Intersex-Genderqueer ME presenting as male!

ref, ref, ref

The image above is from the video What Does Intersex Mean? | InQueery | them. 

Intersex-Genderqueer ME presenting as male: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6-cVSYVT8M 

GLOSSARY OF TERMS definitions of lesbian, gay, bi, and trans, ETC. LINK 

Me and My Gender Diversity: Genderqueer, Intersex, and Male: https://damienmarieathope.com/2016/02/me-and-my-gender-diversity-genderqueer-intersex-and-male/?v=32aec8db952d  

Street-Kid Damien, Was He Really a BAD Kid? https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/05/street-kid-damien-was-he-really-a-bad-kid/?v=32aec8db952d   

Intersex human rights? No, not really!!! https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/05/intersex-human-rights-no-not-really/?v=32aec8db952d  

Intersex Me? https://damienmarieathope.com/2016/01/me-and-my-gender-diversity/?v=32aec8db952d 

I am Pro-Body Sovereignty and Rights Against Genital Mutilation in Females, Males, as well as Intersex Persons: https://damienmarieathope.com/2016/02/i-am-pro-body-sovereignty-and-rights-against-genital-mutilation-in-females-males-as-well-as-intersex-persons/?v=32aec8db952d 

LGBTQI-Phobia Hurts us All https://damienmarieathope.com/2019/06/lgbtqi-phobia-hurts-us-all/?v=32aec8db952d  

Atheism and LGBTQI rights or support? https://damienmarieathope.com/2015/09/atheism-and-lgbtqi-rights-or-support/?v=32aec8db952d  

Chatting with “The Spectacular Gay Atheist” on Atheism, Religion, LGBTQIA https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/chatting-with-the-spectacular-gay-atheist-on-atheism-religion-lgbtqia/?v=32aec8db952d 

What did you say? You don’t like LGBTQ extremists??? https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/05/what-did-you-say-you-dont-like-lgbtq-extremists/?v=32aec8db952d 

Damien Marie AtHope Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.  i AM interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ableism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”  

I am an (Axiological Atheist) a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.” Also an atheist-humanist philosopher & pre-historical writer/researcher at damienmarieathope.com 

“Doctors told me I was crazy: The discrimination faced by intersex people” LINK 

“LGBTQ HEALTH  INTERSEX, The Body, The Self: The care of people with intersex traits evolves as clinicians and researchers learn more—and listen more” LINK 

Why is the U.S. lagging behind on intersex rights?

“Although ‘LGBTQ’ and ‘LGBTQIA’ may be umbrella terms to cover everyone who’s not heterosexual or cisgender, there’s one group that often gets overlooked: those who are born intersex. There is little legislation around the rights of intersex people, and precious little media representation, even though it’s believed up to 1.7% of people are born with some sex characteristics that don’t fit typical definitions of male and female. Where there is a lack of awareness, there is room for stigma, discrimination, and misunderstanding. As many as 1 in 2000 are faced with unnecessary medical intervention at an early age – extensive, involuntary surgeries for no other reason than to make their bodies conform to traditional notions of what it means to be male or female.” ref 

Intersex Babies: Boy or Girl and Who Decides? Parents want children’s genitals ‘fixed,’ but surgery is irreversible. LINK 

Should We ‘Fix’ Intersex Children? Standard medical practice is often to operate to “normalize” genitals, but some families are fighting back. LINK 

Intersex?

“Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies”. Though the range of atypical sex characteristics may be obvious from birth through the presence of physically ambiguous genitalia, in other instances, atypical characteristics may go unnoticed, presenting as ambiguous internal reproductive organs or atypical chromosomes that may remain unknown to an individual all of their life.” ref

“Sex assignment at birth usually aligns with a child’s anatomical sex and phenotype. The number of births with ambiguous genitals is in the range of 0.02% to 0.05%. Other conditions involve atypical chromosomes, gonads, or hormones. Some persons may be assigned and raised as a girl or boy but then identify with another gender later in life, while most continue to identify with their assigned sex. The number of births where the baby is intersex has been reported differently depending on who reports and which definition of intersex is used. Anne Fausto-Sterling and her co-authors suggest that the prevalence of ″nondimorphic sexual development″ might be as high as 1.7%. Leonard Sax says that this figure includes conditions which most clinicians do not recognize as intersex, and that in those ″conditions in which chromosomal sex is inconsistent with phenotypic sex, or in which the phenotype is not classifiable as either male or female”, the prevalence of intersex is about 0.018%.” ref

“The words used to describe intersex people are contested, and change over time and place. Intersex people were previously referred to as “hermaphrodites” or “congenital eunuchs“. In the 19th and 20th centuries, some medical experts devised new nomenclature in an attempt to classify the characteristics that they had observed, the first attempt to create a taxonomic classification system of intersex conditions. Intersex people were categorized as either having “true hermaphroditism“, “female pseudohermaphroditism“, or “male pseudohermaphroditism”. These terms are no longer used, and terms including the word “hermaphrodite” are considered to be misleading, stigmatizing, and scientifically specious in reference to humans. In biology, the term “hermaphrodite” is used to describe an organism that can produce both male and female gametes. Some people with intersex traits use the term “intersex”, and some prefer other language. In clinical settings, the term “disorders of sex development” (DSD) has been used since 2006, a shift in language considered controversial since its introduction.” ref

“Intersex people face stigmatization and discrimination from birth, or following the discovery of intersex traits at stages of development such as puberty. Intersex people may face infanticide, abandonment, and the stigmatization of their families. Globally, some intersex infants and children, such as those with ambiguous outer genitalia, are surgically or hormonally altered to create more socially acceptable sex characteristics. However, this is considered controversial, with no firm evidence of favorable outcomes. Such treatments may involve sterilization. Adults, including elite female athletes, have also been subjects of such treatment. Increasingly, these issues are considered human rights abuses, with statements from international and national human rights and ethics institutions (see intersex human rights). Intersex organizations have also issued statements about human rights violations, including the 2013 Malta declaration of the third International Intersex Forum. In 2011, Christiane Völling became the first intersex person known to have successfully sued for damages in a case brought for non-consensual surgical intervention. In April 2015, Malta became the first country to outlaw non-consensual medical interventions to modify sex anatomy, including that of intersex people.” ref

“The World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD), the American Psychologists Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), and many medical journals classify intersex traits or conditions among disorders of sex development (DSD). While professionals and those affected and their relatives usually make clear distinctions between biological sex, social gender, and sexual orientation, a popular misused adjective for people with disorders of sex development (DSD) is “intersex.” ref 

What is intersex to the “Intersex Society of North America”?

