The medical construction of gender: case management of intersexed infants.

This article looks at what happens when infants are born intersexed. It is based on interviews with six doctors who deal with intersexed infants. It looks at how sex is determined based mostly on how sexual organs will function and appear. If an infant is chromosomally born a female then she will be made into a female regardless of sexual organs but if an infant is born chromosomally male then it depends on how sexual organs will function whether the baby is assigned to be a male or a female. This article talks about how the general assumption with these infants is that they will adopt the gender of the sex they are prescribed yet this assumption is not held with non intersexed babies then the assumption is that there is something intrinsically male or female about them. It also looks at how society demands that we put babies in either a male or a female category and that in our society there are only two categories to be placed in.

The challenges of transgendered identity: the end of gender as we know it?

This article looks at how gender and sex are related or unrelated in a postmodern world. It looks at transgender and also intersexed babies to look at how much is nature versus how much is nurture.

Vocabulary

Intersexed- An infant born with ambiguous genatalia is intersexed

Hermaphrodite- Physically sex is ambiguous.

Gender- The cultural roles of male and female

Sex- The physical difference between male and female

Gender identity- Ones own sense of belonging to a certain gender

Gender role- Societies expectations of gender.

Questions

Why is it so important in our society to know the gender?

Why do we have such strict gender roles?

What does this article say about the idea that gender is an intrinsic characteristic?

Why is it important that we know gender as soon as possible?

What is the link between sex and gender?