‘—

Assignment 03

Suzanne Kessler’s essay, “The Medical Construction of Gender” describes the factors that play a role in the way physicians, parents, and patients understand and manage the medical condition known as intersexuality. To begin with, an intersexed individual is one who was born with genitals that are not of a female nor male. Physicians who handle such cases consider factors, other than the biological ones usually considered by scientists, to be able to determine the gender of an individual (Kessler, page 3). However, these physicians hold a belief that being a female or male are the only natural options (Kessler, page 4). It has been said that cases of intersexual infants are usually managed using the theory of gender, which was first proposed by John Money, J.G Hampson, and J.L Hampson in 1955 and later developed in 1972 by John Money and Anke A Ehrhardt. This theory states that gender identity can be changed by the age of eighteen months. The conditions of this theory to be ‘proven’ are that the parents must be sure of whether their child is a male or female, the genitals must match the assigned gender as soon as possible, the individual must be given gender-appropriate hormones at puberty, and the person must be informed about their medical condition with explanations appropriate for their age. If the theory is ‘proven’ than it is also stated that the intersexed individual will develop a gender identity parallel to their gender assignment and will not question their assignment. Nonetheless, this theory has been supported by only a handful amount of actual cases, and more cause its prominence and resonation with modern ideas (Kessler, page 6-7). Physicians also say that an intersexed infant’s diagnosis, gender assignment, and genital reconstruction should not be put off any longer than two years since the parent’s confusion on the child’s gender or sex can increase any negative response towards the baby (Kessler, page 9). It is quite contradictory that the primary factor behind how intersexuality is to be treated is determined by a theory that, as stated in the essay, has taken a character of gospel, and it’s effective has been questioned by specialists who use it themselves (Kessler, page 8).