“Intersex is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types—for example, a girl may be born with a noticeably large clitoris, or lacking a vaginal opening, or a boy may be born with a notably small penis, or with a scrotum that is divided so that it has formed more like labia. Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of her cells have XX chromosomes and some of them have XY.” ref 

“Though we speak of intersex as an inborn condition, intersex anatomy doesn’t always show up at birth. Sometimes a person isn’t found to have intersex anatomy until she or he reaches the age of puberty, or finds himself an infertile adult, or dies of old age and is autopsied. Some people live and die with intersex anatomy without anyone (including themselves) ever knowing. Which variations of sexual anatomy count as intersex? In practice, different people have different answers to that question. That’s not surprising, because intersex isn’t a discreet or natural category.” ref

“What does this mean? Intersex is a socially constructed category that reflects real biological variation. To better explain this, we can liken the sex spectrum to the color spectrum. There’s no question that in nature there are different wavelengths that translate into colors most of us see as red, blue, orange, yellow. But the decision to distinguish, say, between orange and red-orange is made only when we need it—like when we’re asking for a particular paint color. Sometimes social necessity leads us to make color distinctions that otherwise would seem incorrect or irrational, as, for instance, when we call certain people “black” or “white” when they’re not especially black or white as we would otherwise use the terms.” ref

“In the same way, nature presents us with sex anatomy spectrums. Breasts, penises, clitorises, scrotums, labia, gonads—all of these vary in size and shape, and morphology. So-called “sex” chromosomes can vary quite a bit, too. But in human cultures, sex categories get simplified into male, female, and sometimes intersex, in order to simplify social interactions, express what we know and feel, and maintain order.” ref

“So nature doesn’t decide where the category of “male” ends and the category of “intersex” begins, or where the category of “intersex” ends and the category of “female” begins. Humans decide. Humans (today, typically doctors) decide how small a penis has to be, or how unusual a combination of parts has to be, before it counts as intersex. Humans decide whether a person with XXY chromosomes or XY chromosomes and androgen insensitivity will count as intersex.” ref

“In our work, we find that doctors’ opinions about what should count as “intersex” vary substantially. Some think you have to have “ambiguous genitalia” to count as intersex, even if your inside is mostly of one sex and your outside is mostly of another. Some think your brain has to be exposed to an unusual mix of hormones prenatally to count as intersex—so that even if you’re born with atypical genitalia, you’re not intersex unless your brain experienced atypical development. And some think you have to have both ovarian and testicular tissue to count as intersex.” ref

“Rather than trying to play a semantic game that never ends, we at ISNA take a pragmatic approach to the question of who counts as intersex. We work to build a world free of shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries for anyone born with what someone believes to be non-standard sexual anatomy. By the way, because some forms of intersex signal underlying metabolic concerns, a person who thinks she or he might be intersex should seek a diagnosis and find out if she or he needs professional healthcare. If you’re curious about how common intersex conditions are, go to the FAQ called How common is intersex?” ref

The Intersex Society of North America closed its doors and stopped updating this website in 2008. ISNA’s work is continued by interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth, who proudly preserves this website as a historical archive. For current information, links to intersex support groups, and to connect with intersex advocates, please head to interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth.

Gender and Sex – Transgender and Intersex

“A binary gender perspective assumes that only men and women exist, obscuring gender diversity and erasing the existence of people who do not identify as men or women. A gendered assumption in our culture is that someone assigned female at birth will identify as a woman and that all women were assigned female at birth. While this is true for cisgender (or “cis”) individuals—people who identify in accordance with their gender assignment—it is not the case for everyone. Some people assigned male at birth identify as women, some people assigned female identify as men, and some people identify as neither women nor men. This illustrates the difference between, gender assignment, which doctors place on infants (and fetuses) based on the appearance of genitalia, and gender identity, which one discerns about oneself.” ref 

“The existence of transgender people, or individuals who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, challenges the very idea of a single sex/gender identity. For example, trans women, women whose bodies were assigned male and who identify as women, show us that not all women are born with female-assigned bodies. The fact that trans people exist contests the biological determinist argument that biological sex predicts gender identity. Transgender people may or may not have surgeries or hormone therapies to change their physical bodies, but in many cases they experience a change in their social gender identities. Some people who do not identify as men or women may identify as non-binary, gender fluid, or genderqueer, for example. Some may use gender-neutral pronouns, such as ze/hir or they/them, rather than the gendered pronouns she/her or he/his. As pronouns and gender identities are not visible on the body, trans communities have created procedures for communicating gender pronouns, which consists of verbally asking and stating one’s pronouns (Nordmarken, 2013). The existence of sex variations fundamentally challenges the notion of a binary biological sex.” ref 

“Intersex describes variation in sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals. The bodies of individuals with sex characteristics variations do not fit typical definitions of what is culturally considered “male” or “female.” “Intersex,” like “female” and “male,” is a socially constructed category that humans have created to label bodies that they view as different from those they would classify as distinctly “female” or “male.” The term basically marks existing biological variation among bodies; bodies are not essentially intersex—we just call them intersex. The term is slightly misleading because it may suggest that people have complete sets of what would be called “male” and “female” reproductive systems, but those kinds of human bodies do not actually exist; “intersex” really just refers to biological variation. The term “hermaphrodite” is therefore inappropriate for referring to intersex, and it also is derogatory.” ref 

“There are a number of specific biological sex variations. For example, having one Y and more than one X chromosome is called Kleinfelter Syndrome. Does the presence of more than one X mean that the XXY person is female? Does the presence of a Y mean that the XXY person is male? These individuals are neither clearly chromosomally male or female; they are chromosomally intersexed. Some people have genitalia that others consider ambiguous. This is not as uncommon as you might think. The Intersex Society of North America estimated that some 1.5% of people have sex variations—that is 2,000 births a year. So, why is this knowledge not commonly known?” ref 

“Many individuals born with genitalia not easily classified as “male” or “female” are subject to genital surgeries during infancy, childhood, and/or adulthood which aim to change this visible ambiguity. Surgeons reduce the size of the genitals of female-assigned infants they want to make look more typically “female” and less “masculine”; in infants with genital appendages smaller than 2.5 centimeters they reduce the size and assign them female (Dreger 1998). In each instance, surgeons literally construct and reconstruct individuals’ bodies to fit into the dominant, binary sex/gender system. While parents and doctors justify this practice as in “the best interest of the child,” many people experience these surgeries and their social treatment as traumatic, as they are typically performed without patients’ knowledge of their sex variation or consent. Individuals often discover their chromosomal makeup, surgical records, and/or intersex status in their medical records as adults, after years of physicians hiding this information from them.” ref 

“The surgeries do not necessarily make bodies appear “natural,” due to scar tissue and at times, disfigurement and/or medical problems and chronic infection. The surgeries can also result in psychological distress. In addition, many of these surgeries involve sterilization, which can be understood as part of eugenics projects, which aim to eliminate intersex people. Therefore, a great deal of shame, secrecy, and betrayal surround the surgeries. Intersex activists began organizing in North America in the 1990s to stop these nonconsensual surgical practices and to fight for patient-centered intersex health care. Broader international efforts emerged next, and Europe has seen more success than the first wave of mobilizations. In 2008, Christiane Völling of Germany was the first person in the world to successfully sue the surgeon who removed her internal reproductive organs without her knowledge or consent (International Commission of Jurists, 2008). In 2015, Malta became the first country to implement a law to make these kinds of surgeries illegal and protect people with sex variations as well as gender variations (Cabral & Eisfeld, 2015).” ref 

