Originally Posted by
Fr_Chuck
I will have to say a hermaphrodite has the sex organs of both, with normally one or the other not as functional. But would have both. so in the bedroom it would be very obvious ( VERY VERY) that they had both sex organs. I have know a few over my life time, and seeing one, it is one experience I will never forget. So had they been a funtional hermaphrodite then you would have had to know,
If they had a sex change operation, to make them only a maie ( but perhaps not fully funtioning) and then changed thier name to that of a male, they would have legally been a male after the sex change.
Hermaphrodism is not that cut and dried. In fact, the term "intersex" is used in the medical field, because there are several variations of ambiguous genitalia. It is possible that the person in question was born intersexed, and was surgically altered and assigned to the female gender as a young child, and later grew up feeling more masculine than feminine. (All wild hypothesis on my part, since I have never met the person.) And if he was born intersex, then he will not be either strictly "male" or "female", since gender identity is influenced by many factors. The bolding below is mine, for emphasis.
This link will give you more than you ever probably wanted to know about the condition(s):
eMedicine - Ambiguous Genitalia and Intersexuality : Article by Joel Hutcheson, MD
A brief summary from the website:
For convenience, intersex conditions traditionally have been divided into the following 5 simplified classifications based on the differentiation of the gonad:
Female pseudohermaphrodite - Two ovaries
Male pseudohermaphrodite - Two testes
True hermaphrodite - Ovary and/or testis and/or ovotestis
Mixed gonadal dysgenesis - Testis plus streak gonad
Pure gonadal dysgenesis - Bilateral streak gonads
(A streak gonad is dysgenetic and resembles ovarian stromal tissue. No germ cells are present.)
The internal ducts and external genitalia may vary in development, since the presence of apparently male or female gonads does not necessarily correlate with the patient's gender identity.
Medical/Legal Pitfalls:
Treatment for intersex states is controversial. No one debates the need to address and treat underlying physiologic problems such as those associated with CAH. The controversy revolves around issues of gender reassignment.
Gender assignment by the physician and family may not correlate with gender preference by the patient in adulthood. Remember that the most important sex organ is the brain, which may undergo hormonal imprinting in utero.