Contact Admin. The child is assigned a gender as boy or girl after tests hormonal, genetic, radiological have been done and the parents have consulted with the doctors on which gender the child is more likely to feel as she or he grows up. We know, for example, that the vast majority of children with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome grow up to feel female, and that many children with cloacal exstrophy and XY chromosomes will grow up to feel male.
In cases of intersex, doctors and parents need to recognize, however, that gender assignment of infants with intersex conditions as boy or girl, as with assignment of any infant, is preliminary. Any child—intersex or not—may decide later in life that she or he was given the wrong gender assignment; but children with certain intersex conditions have significantly higher rates of gender transition than the general population, with or without treatment.
Frequently Asked Questions What is intersex? How common is intersex? Does ISNA think children with intersex should be raised without a gender, or in a third gender? What's wrong with the way intersex has traditionally been treated?
What do doctors do now when they encounter a patient with intersex? Is a person who is intersex a hermaphrodite? Does having a Y chromosome make someone a man? Is intersex the same as "ambiguous genitalia"?
Show me how intersex anatomy develops What is the current policy of the American Academy of Pediatrics on surgery? What's the difference between being transgender or transsexual and having an intersex condition? How can you assign a gender boy or girl without surgery? What evidence is there that you can grow up psychologically healthy with intersex genitals without "normalizing" surgeries? Does ISNA advocate doing nothing when a child is born with intersex?