“Accord Alliance is the most prominent intersex-focused organization in the U.S.; they offer information and recommendations to physicians and families, but they focus primarily on improving standards of care rather than advocating for legal change. Due to the efforts of intersex activists, the practice of performing surgeries on children is becoming less common in favor of waiting and allowing children to make their own decisions about their bodies. However, there is little research on how regularly nonconsensual surgeries are still performed in the U.S., and as Accord Alliance’s standards of care have yet to be fully implemented by a single institution, we can expect that the surgeries are still being performed.” ref 

“The concepts of “transgender” and “intersex” are easy to confuse, but these terms refer to very different identities. To review, transgender people experience a social process of gender change, while intersex people have biological characteristics that do not fit with the dominant sex/gender system. One term refers to social gender (transgender) and one term refers to biological sex (intersex). While transgender people challenge our binary (man/woman) ideas of gender, intersex people challenge our binary (male/female) ideas of biological sex. Gender theorists, such as Judith Butler and Gayle Rubin, have challenged the very notion that there is an underlying “sex” to a person, arguing that sex, too, is socially constructed.” ref 

“This is revealed in different definitions of “sex” throughout history in law and medicine—is sex composed of genitalia? Is it just genetic make-up? A combination of the two? Various social institutions, such as courts, have not come to a consistent or conclusive way to define sex, and the term “sex” has been differentially defined throughout the history of law in the United States. In this way, we can understand the biological designations of “male” and “female” as social constructions that reinforce the binary construction of men and women.” ref 

Genderqueer?

“Genderqueer, also called GenderQueer or gender queer, is an umbrella term that refers both to non-normative gender identity and gender expression. The label may also be used by individuals wishing to identify as holding queer or non-normative gender without being any more specific about the nature of their gender. As an umbrella term, Genderqueer has a similar scope to nonbinary, with many nonbinary-identifying individuals also considering themselves genderqueer. However, the terms have different historical scopes and connotations. The word genderqueer was used at least ten years before nonbinary.” ref

“Genderqueer was coined in the 1990s as ‘Gender Queer,’ and was for a time written as ‘GenderQueer’ before becoming a single word. The original meaning was literally queer gender, including anyone who felt the way they experienced or expressed gender was queer. The term carries the non-normative and anti-assimilationist connotations of the Queer Movement and applies these to gender rather than sexuality.” ref

“The earliest known use of the term is by Riki Anne Wilchins in the Spring 1995 newsletter of Transexual Menace. Riki Wilchins’ essay from the 2002 anthology GenderQueer describes how the original ‘Gender Queers’ adopted the label because the intended-to-be-inclusive umbrella term transgender had begun to be most strongly associated with transsexual, gender binary identified and medically transitioning people, pushing out those who did not fit this dominant transgender narrative.” ref

“By 1999/2000, online communities such as the Sphere mailing list were using the term genderqueer as an umbrella to unite a number of nonbinary gender identities and identifications that are now thought of as under the nonbinary umbrella. Over the next decade, genderqueer developed as a standalone identity with particular (sub)cultural expectations and connotations, while the tendency to identify particular experiences under its umbrella seemed to diminish. However, both uses are still visible in different online and in-person communities.” ref

Difference between Genderqueer and Nonbinary?

“Genderqueer means non-normative or queer gender while nonbinary means gender that falls outside the gender binary model. Both of these terms are extremely similar in scope, however, in practice, their connotations are significantly different.” ref

“Genderqueer comes with the anti-assimilationist political connotations of queer, which is a reclaimed slur word with strong associations with a countercultural sexuality movement that sets itself apart from the mainstream LGBT community. (Note that the word “queer” is still actively used as a pejorative and hate speech in many regions.) As such genderqueer implies a similar counterculture, setting itself apart from mainstream transgender discourse. Most genderqueer people also consider themselves to be queer and there is a strong trend of rejecting the gender binary and normative gender roles with in the Queer Movement as a whole.” ref

“By contrast, nonbinary is more politically neutral in its connotations. Nonbinary was coined as a descriptive term, originally simply ‘nonbinary gender’, used to describe the range of experiences that fall outside of the binary gender model. There is no countercultural anti-transgender discourse connotation, nor is there a connotation of association with the wider Queer Movement. Nonbinary is intended to simply cover the widest range of identities and experiences without intending to describe their political or cultural philosophies and affiliations.” ref

Observed differences between people who hold each identity?

While genderqueer and nonbinary are theoretically extremely similar in their scope as umbrella terms, in practice genderqueer slants more towards those who identify as queering gender while nonbinary tends to attract those who hold specific trans* or transgender identities that fall outside of the gender binary.” ref

“Genderqueer-identified people seem to be more likely to hold binary gender identities (eg, ‘Genderqueer Woman’) while considering their gender expression or gender performance to be queer or non-normative, while nonbinary-identified people are more likely to consider their gender identity (or lack of gender identity) to fall outside of the binary. Genderqueer-identified people seem to be more likely to consider themselves to be queer or a member of the queer community.” ref

Nonbinary-identified people generally seem more comfortable with considering themselves transgender and more likely to use the language of gender dysphoria. The adoption of the term ‘nonbinary’ by parts of the genderqueer community may reflect a trend of adopting the language of the transgender rights movement in order to make use of and expand on the legal protections now afforded to transgender people in some localities. Nonbinary-identified people may be more likely to be seeking access to transgender medical care or legal recognition (aka transition).” ref

“Some nonbinary people reject the term genderqueer as an umbrella term because they are offended to be associated with queer sexuality, or still see queer as an offensive word. Despite these trends and connotations, both terms are used by some members of each group and so may be considered as wide inclusive umbrella terms. Some genderqueer-identified people have sought ‘transition’, some nonbinary-identified people hold binary gender identities and consider themselves to be nonbinary by gender expression, and it is currently common for nonbinary-identified individuals to also identify as genderqueer (especially as this term predates nonbinary by at least a decade).” ref

Is Genderqueer, Transgender?

“There is controversy within the genderqueer community over whether genderqueer people fall under the transgender umbrella. Despite the work of Leslie Feinberg in the 1990s to coin transgender as a wide and inclusive umbrella term covering all forms of transgressive gender, the term genderqueer developed out of a frustration with the association between transgender and transsexualism, gender dysphoria, and the dominant transgender narrative.” ref

“It is common for genderqueer-identified people to consider trans and transgender to be synonymous with transition and so to claim genderqueer as a non-transgender identity. This is especially true with people who are genderqueer by gender expression only, but also applies to some genderqueer people who are comfortable with their body and see transgender as synonymous with bodily gender dysphoria. As such, it is important when talking about genderqueer and nonbinary people to recognize that not all people who hold these identities consider themselves to fall under the transgender umbrella.” ref 

Some notable people who specifically describe themselves with the label “genderqueer” include:

• musician JD Samson
• model Rain Dove
• drag performer Violet Chachki
• internet personality Jeffrey Marsh

Teaching Biological Sex and Gender?

