Why do you think intersex education doesn't exist?

[gillian bree]

SirPuzzle

Aerachnais

With so many births having intersex conditions you'd think we'd have SOME form of education on it, right?

Why is there no education at all? I learned more about smallpox than this in high school -- I just don't understand.

People currently in HS: do they teach anything on it now? It's been 5 years since I went, so I'm a little dated.

This is all spurred on because a friend met up with my husband and I and asked if he was bisexual because of, "you know." He thought I had a p***s and v****a, this whole time. That seems to be the consensus with people's thoughts on intersex conditions, "it's both right?" gonk

With so many births?

As a percentage how many people are intersexed in the human population? I would bet it's less than 1%.

Let's see, going by the most conservative number, and only focusing on one aspect of intersex (the most noticeable, meaning an obvious situation of both genitalia), its 1 in 2000 births. (Link to where the numbers come from)

Now, according to UNICEF, at least 130 million babies are born each year, with some reports in the past 10 years putting that figure at 136 million.

We'll go with the smaller number. For every 2,000 babies born, one is intersexed. If we divide 130 million by 2,000, we get 65,000 each year who are born intersexed. That may seem like a small number, but over the period of a decade, you will have 650,000 people who are intersexed, and the number will continue to rise as time goes on.

[gillian bree]

SchizoSpazz

Generally, when intersexed people are born, the hospital does surgery to make them one sex or the other, and it's usually girl, because it's easier to make the genitals female.

This is inaccurate. The hospital can suggest to the parents that surgery is an option, but it is not 'generally done' on the 65,000 or so born each year who are noticeably intersexed. There are circumstances that also do not present themselves until the individual is older.

[Susanna Kaysen]

I took an elective class at my community college called 'Human Sexuality' and there was a part of it dedicated to that. I even opted to write one of my papers on it. That class was great I think about half of it should be required curriculum for high school health class. (not that my high school had health but it should have.)

I think we don't have it because conservatives want to squeeze us into a mold to create a Stepford wives world

[Susanna Kaysen]

gillian bree

SchizoSpazz

Generally, when intersexed people are born, the hospital does surgery to make them one sex or the other, and it's usually girl, because it's easier to make the genitals female.

This is inaccurate. The hospital can suggest to the parents that surgery is an option, but it is not 'generally done' on the 65,000 or so born each year who are noticeably intersexed. There are circumstances that also do not present themselves until the individual is older.

Spazz isright about the ones who are born with obvious genital abnormalities, they do usually make them girls and then there's no going back when they grow up and want to be made boys... there isn't much left to work with.

[Shark Bacon]

What, in like high school? Because it's completely unnecessary.

I figure when a person gets into a relationship serious enough to have sex someone, they can be mature enough to explain their particular genitalia, whatever it is going on down there, if it's so complicated.

And we should all be adults about it and be open to the fact that everyone's genitals are different.

[gillian bree]

Susanna Kaysen

gillian bree

SchizoSpazz

Generally, when intersexed people are born, the hospital does surgery to make them one sex or the other, and it's usually girl, because it's easier to make the genitals female.

This is inaccurate. The hospital can suggest to the parents that surgery is an option, but it is not 'generally done' on the 65,000 or so born each year who are noticeably intersexed. There are circumstances that also do not present themselves until the individual is older.

Spazz isright about the ones who are born with obvious genital abnormalities, they do usually make them girls and then there's no going back when they grow up and want to be made boys... there isn't much left to work with.

Can you provide verifiable proof of the claim that 'usually' they are operated on at birth and made into girls?

Also, are you unaware of SRS that is performed on transmen? These are men who were born with female genitalia. There is nothing 'extra' and yet the surgery is still performed and the transmen are able to live their lives as men.

[digirap]

Shark Bacon

What, in like high school? Because it's completely unnecessary.

I figure when a person gets into a relationship serious enough to have sex someone, they can be mature enough to explain their particular genitalia, whatever it is going on down there, if it's so complicated.

And we should all be adults about it and be open to the fact that everyone's genitals are different.

We should all be adults about it, but the only thing some men and women usually hear is, "I'm a lying man-lady and you're part gay for liking me." and that is due to them genuinely thinking that. The only thing close to intersex conditions taught in HS is hermaphroditism of other animals and plants. rolleyes There's always at least one ex who went batshit after the talk.

I don't think it's necessary to cover all of it, but I do think it is a good idea to include the types (chromosomal, genital, and internal) that it is more common than people assume, and that testing can be done to those who want it..

[Jason0690]

Probably because, while on a slight rise, it's still rather uncommon.
And probably because, schools are governed by prudes that don't grasp that teaching prevention, and early education are key to happy, healthy teens and adults that will have sex, whether or not you have taught them anything.

Back when I was in middle school, which was in the early 90's and when I had to take that lesson in P.E. , the entirety of homosexual intercourse education was "don't, you'll get aids."

According to my nieces, who are 19, it really wasn't much better when they went. According to them, it was "Use condoms, or you'll get aids."
Never mind the lesbians neutral They must not exist or something.

And in some places, abstinence is still the only education kids get.

I had a hand in teaching my nieces about sex. They knew what was what before they received their "official" education in middle school.
I mean, not even every woman knows what, or where her g-spot is, or that the c**t is actually quite large, but the vast majority of it is hidden inside them.
And not every guy knows how to check his balls for unusual growth, or that they should.

[thewaitingtree]

I only know about it because when I was in middle school, my dad's friend married an intersex lady.
My mom explained it to us. (my mom's a nurse. it kind of rocks since she knows a ton of stuff.)

[The Willow Of Darkness]

SirPuzzle

The Willow Of Darkness

SirPuzzle

If I say that gender is how you feel, but sex is what you are, I'm told by some people like you that I'm right, but by others I'm told that I lack knowledge. If I say both gender and sex are based upon how you feel, I'm told by some that I am right, but by others that I lack knowledge because sex is what you are physically.

No one can come to a consensus and come to a ******** agreement over what exactly in the ******** the distinction is between sex and gender. Some people argue that you cannot change your sex unless you go through hormone therapy and other physical changes. Other people argue that you can change your sex simply if you feel like you're the opposite sex, no physical change necessary

That's because, in effect, they don't really disagree. They are just two sets of people talking about different things, who have a different level of understanding about the discourses of sex and gender.

Those who say "gender is how you feel, but sex is what you are" are trying to point out the difference between how someone feels about themselves and their body. They are trying to point out that, one aspect of a person, what a person "feels" they are and requests to be categorised as (which the call "gender" ), is different to the existence of that person's body (which they call "sex" ), only they don't yet have a way to talk about a person body without necessarily linking to a sex category, so they must equate sex category with a person's physiology.

On the other hand, those who say: "both gender and sex are how you feel" are merely talking about the categories someone is understood to belong to, rather than any state of their body. Since these people have realised that a sex category is not equivalent to someone's existing biology, they no longer use the word "sex" to specify someone's biology and realise that categorising someone as a given sex is not limited by how their body exists.

It is really just two sets of people talking past each other, rather than any disagreement about the facts per say.

"Since these people have realised that a sex category is not equivalent to someone's existing biology"

Yeah but sex is a category equivalent to someone's biology. If you are XX you are female, if you are XY you are male.

You can't change that and it is biological.

No, it isn't. A category is never someone biology. A discourse is not a body. The category of "male" is not the existence of XY chromosomes or a p***s. Sex category can be changed altered one wants. We could, if we so wished, classify someone with XY chromosomes and p***s under the sex category of "female."

Sex category is not biological. It is our discourse. It is the body which cannot be changed (bar limited ways through survey and hormones).