Hermaphrodites Speak! - Review - movie review

Journal of Sex Research, August, 2000 by BJ Rye

Hermaphrodites Speak! [Film]. Produced by the Intersex Society of North America. Available from ISNA, PO BOX 3070, Ann Arbor, MI, 48106, Fax: 734-994-7379, $30.00 (US funds).

In this paper, we review Hermaphrodites Speak!, a film that may be used as a classroom tool to facilitate the understanding of intersexuality. We also review the presentation of intersexuality or hermaphroditism in introductory human sexuality textbooks that present a biological explanation of intersexuality and tend to ignore the psychological experience of intersexuality. Written reactions by undergraduate university students who viewed the video are also presented.

Hermphrodites Speak! is a 34 minute film produced and available from the Intersex Society of North America (1996). Intersexuality is also known as hermaphroditism or pseudo-hermaphroditism. In short, it is a biological condition whereby the sexual differentiation of a fetus is affected such that the person has anatomical characteristics of both sexes (e.g., Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, micropenis, hypospadias, or ambiguous genitalia). In many of these intersex situations, medical intervention takes the form of genital surgery to "normalize" the appearance of external genitalia or remove gonadal tissues that could possibly pose a cancer risk later in life. This surgery has the effect of potentially impairing sexual functioning (i.e., reducing sensation, sexual response, arousal, and, in the case of penectomy or clitoridectomy or clitoral resection, the likelihood of orgasm) and resulting in lifelong hormone replacement therapy (e.g., in the case of castration or gonadectomy). In this video, seven people speak about their experiences of being intersexed. The majority of the participants in this video have had medical intervention in the form of some sort of genital surgery. This video finally gives voice to a sexual minority group who have yet to be heard by those dealing with issues of sexuality.

Video Content

The participants in the video are at the first retreat of the Intersex Society of North America. They tell their life stories; what emerges is an obviously common theme of feeling isolated--of being the only person they know in their situation. Some had not even known of the details of their intersex conditions, having had physicians provide them with inaccurate information (cf., Natarajan, 1996; a medical student won an award for arguing in favor of nondisclosure of intersex status to patients with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome). They speak to how important and empowering the experience of meeting other intersexed people is. Their sense of relief at "coming out of the intersexed closet" is clearly visible. For example, Mani refers to how enlightening it is to "break the secrets and lies" while Max notes that "doctors who told me that it would be inappropriate for me to speak with other [intersex] individuals were just plain wrong."

The other element that is evident in the video is the anger that these individuals feel toward the medical establishment. Most have undergone infant or childhood genital surgery, often without their consent or full understanding of the implications of the procedures. Participants in the video report that their sexual functioning has been profoundly and negatively affected by the medical intervention. While medical professionals have presumably conducted genital surgery in the hopes of helping the intersexed individual, the people in this video clearly resent the procedures that were performed upon them. Their clear message is that reconstructive or cosmetic genital surgery on hermaphroditic children should not be performed.

Most of the video participants, in one form or another, speak of the physical and psychological damage done to them by medical intervention for or surgical treatment of their intersexed condition. For example, 23-year-old Angela had genital surgery in 1985 at 12 years of age and refers to her clitoris as "being taken from me without my knowledge." Mani, who does not identify as male or female but rather as third gender, describes how, at 8 years of age, she/he became the subject of a medical teaching exercise, when she/he underwent surgery to feminize her/his body: "Before the operation, I had--I don't know how many--doctors and people come in to look at the freak. And, I was taken into a teaching theater, not sedated, and the surgeon who was going to the operation on me actually did it and explained it to everybody. I had been raised in a family where I was not allowed to talk about it, where I was not allowed to show it to anybody, ... and the confusion of laying there on the table...." Mani was not told by parents or physicians why she/he was at the hospital nor why the surgery was occurring. Heidi refers to herself as being "mutilated" and as "damaged goods." Her anger is readily evident as she expresses extreme hostility toward her doctors for removing her genitals. Tom calls himself a "hypospadiac monster" while Max says "we carry these scars with us" in reference to the psychological and physical impact that medical intervention has had on them.