“Using gender-neutral terms is not indicative of the erasure of biological sex from medical education, Greene explained. He doesn’t deny its significance. “When we talk about binary sex, we’re talking about a combination of chromosomes, hormones, and anatomy. But these things don’t always neatly fall into the buckets of ‘male’ and ‘female,’ and they never have,” Greene said, acknowledging that differences in sex development — experienced by intersex individuals and others — have always existed.” ref 

Sexual Orientation, Gender and Intersex Discrimination 

“The Sex Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone because of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status. Intersex status discrimination happens when a person is treated less favorably than another person in a similar situation because that person has physical, hormonal, or genetic features that are neither wholly female nor wholly male; a combination of female and male; or neither female nor male. Example: A physiotherapist refused to treat an intersex person because the person’s biological characteristics made the physiotherapist uncomfortable.” ref 

“Gender identity discrimination happens when a person is treated less favorably than another person in a similar situation because of that person’s gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of the person. Example: A shop assistant refused to serve a person who identifies and presents as a woman because that person has a deep and masculine-sounding voice.” ref

Intersex Awareness – here are 4 myths we need to shatter

Myth 1: Everybody is either born male or female

“People often assume that the world is divided neatly into two groups of people, male and female, and that everyone’s biological and genetic characteristics fit into one of these two categories. There are millions of people around the world who have sexual characteristics that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. Intersex is an umbrella term used to describe a wide range of natural variations that affect genitals, gonads, hormones, chromosomes, or reproductive organs. Sometimes these characteristics are visible at birth, sometimes they appear at puberty, and sometimes they are not physically apparent at all.” ref

Myth 2: Being intersex is very rare

“According to experts, around 1.7% of the population is born with intersex traits – comparable to the number of people born with red hair.” ref “About 1 in 1,000 Babies Born ‘Intersex,’ Study Finds.” ref 

Myth 3: Being intersex is a condition that needs to be corrected 

“Many intersex children undergo surgery in an effort to ‘normalise’ them – even though these interventions are often invasive, irreversible, and not performed for emergency reasons. Although doctors and parents may be well-meaning, the reality is that the procedures performed on intersex children can cause major problems, including infertility, pain, incontinence, and lifelong psychological suffering. All this just to make children conform to society’s idea of what a girl or a boy ‘should’ look like. Research by Amnesty International has highlighted how this constitutes a human rights violation. These interventions are often performed on children who are too young to meaningfully participate in decisions about their own bodies, and their parents are often not properly informed about the potential risks. States have a duty to combat harmful stereotypes about gender and diversity – instead, many choose to subject children to needless operations just to make them “fit”.” ref

Myth 4: Intersex people are transgender.

“Being intersex has nothing to do with being transgender. Our physical sexual characteristics have nothing to do with how we consider our gender identity, or with who we are attracted to. The word “transgender” – or trans – is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth. The word “intersex” relates to physical sexual characteristics, and not to an internal sense of identity. An intersex person may also identify as trans, but they are separate things, because gender and sex are separate. An intersex person may be straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual or asexual, and may identify as female, male, both, or neither. Both intersex and trans people have the right to choose their own gender identity, and should never be forced to live with bodies or identities they do not feel comfortable with.” ref 

Intersex: Female, Male, and Everything in-between

“The diverse world of Intersex: It’s called Intersex, and there are as many intersex people as natural-born red-heads on the planet. Intersex people are those whose anatomy and/or physiology isn’t typically female or male. Instead, intersex individuals often have a mixture of sex-related traits and are a unique biological blend of characteristics. There are over 40 intersex variations ranging across a spectrum of differences in genetics, chromosomal makeup, hormones, and internal/external anatomy. Sometimes intersex variation is identified at birth, due to ‘ambiguous’ genitalia, but in cases where the external phenotype is unaffected many people do not know their biological differences until puberty or adulthood.” ref

Deciding on gender in children with intersex conditions: considerations and controversies

Abstract

“Biologic factors such as genetic and hormonal influences contribute to gender identity, gender role behavior, and sexual orientation in humans, but this relationship is considerably modified by psychologic, social, and cultural factors. The recognition of biologically determined conditions leading to incongruity of genetically determined sex, somatic phenotype, and gender identity has led to growing interest in gender role development and gender identity in individuals with intersex conditions. Sex assignment of children with ambiguous genitalia remains a difficult decision for the families involved and subject to controversial discussion among professionals and self-help groups. Although systematic empirical data on outcomes of functioning and health-related quality of life are sparse, anecdotal evidence from case series and individual patients about their experiences in healthcare suggests traumatic experiences in some. This article reviews the earlier ‘optimal gender policy’ as well as the more recent ‘full consent policy’ and reviews published data on both surgical and psychosocial outcomes. The professional debate on deciding on sex assignment in children with intersex conditions is embedded in a much wider public discourse on gender as a social construction. Given that the empirical basis of our knowledge of the causes, treatment options, long-term outcomes, and patient preferences is insufficient, we suggest preliminary recommendations based on clinical experience, study of the literature, and interviews with affected individuals.” ref 

“Growing up intersex in a country where it is believed to be bad luck.” LINK 

“More Women Than Expected Are Genetically Men – Novo Nordisk Fonden”

“Sex chromosomes usually determine whether you are female or male. Women are XX. Men are XY. However, genetically, a few women are actually men. They grow up as women with a woman’s body, and most only discover well into puberty that they are different. Danish researchers map for the first time how many women are genetically men. The proportion was higher than expected. You cannot see it if you do not know what you are looking for. One in 15,000 males is born and grows up as a girl. And neither these girls nor their parents know it. These girls do not discover anything different until puberty.” ref 

“Girls born with XY chromosomes are genetically boys but for a variety of reasons – mutations in genes that determine sexual development – the male characteristics are never expressed. They live their lives as girls and then women, and a few can even give birth. Our research, which is the first nationwide survey in the world, shows that this group is up to 50% larger than previously assumed. How these girls discover the facts and talk openly about their situation also varies greatly,” explains Claus Højbjerg Gravholt, who led the study and is Clinical Professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine of Aarhus University.” ref

Together with colleagues, he is investigating why sex chromosome abnormalities occur and therefore how people with XY chromosomes can become women. Two types of genetic mutations mostly make the difference; these were previously referred to as Morris syndrome and Swyer syndrome but are now collectively referred to as disorders of sex development (DSD).” ref

