What is intersexual?

What does it mean to have an intersex condition?  It could mean a plethora of things to different individuals and when considering the sheer number of genes that contribute to sex characteristics, it becomes easy to envision the amount of variability that can occur.  When that variation causes difficulty in sex assignment or sex characteristics do not develop as expected, an intersex condition may be the cause.  Some conditions cause infertility while others do not.  Some produce behavioral or developmental problems, while others do not.  Many have no physical symptoms whatsoever.  Thus, concisely defining the term “intersex” becomes very difficult.

Some of these conditions are hard to diagnose as the individuals are unaware of any issues until they begin having fertility problems.  Others come with evident symptoms that are either physical or behavioral.  With respect to the conditions featured on this website, the absence of an enzyme or receptor or an abnormal karyotype is the cause.

There are many intersex conditions that exist in the human population and it is quite possible that there are some that have yet to be discovered and/or diagnosed.  It is roughly estimated, based on physically observable features, that one out of every 2,000 newborns has an intersex condition.  While 0.05% may seem like a small percentage, when applied to the population of the US, this would include over 155,000 people.  Worldwide, nearly 3.5 million people are affected; a number greater than the entire population of the US.  While some of these individuals have no problem identifying as male or female, others have a harder time of it.  Is biological sex determined based on physical features or genetic makeup and what happens when they don’t match?  Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to that, but it’s a good question to ponder nonetheless.