This is one that’s been bugging me for nearly 20 years. Having been born with glanular hypospadias, I’ve repeatedly been told that it is an intersex condition, and equally repeatedly been told that it isn’t. The Intersex Society of North America lists it in its statistics on intersex incidence, but is suitably woolly as to an actual definition, preferring ‘disorders of sexual development’ (a term which, itself, is problematic, since many intersex people don’t want to consider themselves disordered.) Most medical professionals will tell you that it doesn’t warrant an intersex diagnosis, and that it’s a male birth defect.
Well surely if anyone gets to define medical conditions, it’s the World Health Organisation. And yes, unlike nearly everyone else (who just allows a medical professional to call intersex or not as a subjective diagnosis) the WHO actually provides a definition.
What’s finally conclusive to me is two extracts from this page:
http://www.who.int/genomics/gender/en/index1.html
“Intersex is defined as a congenital anomaly of the reproductive and sexual system.”
“…This estimate sits within range; from genital anomalies, such as hypospadias…”
So hypospadias is a genital anomaly – a congenital one (i.e. present at birth) of the sexual system, and therefore someone who is born with it is intersex.
I know it shouldn’t matter. It’s not like my life revolves around it, but I’ve been somewhat perturbed to keep receiving contradictory answers for nearly two decades. I’ve always felt I was intersex on the basis of having hypospadias, but I didn’t feel comfortable identifying as such. Not being certain, it felt too much like appropriation.
So that’s done and dusted now. If the WHO says I’m intersex, then that’s good enough for me. As an aside, when I have sex with a male, it’s technically a heterosexual act, since we are two different sexes.