“Morris syndrome is now called 46,XY DSD: androgen insensitivity syndrome. These people have an extremely high level of testosterone and other male sex hormones, but the testosterone does not affect the foetal cells that usually develop into male sexual organs because of a mutation in the androgen receptor gene. These people therefore have male chromosomes but are women socially and in external appearance. They do not have internal female sexual organs, and they form testicles that remain concealed in the abdominal cavity.” ref

THE HIDDEN MEN

‘Typically, most of the girls with androgen insensitivity syndrome discover by puberty that they differ from other girls. They do not menstruate, and most will never be able to give birth. Apart from the discovery that more women have XY chromosomes than previously assumed, the researchers were also surprised about the variation in when these girls and women discover that something is different. The girls with androgen insensitivity syndrome were diagnosed at an average age of 7–8 years old but some 34-year-old women with the syndrome had not yet been diagnosed.” ref

“This is surprising, although most of these women know that they cannot give birth and that they are configured slightly differently than other women. They just do not know why. Even more surprising, however, is the fact that the average age of girls being diagnosed with gonadal dysgenesis, previously known as Swyer syndrome, is 17 years.” ref

“The reason for this high age at diagnosis is presumably that these women actually develop sexual organs that are almost normal. Women with gonadal dysgenesis have a mutation in the SRY gene of the Y chromosome that encodes for a protein known as the testicular determining factor that normally results in the testicles developing in the early weeks of foetal development. In the absence of the protein, the testicles do not develop, and female sexual organs that are almost normal develop instead.” ref

“The women do not develop secondary female characteristics such as breasts, but they have a womb, so with appropriate hormone treatment and fertilized egg implantation they can actually become pregnant and give birth. The greatest problem is that their ovaries are not developed, and if the ovaries are not removed they have an increased risk of developing ovarian cancer.” ref

Male intersexuality presenting at puberty

Abstract

“A 15-year-old girl was referred to the Endocrine Unit because of a deep voice and the absence of menstruation. Secondary sex hair showed a male pattern of distribution and there was a phallic clitoris 4 cm long, with the urethral orifice posterior. Plasma testosterone was within the normal male range. The karyotype was 46XY. Gonadectomy and clitoridectomy were performed. Histology suggested a diagnosis of anatomical testicular failure, which, in view of the imperfect attempt at masculinization, was thought to be only partial. Possible causes are discussed.” ref

False start for intersex athletes barred from Olympics

“The ban on intersex athletes who refuse to alter their natural hormones is one of many controversies regarding the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. When the world’s fastest women race for gold over 800m in Tokyo, all three medallists from the 2016 Olympics will be absent – barred as intersex athletes who refuse to alter their natural hormones to meet the rules of sport. The ban is one of many controversies dogging a sporting spectacle that opens on Friday – a year late – amid a global pandemic, a slew of scandals, and deep disquiet over the potential risk to life of staging a mega event between 206 nations. For some of the women who have trained relentlessly for the chance at middle-distance glory, the intersex dispute is a mere distraction. For those sidelined – a disaster. “It broke my heart when I was told I couldn’t run in my favorite 400m event because I had higher testosterone,” Aminatou Seyni said in an email sent by her athletic federation in Niger.” ref

“I didn’t want to take any medical steps… My hormones are natural,” said the 24-year-old, who will run in the 200m where high testosterone is no barrier. Seyni ranks 44th in the world for the 200m, some 40 places behind her timings over the longer race she can no longer run. Intersex people are born with atypical chromosomes or sex characteristics. Women like double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya have some male sex characteristics, including internal testes that produce average male levels of testosterone.” ref

“World Athletics, the sport’s governing body, says this lends an unfair advantage over middle distance and, in 2019, mandated lower testosterone to “ensure fair competition for all women”. But many women such as Semenya and fellow 2016 medallists, Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba and Kenyan Margaret Wambui, refuse to use drugs or surgery to alter the makeup of their bodies. Semenya is challenging the rules – the bar covers races from 400m to a mile – but the ruling won’t come in time for Tokyo. Namibian medal contenders Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi were also pulled from the 400m due to their high testosterone and must race over 200m instead.” ref

NOT FAIR

“World Athletics says intersex women – most of the athletes do not use the term – must lower their testosterone by taking the contraceptive pill, having monthly injections, or surgically removing their internal testes. Otherwise, it says intersex athletes race with “all the same advantages” a typical man holds over a typical woman. In 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Council criticized the rules, saying sports bodies should not “force, coerce or otherwise pressure women and girl athletes into undergoing unnecessary, humiliating and harmful medical procedures”. Semenya’s fastest time was 1.54.25 in 2018, the fourth-fastest women’s time in history. The female world record of 1.53.28 was set in 1983. The men’s record is 1.40.91, from 2012.” ref

“Semenya raced to fame in 2009 when she won the 800m at the World Championships. Her speed and build led to questions and she was made to take a sex verification test by World Athletics. In 2011, the governing body said athletes could only race with testosterone “below the male range”. To comply, Semenya took contraceptive pills that made her feel “constantly sick”. Her times also slowed, though her 2012 Olympic silver was upgraded after the winner was stripped of her gold for doping. When restrictions were lifted in 2015, after a court challenge by Indian 100m sprinter Dutee Chand, Semenya returned to dominance, winning the 800m at both the 2016 Olympics and 2017 World Championships.” ref

WOMAN ENOUGH?

“World Athletics introduced new rules for middle-distance races that came into force in 2019. Semenya challenged – and lost, accusing the governing body of taking it upon itself to decide who was “woman enough”. World Athletics says intersex women like Semenya, who have XY male chromosomes instead of XX female ones, account for 7.1 in every 1,000 elite female athletes, or 140 times more than in the general population, with a still higher podium presence.” ref

“The current World Athletics regulations are not anything that anyone would come up with out of the blue,” said Joanna Harper, an expert on intersex and transgender female athletes at Britain’s Loughborough University, who is trans herself. “They’re kind of inelegant and awkward,” said Harper, who supported World Athletics in Semenya’s case. “But I think they are a reasonable solution to an extremely complicated problem.” ref

Other experts disagree.

