"The formulation "Good penis equals male; absence of good penis equals female" - Kessler
“The aims of the policy are genuinely humanitarian, defecting the wish that people be able to “fit in” both physically and psychologically” (469).
I completely understand that no parents want to get the news that their child is intersexed but when confronted with the fact there needs to be lots of considerations taken into place. You have to try and do what is best for your child. Which ends up with some sort of surgery being done in order for their child to be 'normal.'
“Cultural need to maintain clear distinctions between the sexes” (472). Society cannot begin to imagine a world with more than just two sexes that is why when a baby is born demonstrating both sexes they quickly take action in order to classify them within one category. People need to stop being so close-minded about things that are going on around them. Even though homosexuality is still one of those major taboo subjects thankfully more and more people are understanding or trying to understand. The same thing should happen when thinking of the other sexes out there. They should be able to classify under their own category and not have to choose between being female or male. It is their choice. I also understand that by separating and making a category for theses other sexes will come along with lots of negativity, but people need to understand that they are human as well and they should have their rights.
"The relevance of this new gender identity theory for rethinking cases of ambiguous genitals is that gender must be assigned as early as possible if gender identity is to develop successfully" (70). Doctors feel that in order for a child to be brought up okay they need to make a decision rather quickly on the child's sex. Having a child grow up with both sexes can lead them down a confusing road. I like the idea that if the sex of a child is unknown for parents to treat it as 'neuter' and giving them a name like "Claude" (73). Also that they should refer to the baby as "baby" instead of assigning a gender of boy or girl. The doctors feel that is not necessary to announce the sex of the baby. It all comes down to the size of the child's phallus in order to make the decision for the baby to be a boy or to become a girl.
