Hermaphrodites Speak! - Review - movie review

Journal of Sex Research, August, 2000 by BJ Rye

In sum, this video is useful to human sexuality instructors who are discussing issues of intersexuality. However, this video should be used as part of a lecture regarding intersexuality. That is, the video does not give the required background information about what exactly constitutes intersexuality. Students would probably be confused if they viewed the video without first having read the textbook explanations of intersexuality or if they had not had a basic lecture on the different intersex conditions (e.g., how sexual differentiation usually occurs and how it occurs differently for the intersexed). In terms of comprehensive coverage of the issues of intersexuality, the introductory human sexuality texts (and/or a "nuts and bolts" lecture) and the video, Hermphrodites Speak! complement each other; the textbooks give a dispassionate, biological explanation of the phenomenon while the video portrays important human aspects of what it is like to be intersexed. We, and many of our students, hail this film as an important educational experience in the context of learning about variations in human sexuality. Many students want greater awareness about procedures for dealing with people who are intersexed; as these students are our future health care providers, mental health professionals, policy makers, and educators, Hermaphrodites Speak! is a critical, empathetic learning experience.

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