“The idea that… women with intersex variations are everywhere and taking over can very easily become completely overstated,” said Morgan Carpenter, executive director of advocacy group Intersex Human Rights Australia. “There aren’t that many women with intersex variations.” World Athletics did not reply to a request for comment. Burundi’s 2016 800m silver medallist Niyonsaba, 28, is now racing in the 5000m and 10,000m in Tokyo. However, Semenya and Wambui, 25, failed to qualify for the 200m or the 5000m.” ref 

“Pseudohermaphroditism – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics”

“Pseudohermaphrodites exhibit ambiguous genitalia and possess one type of gonad, either testis (male pseudohermaphrodite) or ovary (female pseudohermaphrodite), that coincides with the genotype.” ref 

Male Hypogonadism

Derek J. Stocker, Robert A. Vigersky, in Endocrine Secrets (Fifth Edition), 2009

“Define pseudohermaphrodite Pseudohermaphrodite refers to someone whose external genitalia are not consistent with his or her gonadal sex. A male pseudohermaphrodite, for example, has a 46XY karyotype and testes but has either ambiguous genitalia or a complete female phenotype. Most often this results from genetic disorders of testosterone biosynthetic enzymes, the androgen receptor, or the 5-a-reductase enzyme; the severity of the phenotype depends on the severity of the genetic defect. A female pseudohermaphrodite, in contrast, has a 46XX karyotype and ovaries but has ambiguous external genitalia. The most common cause of this is congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which results in virilization of the female fetus in utero.” ref

Ambiguous Genitalia

Patricia K. Donahoe, … Rafael Pieretti, in Pediatric Surgery (Sixth Edition), 2006

“Male Pseudohermaphroditism Male pseudohermaphrodites with poor penile development who have testosterone biosynthetic defects or androgen resistance are usually assigned to the female gender. However, for those with 5α-reductase or 17β-hydroxysteroid reductase deficiency, it may not be appropriate to assign a gender at birth. Patients assigned to the female gender should receive early surgical correction of the external genitalia and gonadectomy but do not receive hormone therapy until puberty, at which time they will require estrogen and progesterone treatment. Vaginal replacement should be planned for late puberty. If it is elected to assign these infants to the male gender, 10 to 25 mg of testosterone enanthate or cypionate is given intramuscularly once a month for 3 months to confirm that the penis responds to androgens or to improve the size of the penis before surgery. Repair should be done before 1 year of age if the size of the phallus permits.” ref 

“This approach takes advantage of an early period of presumed enhanced sensitivity to androgens. After one to three courses of monthly testosterone for 3 months, an interval of at least 1 month without testosterone must be allowed before undertaking hypospadias repair to reduce the hyperactivity that accompanies testosterone therapy. These children often require staged procedures, and testosterone therapy, if needed, can precede the second stage. Testosterone replacement is resumed at adolescence. Patients with 5α-reductase deficiency should receive dihydrotestosterone replacement, if available. Otherwise, replacement can be achieved by giving higher doses of testosterone to overcome the enzyme block.” ref

Disorders of Sexual Development

Rafael V. Pieretti, Patricia K. Donahoe, in Pediatric Surgery (Seventh Edition), 2012 46, XX DSD (CAH)

“Masculinized females with pseudohermaphroditism can be at profound risk for life-threatening complications including cardiac arrest in the prenatal period. Because maternal cortisone crosses the placenta and is released slowly from fat stores, the clinical manifestations of adrenogenital crisis may not become apparent until 5 to 7 days after birth. Heightened clinical awareness and prompt, appropriate metabolic treatment can prevent serious complications. Glucocorticoid replacement as oral hydrocortisone 8 to 10 mg/m2 per day in two or three doses or cortisone acetate 25 mg/m2 injected every 3 days101 will prevent serious metabolic abnormalities associated with acute adrenal insufficiency.Fludrocortisone (9α-fluorocortisol) 0.05 to 0.2 mg/day is started in severely virilized infants and in those less virilized with a family history of salt-wasting as part of 46,XX DSD (CAH). Recent evidence that even patients with milder virilizing hermaphroditism have subclinical aldosterone deficiency has led to more liberal use of fluorocortisone, although some clinicians follow electrolyte levels and plasma renin activity before starting such treatment. An infant in adrenal crisis should be rehydrated with isotonic saline. After the first hour, half-strength saline in 5% to 10% dextrose should be administered. This regimen corrects plasma sodium and chloride imbalances rapidly, but hyperkalemia and acidosis are corrected more slowly. Dramatic elevation of plasma 17-hydroxyprogesterone can be used to monitor the effectiveness of treatment.” ref 

“Infants (average 0.25 m2) in adrenal crisis are treated with 25 mg hydrocortisone sodium succinate (2 mg/kg), whereas older children receive 50 to 100 mg. This preparation has both glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid activity; the mineralocorticoid activity is equivalent to 0.1 mg of fludrocortisone. A similar regimen is used for infants exposed to the stress of surgery. Parents are taught to recognize situations that contribute to adrenal insufficiency such as high fever, exposure to hot environments, or surgery. Breast milk and prepared formulas are low in sodium, so table salt should be given as a supplement. Growth charts must be monitored carefully to avoid inadequate or inconsistent treatment or oversuppression and chronic adrenal insufficiency. Prenatal diagnosis and treatment are now available.102,103 Dexamethasone treatment, if used to suppress masculinization in utero, is initiated by the fifth or sixth week of gestation before the start of sexual differentiation.” ref 

“Dexamethasone crosses the placenta to suppress the fetal adrenal gland and decrease fetal androgen production, thereby minimizing in utero virilization. The sex of the fetus is determined by chromosome analysis at amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling, and PCR and DNA sequencing can be used to analyze the CYP21 gene. Treatment is discontinued in males and unaffected females. Affected females can be treated to term. Currently, embryo selection or genetic manipulation can be done at the early blastocyst stage. Blastocysts with a normal CYP21 gene can be preselected for subsequent implantation if a previous pregnancy produced a child with the CYP21 mutation.” ref

Ambiguous Genitalia

Patricia K. Donahoe, … Rafael Pieretti, in Pediatric Surgery (Sixth Edition), 2006

“Male Pseudohermaphroditism Male pseudohermaphrodites with poor penile development who have testosterone biosynthetic defects or androgen resistance are usually assigned to the female gender. However, for those with 5α-reductase or 17β-hydroxysteroid reductase deficiency, it may not be appropriate to assign a gender at birth. Patients assigned to the female gender should receive early surgical correction of the external genitalia and gonadectomy but do not receive hormone therapy until puberty, at which time they will require estrogen and progesterone treatment. Vaginal replacement should be planned for late puberty.” ref

“If it is elected to assign these infants to the male gender, 10 to 25 mg of testosterone enanthate or cypionate is given intramuscularly once a month for 3 months to confirm that the penis responds to androgens or to improve the size of the penis before surgery. Repair should be done before 1 year of age if the size of the phallus permits. This approach takes advantage of an early period of presumed enhanced sensitivity to androgens. After one to three courses of monthly testosterone for 3 months, an interval of at least 1 month without testosterone must be allowed before undertaking hypospadias repair to reduce the hyperactivity that accompanies testosterone therapy. These children often require staged procedures, and testosterone therapy, if needed, can precede the second stage. Testosterone replacement is resumed at adolescence. Patients with 5α-reductase deficiency should receive dihydrotestosterone replacement, if available. Otherwise, replacement can be achieved by giving higher doses of testosterone to overcome the enzyme block.” ref

Sexual Differentiation

Richard E. Jones PhD, Kristin H. Lopez PhD, in Human Reproductive Biology (Fourth Edition), 2014
Pseudohermaphroditism

