Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the individual's gender identity. Gender expression typically reflects a person's gender identity, but this is not always the case. While a person may express behaviors, attitudes, and appearances consistent with a particular gender role, such expression may not necessarily reflect their gender identity. The term gender identity was coined by psychiatry professor Robert J. Stoller in 1964 and popularized by psychologist John Money.
Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither a man or woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term third is usually understood to mean "other", though some anthropologists and sociologists have described fourth and fifth genders.
Sex assignment is the discernment of an infant's sex, typically made at birth based on an examination of the baby's external genitalia by a healthcare provider such as a midwife, nurse, or physician. In the vast majority of cases (99.95%), sex is assigned unambiguously at birth. However, in about 1 in 2000 births, the baby's genitalia may not clearly indicate male or female, necessitating additional diagnostic steps, and deferring sex assignment.
Sex verification in sports occurs because eligibility of athletes to compete is restricted whenever sporting events are limited to a single sex, which is generally the case, as well as when events are limited to mixed-sex teams of defined composition. Practice has varied tremendously over time, across borders and by competitive level. Issues have arisen multiple times in the Olympic games and other high-profile sporting competitions, for example allegations that certain male athletes attempted to compete as women or that certain female athletes had intersex conditions perceived to give unfair advantage. The topic of sex verification is related to the more recent question of how to treat transgender people in sports. Sex verification is not typically conducted on athletes competing in the male category because there is generally no perceived competitive advantage for a female or intersex athlete to compete in male categories.
The history of intersex surgery is intertwined with the development of the specialities of pediatric surgery, pediatric urology, and pediatric endocrinology, with our increasingly refined understanding of sexual differentiation, with the development of political advocacy groups united by a human qualified analysis, and in the last decade by doubts as to efficacy, and controversy over when and even whether some procedures should be performed.
Pseudohermaphroditism is an outdated term for when an individual's gonads were mismatched with their internal reproductive system and/or external genitalia. The term was contrasted with "true hermaphroditism", a condition describing an individual with both female and male reproductive gonadal tissues. Associated conditions includes Persistent Müllerian duct syndrome and forms of androgen insensitivity syndrome.
A hermaphrodite is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic.
Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She is a 2005 American television documentary film by Antony Thomas.
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".
Gender systems are the social structures that establish the number of genders and their associated gender roles in every society. A gender role is "everything that a person says and does to indicate to others or to the self the degree that one is either male, female, or androgynous. This includes but is not limited to sexual and erotic arousal and response." Gender identity is one's own personal experience with gender role and the persistence of one's individuality as male, female, or androgynous, especially in self-awareness and behavior. A gender binary is one example of a gender system.
Levi Suydam was a property-holding intersex person who lived in the 19th century. In 1843, at a local election in Salisbury, Connecticut, Suydam was presented to the town selectmen as a male property holder, the requirements for being validated as a voter. This was called into question and he was subjected to repeat examinations and questioning of his sex.
Christiane Völling is the first intersex person known to have successfully sued for damages in a case brought for non-consensual surgical intervention described as a non-consensual sex reassignment. She was awarded €100,000 by the Regional Court of Cologne.
Intersex, in humans and other animals, describes variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". Intersex people were historically termed hermaphrodites, "congenital eunuchs", or even congenitally "frigid". Such terms have fallen out of favor, now considered to be misleading and stigmatizing.
The following is a timeline of intersex history.
Intersex people in the United Kingdom face significant gaps in legal protections, particularly in protection from non-consensual medical interventions, and protection from discrimination. Actions by intersex civil society organisations aim to eliminate unnecessary medical interventions and harmful practices, promote social acceptance, and equality in line with Council of Europe and United Nations demands. Intersex civil society organisations campaign for greater social acceptance, understanding of issues of bodily autonomy, and recognition of the human rights of intersex people.
Eleno de Céspedes, also known as Elena de Céspedes, was an Afro-Spanish surgeon and soldier. While Céspedes was assumed to be a girl at birth and was and initially married to a man, Céspedes later adopted a male identity and served as a soldier during the second Rebellion of the Alpujarras, eventually becoming a surgeon in peace time and marrying a woman.
Military service of intersex people varies greatly by country. Some armed forces such as the Australian Defence Force fully embrace intersex people in the modern era, while others such as the United States Armed Forces have vague rules or policies or treat the subject on a case by case basis.
Citizens of Spain who are intersex face problems that the wider society does not encounter. Laws that provide protection against discrimination or genital mutilation for intersex people exist only in some autonomous communities rather than on a national level. The 3/2007 law is the current law in Spain which relates to legal gender change including the rights of intersex people, although a new law is about to be passed in the near future.
This article addresses the history of transgender people across the British Isles in the United Kingdom, the British colonies and the Kingdom of England until the present day. Transgender people were historically recognised in the UK by varying titles and cultural gender indicators, such as dress. People dressing and living differently from their sex assignment at birth and contributing to various aspects of British history and culture have been documented from the 14th century to the present day. In the 20th century, advances in medicine, social and biological sciences and transgender activism have influenced transgender life in the UK.
Various criteria have been offered for the definition of intersex, including ambiguous genitalia, atypical genitalia, and differential sexual development. Ambiguous genitalia occurs in roughly 0.05% of all births, usually caused by masculinization or feminization during pregnancy, these conditions range from full androgen insensitivity syndrome to ovotesticular syndrome.
