Intersex individuals need alternatives

There are individuals who, from birth, have fully or partially developed genitals from both sexes. Such cases pose exceptional difficulty for these individuals to properly and comfortably assimilate into a society that prioritizes a binary definition of gender. Having alternate gender options as well as properly categorized medical diagnoses will offer them an avenue to more fully integrate without having to betray who they were born and a better understanding of their biology. The term hermaphrodite has been used historically and stigmatizes those born intersex and their families. New motions in the science community would steer away from the traditional binary classification as well as from the “Five Sexes” model proffered by Anne Fausto-Sterling.^[2] The former has historically condemned intersex individuals to a purgatory of the harshest expectations of both and the benefits of neither,^[2] while the latter breeds only confusion among the individuals and doctors diagnosing them.^[3] The new nomenclature recommended by the scientific community would adopt “specific etiology-based diagnoses... along with an umbrella term.” The term disorders of sex development (DSDs) is generally agreed upon to classify all known intersex conditions. This new system aims to label the condition, not the person.^[3]

[P1] Intersex individuals lie outside the gender binary by not having genitalia that is uniformly male or female. [P2] We should reject the gender binary so that intersex people do not have to assimilate to a mold they do not fit.