“A pseudohermaphrodite is a person whose gonads are consistent with the chromosomal sex but who has external genitalia of the opposite sex. Male pseudohermaphrodites have normal testes but incomplete masculinization of the wolffian duct system and external genitalia. One form of this condition is the inherited disorder androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), also called testicular feminization syndrome (Figure 5.9). These individuals have normal testes and male chromosomes (46:XY), and their testes secrete normal amounts of testosterone. However, they have a genetic absence of the receptors for androgens in target tissues. Thus, they develop female-like external genitalia, the testes are not descended, and wolffian duct structures (epididymis, vas deferens, and seminal vesicles) do not develop. Nor are müllerian duct derivatives present because the testes secreted AMH during development.” ref 

“The androgen receptor gene located in the X chromosome is subject to many types of mutations, some of which may cause a milder form of AIS called partial androgen insensitivity (Figure 5.9). These individuals show a range of incomplete masculinization of the reproductive ducts and external genitalia. Often they are born with ambiguous genitalia (a very small penis and empty scrotum). Their urethra may fail to close during development, resulting in an opening on the lower surface of the penis, a condition called hypospadias. Another form of male pseudohermaphroditism has been described in the populations of some small villages in the Dominican Republic.” ref 

FAQ: Intersex, Gender, and LGBTQIA+

“Intersex people, like anyone, can have any gender and any sexual orientation. Some intersex people are also LGBTQA+, and others are not. General trends and attitudes about grouping intersex movements with LGBTQA+ movements will vary by country.” ref 

Is intersex a gender?

“It is uncommon for the word to be used that way. Intersex is usually an adjective that describes a person’s body. Their gender is something else. For example, there are intersex men, intersex women, intersex nonbinary people, and others. For many people, intersex traits strongly affect their relationship to their gender. Using intersex or intergender as a personal label, without having an intersex experience, may be considered inappropriate.” ref

Should we include the “I” in LGBTQIA?

“Intersex people face very similar issues to LGBTQA+ people. Some, but not all, intersex people are also LGBTQA+. Intersex people are told they are “disordered,” just like gay and transgender people were told for decades. Fear of gay and transgender people causes many of the problems that intersex people face. Where does that fear come from?” ref 

“As the artist Alok and the academic Kyla Schuller explain, the ideas that cause these fears—that there are two rigid and “opposite” sex categories with anatomy and gender roles that go with them—come from racism and eugenics movements in Europe and the United States.” ref

“Of course, we are stronger when we fight the roots of these common problems together. Many advocacy organizations, including interACT, do regularly include the “I” in LGBTQIA. This is becoming much more common in the United States. In some countries, any LGBT+ affiliation can be dangerous for intersex people whose differences are visible on their bodies. We always consider this carefully.” ref 

“We recommend adding intersex to your organization’s LGBTQIA+ acronym only once you have intersex leadership, consultation, and/or resources. Intersex people have very specific needs, just like each letter of the acronym. Our #4intersex ally education toolkit can help. Also, see this article on how queer people can be allies to intersex people.” ref

9 Doctors Changing the Face of Healthcare for Intersex People LINK 

Gender dysphoria in adolescence: current perspectives

Abstract

“Increasing numbers of adolescents are seeking treatment at gender identity services in Western countries. An increasingly accepted treatment model that includes puberty suppression with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs starting during the early stages of puberty, cross-sex hormonal treatment starting at ~16 years of age, and possibly surgical treatments in legal adulthood, is often indicated for adolescents with childhood gender dysphoria (GD) that intensifies during puberty. However, virtually nothing is known regarding adolescent-onset GD, its progression, and factors that influence the completion of the developmental tasks of adolescence among young people with GD and/or transgender identity. Consolidation of identity development is a central developmental goal of adolescence, but we still do not know enough about how gender identity and gender variance actually evolve. Treatment-seeking adolescents with GD present with considerable psychiatric comorbidity. There is little research on how GD and/or transgender identity are associated with the completion of developmental tasks of adolescence.” ref 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Gender Recognition: “A Focus on Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex Awareness”

“From conception until 7 weeks, fetuses have no sex difference–the genitals look fairly female.” ref

Sex isn’t binary, and we should stop acting like it is. 

“The science is clear — sex is a spectrum. Yet just like gender isn’t binary, our biology isn’t binary either: it, too, exists on a spectrum. In fact, many people’s bodies possess a combination of physical characteristics typically thought of as “male” or “female.” As one example, some people with androgen insensitivity have XY chromosomes, internal testes, and external female genitalia. Traits, including hormone levels, can also vary widely both within and across sexes. But people who fall outside of what’s considered normal face discrimination. Take South African runner Caster Semenya, who was recently the subject of a ruling that ordered her to lower her naturally high testosterone levels to compete with other female runners — even though studies have shown that because testosterone levels are so highly variable, there’s overlap between the natural testosterone levels of men and women.” ref

How Intersex People Identify

“Before diving in, we note that lots of folks, both intersex and not, feel that intersex people shouldn’t have to “identify” as such: meaning, we are intersex simply because we were born that way. It’s a biology-based viewpoint similar to the way that people born with male sex characteristics don’t have to “identify” as “men” because it’s just assumed that they are. (Note we didn’t say that their “biological sex” was male, but that they have male “sex characteristics”. Cool huh? More on that in another essay.) At the same time, it has also been increasingly stated that not all people who are born Intersex “identify” as intersex, but rather, as men or women. It makes perfect sense to those of us who know, love, and/or support trans people. We realize folks don’t always grow up to identify as the gender associated with the biological sex traits they were born with. However, it’s very important to recognize that some of us who were born intersex also identify as such. That may seem obvious, but it bears repeating, given popular claims that the vast majority of us have binary gender identities, and that intersex people are not part of the non-binary gender community. Given the limited options, and the fact that many intersex children are even more pressured to identify as either boys or girls than their non-intersex peers, it’s easy to see why many of us would do so as adults. Saying that most intersex people do not identify as intersex without taking these significant social factors into account is like having said, “most homosexuals do not identify as gay or lesbian”, before it was common, accepted, or safe for them to do so.” ref

‘We don’t know if your baby’s a boy or a girl’: growing up intersex

“For generations, children with male and female characteristics have been assigned a sex at birth. Is there an alternative? Parents, doctors, and intersex adults share their experiences.” LINK

9 Young People on How They Found Out They Are Intersex

“I embraced my body as beautiful and as a measure of how diverse humans are.” LINK

“Intersex people are born with biological characteristics that don’t fit inside the strict binary of “female” and “male.” There are lots of different ways of being intersex, which can lead to different experiences during puberty. Some intersex people, like those with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) and Turner Syndrome, go through puberty later than usual or don’t experience all the usual parts of puberty, like hair growth. In some cases, your body may change in ways that you feel don’t align with your gender identity. If you’re intersex, puberty might feel lonely or confusing if you don’t know anyone else going through what you’re going through. Some intersex people find that talking with other people who share their identity and experience can help them feel less alone and more comfortable with their body.” ref

Does “The Intersex Society of North America” think children with intersex should be raised without a gender, or in a third gender?

