Intersex Social Construction

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Rachel Walters Soc 201 Section 2 Fall 2014 Essay 1 In the first third of our course we have explored many topics, many of them being introductory or overviews of topics that are consistently important throughout the entire course. My favorite section so far has been week three’s discussion of the social construction of sex and gender. Something that was extremely interesting to me was the topic of intersex individuals. Before this class I had never even heard of intersex, and even now I feel as though there is still so much more to know. Intersex individuals are people who are born without a clear male or female reproductive system. For instance someone may be born with an outward appearance of female genitalia, but internally they may have male reproductive organs; there are other ways to be considered intersexed as well, it is possible for an individual to have physical…show more content…
Gender dysphoria is a symptom diagnosed with gender identity disorder, and is not the same thing as assuming different societal norms of gender roles. Gender variance, because of this, has developed a negative stigma, where people do not understand and view these individuals as having a mental disorder (Gender Identity Research and Education Society, 2012). Interestingly, gender variant American Indians were considered to be Two Spirited people by their local tribes. It was believed that individuals who were gender variant or practiced gender variance frequently possessed two separate spirits within themselves that each represented a different gender; these individuals were considered to be extremely wise and were often called upon by Elders in council for guidance due to their possession of two spirits. They were considered to be third and fourth genders and were often held in extremely high regard and were honored by their tribes (Laframboise, S., & Anhorn, M.,
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