Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl
the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects,
then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and
observations.
Today's article is about biological (individual) sex, and how it can be best visualized. Because this subject touches all lives, and stuff like this can really complicate dealing with autism, especially as you appear more "normal" to strangers, I think this merits some publicity.
While common knowledge is that you are either male (genetically XY) or female (genetically XX), this is actually inaccurate. I can't count how many stupid jokes I've heard on the subject when people don't understand trans people, or the third biological category, called intersex. Turns out that third category has an astonishing amount of variety, some of which generally goes undetected because it's so subtle. You yourself might have hormonal differences or slight genetic differences, entirely undetected because you've never questioned the category your physical parts put you in.
I found this article and its accompanying chart, published in Scientific American, fascinating. I knew intersex was a category, but like most laypeople, I made the assumption that if the parts were all one thing, you must be that thing. This, despite knowing full well that genetics are often subtle things, and that hormone imbalances don't necessarily have a lot of outward signs. After all, my own hormones are clearly somewhat imbalanced, given my period schedule and this one, stupid hair that grows on the underside of my chin. And all my parts seem to be "female."
But I'd guess, looking at this chart, that I probably qualify as slightly intersex, given those hormones and that stupid chin hair that wants to be a beard hair. Without getting my genes tested for the specific abnormalities, and my hormone levels tested, I can't be sure, of course. But if I found out today that I was technically intersex because of those characteristics, it wouldn't upset me.
I'm already autistic and identify as transgender (gender neutral, i.e. please keep your gender assumptions away from me), which pretty much kicks me out of the "normal" category forever. Adding intersex to the list wouldn't really affect my quality of life much, beyond making me automatically more sympathetic to any intersex person I find out I've come across. (I say "find out" because it is not appropriate to ask about someone's sex parts, regardless of how they look or present themselves.)
I do think it's important to know and understand how wide the intersex category is, though, in light of the sheer amount of ignorance in society. I've seen an actual pastor (at a church I was visiting) make the, "You don't know what gender the kid is? Well, uh, did you check?" joke, pointing at his junk. I found that kind of horrifying, even back when I only knew intersex people existed as a very small population, with a mix of sex parts. I asked him how that policy would work with intersex people. I'm not sure he took me seriously. But I hope so.
Today's article is about biological (individual) sex, and how it can be best visualized. Because this subject touches all lives, and stuff like this can really complicate dealing with autism, especially as you appear more "normal" to strangers, I think this merits some publicity.
While common knowledge is that you are either male (genetically XY) or female (genetically XX), this is actually inaccurate. I can't count how many stupid jokes I've heard on the subject when people don't understand trans people, or the third biological category, called intersex. Turns out that third category has an astonishing amount of variety, some of which generally goes undetected because it's so subtle. You yourself might have hormonal differences or slight genetic differences, entirely undetected because you've never questioned the category your physical parts put you in.
I found this article and its accompanying chart, published in Scientific American, fascinating. I knew intersex was a category, but like most laypeople, I made the assumption that if the parts were all one thing, you must be that thing. This, despite knowing full well that genetics are often subtle things, and that hormone imbalances don't necessarily have a lot of outward signs. After all, my own hormones are clearly somewhat imbalanced, given my period schedule and this one, stupid hair that grows on the underside of my chin. And all my parts seem to be "female."
But I'd guess, looking at this chart, that I probably qualify as slightly intersex, given those hormones and that stupid chin hair that wants to be a beard hair. Without getting my genes tested for the specific abnormalities, and my hormone levels tested, I can't be sure, of course. But if I found out today that I was technically intersex because of those characteristics, it wouldn't upset me.
I'm already autistic and identify as transgender (gender neutral, i.e. please keep your gender assumptions away from me), which pretty much kicks me out of the "normal" category forever. Adding intersex to the list wouldn't really affect my quality of life much, beyond making me automatically more sympathetic to any intersex person I find out I've come across. (I say "find out" because it is not appropriate to ask about someone's sex parts, regardless of how they look or present themselves.)
I do think it's important to know and understand how wide the intersex category is, though, in light of the sheer amount of ignorance in society. I've seen an actual pastor (at a church I was visiting) make the, "You don't know what gender the kid is? Well, uh, did you check?" joke, pointing at his junk. I found that kind of horrifying, even back when I only knew intersex people existed as a very small population, with a mix of sex parts. I asked him how that policy would work with intersex people. I'm not sure he took me seriously. But I hope so.
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