Cultural Encyclopedia of the Breast by Merril D. Smith

Author:Merril D. Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780759123328
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

■ FIBIAN LUKALO

INTERSEX

Intersex is an umbrella term that describes the physical experience of having one or more biochemical, genetic, or anatomical variations that differ from typical medical expectations of “female” or “male” bodies. The term “intersex” is the most widely preferred term internationally by people with bodies that fit this description. People who are intersex may have medical diagnoses associated with their biological differences, but their physical variations are natural biological variations and not medical problems in themselves. Intersex is widely misunderstood and conflated with “trans” (short for transgender or transsexual) in popular culture, in news media, and even among some medical and mental health professionals.

Intersex people have been (and often still are) objectified as sources of fascination, ridicule, or curiosity. Caricatured images of intersex people have been used in numerous circus advertisements. For example, the popular image of the “hermaphrodite” in circus marketing is depicted as a half “male” and half “female” body divided vertically. Although a minority of intersex people identify with the term “hermaphrodite,” most intersex people and many health professionals now consider this term to be pejorative and inappropriate. Circuses often feature a “bearded lady” who has typically “female” breast development combined with hair growth that is usually considered more typically “male.” Although a small group of professionals have attempted to claim a consensus to use pathologizing language such as “disorders of sex development” to describe intersex people’s bodies, such a consensus does not actually exist within or outside of the medical community.

In popular media, the presence of visible breasts is usually assumed to correspond with genetic, genital, and gonadal characteristics that are associated with typically female bodies. However, intersex people may have one of many possible combinations of physical characteristics. Intersex people with any physical characteristics may identify as any gender and have any sexual orientation. People who are intersex may or may not have breasts. For example, intersex people with XXY chromosomes may have larger breasts than people with typically male XY chromosomes. Some studies have found that breast cancer rates among people with XXY chromosomes are similar to rates among people with typically female bodies. Although medical literature often assumes that all people with XXY chromosomes identify as men, this assumption overlooks the variety of gender identifications held by people with XXY chromosomes. People with XXY chromosomes are often labeled as having Klinefelter’s syndrome, although some people with XXY chromosomes consider this terminology unnecessarily pathologizing. People with typically female breast development and who were raised as girls may experience the descent of their testicles at puberty, a physiological phenomenon known as guevedoces (also known as “testicles at 12”) in the rural areas of the Dominican Republic where there have been many such cases. These people were often called machihembras (first women, then men). People with guevedoches have been subjected to scrutiny and disrespectful approaches in some medical journals.

Spanish painter José de Ribera’s 1631 painting La Mujer Barbuda (The Bearded Woman) depicted bearded woman Magdalena Ventura breastfeeding her infant; her husband, Felici de Amici, stands next to her.

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