Sociology Class Discussion

[Guest Rika-chama]

Well in sociology class our teacher always starts off with asking "What's new in the world today" and after this he started talking about another teacher that told him about a transman who got pregnant (I have no idea if this is true or not, does anybody know anything about this?) and it soon erupted into a huge conversation. Somehow hermamphrodites were brought up when talking about people and I immediately chimed in about intersexed people. Nobody had ever heard of intersex and started talking about how hermamphrodites have both girl and boy parts and I kept saying that not all intersex humans are equally male or female and there are many different types. Hermamphrodite is a term used for animals. Well to end our argument our teacher called the biology teacher and asked her. She said hermamphrodites don't have to have parts they just have to be male and female and it is a term for animals (like sponges) But that she had never heard of the term intersex. Of course I wanted to say how I knew about all this but then I would have had to bring up this place which would mean saying "hey class, I'm TG" which I didn't want to do. At least I educated our class a little.

Oh and one of my classmates looked intersex up and he said that it was added in the dictionary in 2002. So is intersex a really new word or something? Is that why any adult I bring it up to has never heard of it?

[Guest Ryan]

Intersex people used to be referred to as hermaphrodites. Intersex is actually a relatively new term, and it is now the preferred term because of the connotations that the word hermaphrodite carries with it. Most people who are uneducated about such things still refer to intersexed people as hermaphrodites, however.

Regarding the pregnant transman, I read an article about him the other day. This is so cool! Here's the link to the article: http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid52664.asp

[Guest Drew]

another teacher that told him about a transman who got pregnant (I have no idea if this is true or not, does anybody know anything about this?)

yeah, there is a pregnant transman. in oregon i think. his name's Thomas Beattie, he and his wife decided that he would carry their child because his wife was unable to due to a previous hysterectomy. there's a link to the article on the laura's playground main page, in the news section, it's called labor of love. i would add the link, but i'm technologically stupid

also, i think intersex is a relatively new term. 2002 sounds about right.

Drew

[Guest Drew]

ah, here's the link...

http://community.livejournal.com/transparents/66277.html labour of love

i hope that worked...

[Guest brandt]

hmm i guess so but i would never know. i heard it just when i found out about transsexualism and all that good stuff. but it's interesting that its a word that was just added recently

[blackkatsen]

I think hermaphrodite has be used more until recently. I think lgbt people started up intersex and now some people prefer it. Ooo spellcheck says intersex is spelled wrong. But ya I don't think its that common. I mean how often do you even say intersex? or hermaphrodite? not very often.

[Guest Amy]

Although "hermaphrodite" is a rather unscientific term, it has an interesting origin...

Hermaphroditus, in Greek mythology, was a boy swimming in a lake. A girl saw him and fell in love with him. She jumped in and embraced him, and the gods blended the two in a single person, both male and female.

[Guest Keiichi-kun]

Although "hermaphrodite" is a rather unscientific term, it has an interesting origin...

Hermaphroditus, in Greek mythology, was a boy swimming in a lake. A girl saw him and fell in love with him. She jumped in and embraced him, and the gods blended the two in a single person, both male and female.

That's really interesting. I guess you learn something new everyday

[Guest Little Sara]

Although "hermaphrodite" is a rather unscientific term, it has an interesting origin...

Hermaphroditus, in Greek mythology, was a boy swimming in a lake. A girl saw him and fell in love with him. She jumped in and embraced him, and the gods blended the two in a single person, both male and female.

"Male and Female created he them" I like that interpretation of Adam and Eve. It means God is intersex.

Intersex means "A person who is neither totally male or totally female by virtue of a physiological marker of some kind" (could be chromosomes, certain genes, phenotype, hormone balance, hormone production, hormone receptivity/resistance etc).

HBS is not yet included (although the BSTc is considered physiological) because it doesn't have enough research and sample size to back itself up yet. Maybe eventually.