EDF2085-Reflection #20

Intersexuality for me is believed to be part of both genders at the same time, having male and female characteristics. You don’t choose to belong to both you are just born like that. It is something you cannot control from happening. There are also sex tests taken to prove to which gender you belong to. It is rare when intersexuality occurs and if it does it may be caused by different hormones during the pregnancy, or may be genetically. Everyone has a different view on this subject. Doctors believe if genital surgery is done it would prevent the child trauma, but this also goes both ways. The child may feel outside of its shell if the parents choose something for it and it isn’t agreed with their feelings. They may change the child’s gender, and the child ends up being the contrast of it. Our culture is what puts together the views of how each gender should dress and look like. There is no fixed difference between a male and a female. Transexuality is when a person feels that their gender is different from their sex characteristics. For example, let’s say they look like a woman, but inside it is a male, and they like women. To others it may look like it is a homosexual, but to them it isn’t considered this because they believe they are males. What also determines this is to go through the sex reassignment surgery. If they want to do this then it is obvious that they are not in the right body gender according to their characteristics and feelings. It is important to know this difference because you will never know when you will be crossed with a situation like this. You may not know the person is different from others, and you might say something foolish and hurt their feelings. I learned a lot from this because I never really knew what it was. Especially the difference between these two, I always thought transvestites were the same thing. Knowing these differences helps us to try to understand them and know where they are coming from. We need to sympathize with them, and understand what it is like being in a situation like that coming from their shoes. You never know where life takes us and maybe one day we will be friends with someone like this and we would not be able to know much about the situation because they won’t say. Now, I can say I know a little bit about it and know what a hard time they have with it. It is good to know we are all different individuals in this world.