Name: Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)
ISBN: 9780674001893

Alice Domurat DREGER

Focused on events in France and Britain in late nineteenth century. Helps to understand present-day conceptualizations of sex, gender, and sexuality.

Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex

Laura Mauler

This book surprised and appalled me. Surprised because I didn't realize how subjective determining a person's sex is - the baby is born, the doctor takes a look, and then makes a declaration of boy or girl. Appalled because if a baby isn't easily identified as boy or girl in that look, the baby is probably in for a lifetime of surgeries and medical humiliations that are completely unnecessary health-wise but make the doctors feel better because they "fixed" a "problem". 

Such a great book. I highly recommend it to everyone, but especially people who are going to have children so that they'll be better informed of the history and prepared for the doctors' b.s. pressures if they have an intersex child.

Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex

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