual relationships if they have ambiguous genitals? In this column I will explore what careproviders should do now. On another tack, I will suggest that intersexual persons tend to have exceptional insight; I discuss what this insight is, and indicate why it has universal relevance.

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