The blog ‘Feministe‘ recently posted a response to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution about a police officer named Darlene Harris who discovered she was an intersex person at the age of 35.
The original article draws upon sociologist Sharon Preves to define ‘intersex’ for a public audience. The article reads:
She now knows why her voice is so deep, why she’s always been attracted to women, why she can grow a full beard.
Harris is intersex — someone whose internal or external sexual anatomy or chromosomes don’t fit the typical definitions of female or male at birth or puberty, according to Sharon Preves, a sociology professor and intersex researcher from St. Paul, Minn.
Genetic testing recently revealed that Harris carries the XY chromosomes of a male while having external sexual anatomy that appears to be a blend of a man’s and woman’s.
“It was like, ‘OK, I’m not crazy,’ ” said Harris, 35, who was identified as a female at birth and has lived her adult life as a lesbian, feeling like a man in a woman’s body.
One Comment
I am writing on behalf of the Organisation Intersex International to add a link to OII, the largest grassroots intersex organisation in the world. ISNA is now defunct.
Our link is
http://www.intersexualite.org
Kind regards,
Curtis E. Hinkle
Founder, Organisation Intersex International
http://www.intersexualite.org/