hermaphrodite

hermaphrodite The idea of the hermaphrodite who has fully functioning male and female organs and is (theoretically) capable of self-fertilization is a myth, though a very persistent one, which has long exercised a fascination over the human mind. It provided a way of thinking about and transgressing the binary division between the sexes, and may have externalized and isolated less coherent ideas about the existence of contrary sexual characteristics in both sexes and about innate bisexuality.

Surprisingly, given the development of the male and female sexual organs from the same primitive gonad in the embryo and the possibility of errors occurring, various forms of hermaphroditism, though they do exist, are extremely rare. Like many rare conditions, however, it has had an interest for scientists inversely proportional to its frequency, because of the light such anomalies shed on the course of normal sexual development and the differentiation of the two sexes. There are many stages of development at which intersexuality can occur, from the chromosomal to the behavioural, but a hermaphrodite is usually taken to be an individual who has physically present both male and female gonadal organs and sexual characteristics, rather than someone, who, though to all intents and purposes of one sex, is chromosomally of the other, as in some rare genetic conditions.

In most cases a child born with ambiguous genitalia will be assigned to the most likely gender, with, possibly, some surgical tidying up. This may be a satisfactory solution if only the external genitals are effected, but in many cases of such ambiguity, external organs which are closer to those of one sex are found in conjunction with internal organs of the other. This may not become apparent until puberty, when the hormonal changes may lead to the ‘boy’ starting to menstruate, or having abdominal pains caused by obstructed menstruation, or the ‘girl's’ voice breaking and facial hair appearing. At this stage decisions may need to be taken as to whether the individual is ‘really’ of the gender of original assignment, and just needs some alien tissue removing, or whether they are ‘really’ of the opposite sex. The powerful influence of the need to categorize human beings as definitely either male or female is very apparent, even though it may necessitate surgery and hormonal treatment of the unfortunate individual who fits neither.

The idea of hermaphroditism has been invoked to explain homosexuality. Abandoning a simple physical explanation, nineteenth-century sexologists projected a disjunction between external appearance and internal sense of self. Thus (echoing Elizabeth I's claim to have the ‘heart and stomach of a man’ within the body of a ‘weak and feeble’ woman) the homosexual or ‘invert’ was believed to have the spirit of one sex inside the body of the other. The model constructed desire for the male as ‘feminine’ and for the female as ‘masculine’, thus preserving the notion of sexual difference.

If hermaphrodites did not exist, it would probably be necessary to invent them as a useful conceptual category.

Lesley A. Hall