Hermaphrodites Speak! - Review - movie review

Journal of Sex Research, August, 2000 by BJ Rye

A few textbooks have begun to present information regarding published case studies or gender identity development of some intersexed people (e.g., Allgeier & Allgeier, 2000; Hyde & DeLamater, 2000; Rathus et al., 2000, presenting Diamond's 1997 work) while some have begun to discuss issues raised by the Intersex Society of North America such as the opposition to infant sex reassignment surgery (e.g., Blonna & Levitan, 2000; Byer et al., 1999). The presentation of the concerns of the Intersex Society of North America, however, tend not to be incorporated into the body of the text; rather, they are set aside in "special interest" boxes (e.g., Byer et al., 1999; Hyde & DeLamater, 2000). Some have also begun to raise the question of the ethics of genital surgery on intersexual infants who cannot give consent for surgery (e.g., Allgeier & Allgeier, 2000; Strong et al., 1999). Despite this ethical question, one set of authors advocates, with authority and conviction, for parental consent for genital surgery on infants and for this surgery to occur at an early age (Byer et al., 1999). These textbooks speak inconsistently and rarely of the sexual functioning of the intersexed person as an adult (i.e., the effects of having a clitoral resection, gonad removal, and other reconstructive surgery).

In sum, currently available human sexuality textbooks often provide relatively basic biological information about intersexed conditions, convey relatively negative attitudes toward the intersexed, and rarely speak to the psychological experience of the intersexual person. This is where the video Hermaphrodites Speak! becomes a valuable resource for instructors of human sexuality courses. After seeing this video, viewers get a sense of the anger and frustration of the intersexed people directed at the medical community. As well, the film conveys the importance of meeting others who are similar to themselves; this may be analogous to the importance of "coming out" support groups for gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons who feel isolated and disconnected from the heterosexual community and experience the joy of meeting similar others (Evans & D'Augelli, 1996). Students who view the video are more easily able to empathize with people who are intersexual. In much the same way that personal contact or knowledge of a gay person increases positive attitudes toward homosexual persons (e.g., Evans & D'Augelli, 1996), the video provides a form of intimate and personal contact with people who are hermaphrodites. For students, this video puts several faces on intersexuality and de-medicalizes the conditions.

Student Responses to Hermaphrodites Speak!

In our summer 1999 introductory human sexuality psychology class, we asked students to indicate their responses to the film on a 7-point scale with one (1) being very negative to seven (7) being very positive. The students used this scale in responding to the following question: "Overall, how would you rate this video; how do you feel about the video (taking everything into consideration--content, format, information, attitude, etc.)?" Forty-four students (N = 44) responded with a mean of 5.1, indicating students were mildly positive toward the film overall (with a range of 2 to 7 and standard deviation of 1.6). The distribution was slightly negatively skewed (-0.6) indicating that there was a tendency for students to rate the video favorably. Eighteen percent (18%) of students rated the video negatively (2 or 3 on the scale), 11% gave it a neutral rating of four (4), and the remaining 70% rated the video positively (5, 6, or 7).