“No, and for the record, we’ve never advocated this. We certainly would like to see people become less freaked-out by people who don’t fit sex and gender cultural norms. But there are at least two problems with trying to raise kids in a “third gender.” First, how would we decide who would count in the “third gender”? How would we decide where to cut off the category of male and begin the category of intersex, or, on the other side of the spectrum, where to cut off the category of intersex to begin the category of female? (To read more about how intersex is not a discrete category, go to our FAQ called “What is intersex?”:/faq/what_is_intersex).” ref

“Second, and much more importantly, we are trying to make the world a safe place for intersex kids, and we don’t think labeling them with a gender category that in essence doesn’t exist would help them. (Duh, huh?) ISNA recognizes that it can be damned hard to be intersex, or to have an intersex child. That’s why we exist. That’s why we don’t advocate “doing nothing”:/faq/nothing. What we do advocate is providing parents of intersex newborns–and within a couple of years, intersex children themselves–honest and accurate information about intersex, psychological counseling by professionals who are not intersex-phobic, medical help for any real medical problems, and especially referrals to other people dealing with the same issues. Time and again researchers have found that, no matter what the condition–being gay, dealing with a serious disease–peer support, even if informal, saves families and lives. To read more about our recommendations for dealing with intersex, check out our FAQ “What does ISNA recommend?”:/faq/patient-centered To read about how you assign a gender of boy or girl to a child with intersex, take a look at our FAQ “How can you assign a gender without surgery?”:/faq/gender_assignment.” ref

Growing up between the cracks: an intersex person’s account of realizing their true gender LINK

Understanding people with intersex variations LINK

“I Want to Be Like Nature Made Me” Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Intersex Children in the US LINK

Supporting an intersex teenager LINK

Stanford author explores the struggles of intersex individuals, their families, and doctors LINK

How intersex Latter-day Saints struggle to stay in a ‘two gender’ faith LINK

California stalls bill banning intersex surgery for children April 5, 2021 LINK

From “Intersex” to “DSD”: Toward a Queer Disability Politics of Gender LINK

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

— Why care? Because we are Dignity Beings. —

Just Another Fellow Being of Dignity

I once thought no one is friendly, so, I decided to start trying to be a friend to others. No one even seemed to care, so, I realized, I needed to care. No one really made “you” feel as if you mattered, so, I started valuing others, I see the world I wish to live in starts with me. After all other people are just fellow beings of dignity like me…

*Axiological Dignity Being Theory*

An “Axiological assessment of human beings” shows with an axiological awareness a logic of values is clear which takes as its basic premise that “all persons always deserve positive regard.” – Progressive Logic by William J. Kelleher, Ph.D. And the reason why we should is because we are Dignity Beings.

“Dignity is an internal state of peace that comes with the recognition and acceptance of the value and vulnerability of all living things.” – Donna Hicks (2011). Dignity: The Essential Role It Plays in Resolving Conflict

I am inspired by philosophy, enlightened by archaeology, and grounded by science that religious claims, on the whole, along with their magical gods, are but Dogmatic-Propaganda, myths, and lies. Kindness beats prayers every time, even if you think prayer works, you know kindness works. Think otherwise, do both without telling people and see which one they notice. Aspire to master the heavens but don’t forget about the ones in need still here on earth. You can be kind and never love but you cannot love and never be kind. Therefore, it is this generosity of humanity, we need the most of. So, if you can be kind, as in the end some of the best we can be to others is to exchange kindness. For too long now we have allowed the dark shadow of hate to cloud our minds, while we wait in silence as if pondering if there is a need to commiserate. For too long little has been done and we too often have been part of this dark clouded shame of hate. Simply, so many humans now but sadly one is still left asking, where is the humanity?

Why Ought We Care?

Because kindness is like chicken soup to the essence of who we are, by validating the safety needs of our dignity. When the valuing of dignity is followed, a deep respect for one’s self and others as dignity beings has become one’s path. When we can see with the eyes of love and kindness, how well we finally see and understand what a demonstrates of a mature being of dignity when we value the human rights of others, as we now see others in the world as fellow beings of dignity. We need to understand what should be honored in others as fellow dignity beings and the realization of the value involved in that. As well as strive to understand how an attack to a person’s “human rights” is an attack to the value and worth of a dignity being. Yes, I want to see “you” that previous being of dignity worthy of high value and an honored moral weight to any violation of their self-ownership. And this dignity being with self-ownership rights is here before you seeking connection. what will you do, here you are in the question ever-present even if never said aloud, do you see me now or are you stuck in trying to evaluate my value and assess worth as a fellow being of dignity.

A violation of one’s dignity (Which it the emotional, awareness, or the emotional detection of the world) as a dignity being can be quite harmful, simply we must see how it can create some physiological disturbance in the dignity being its done to. I am a mutualistic thinker and to me, we all are in this life together as fellow dignity beings. Therefore, I want my life to be of a benefit to others in the world. We are natural evolutionary derived dignity beings, not supernatural magic derived soul/spirit beings. Stopping lying about who we are, as your made-up magic about reality which is forced causing a problem event (misunderstanding of axiological valuations) to the natural wonder of reality. What equals a dignity worth being, it is the being whose species has cognitive awareness and the expense of pain. To make another dignity being feel pain is to do an attack to their dignity as well as your own. What equals a dignity worth being, it is the being whose species has cognitive awareness and the expense of pain. When I was younger I felt proud when I harmed those I did not like now I find it deserving even if doing it was seen as the only choice as I now see us for who we are valuable beings of dignity. I am not as worried about how I break the box you believe I need to fit as I am worried about the possibility of your confining hopes of hindering me with your limits, these life traps you have decided about and for me are as owning character attacks to my dignity’s needs which can be generalized as acceptance, understanding, and support.

As I see it now, how odd I find it to have prejudice or bigotry against other humans who are intact previous fellow beings of dignity, we too often get blinded by the external packaging that holds a being of dignity internally. What I am saying, don’t judge by the outside see the worth and human value they have as a dignity being. Why is it easier to see what is wrong than what is right? Why do I struggle in speaking what my heart loves as thoroughly and as passionate as what I dislike or hate? When you say “an act of mercy” the thing that is being appealed to or for is the proposal of or for the human quality of dignity. May my lips be sweetened with words of encouragement and compassion.

May my Heart stay warm in the arms kindness. 

May my life be an expression of love to the world. Dignity arises in our emotional awareness depending on cognition. Our dignity is involved when you feel connected feelings with people, animals, plants, places, things, and ideas. Our dignity is involved when we feel an emotional bond “my family”, “my pet”, “my religion”, “my sport’s team” etc. Because of the core sensitivity of our dignity, we feel that when we connect, then we are also acknowledging, understanding, and supporting a perceived sense of dignity. Even if it’s not actually a dignity being in the case of plants, places, things, and ideas; and is rightly interacting with a dignity being in people and animals. We are trying to project “dignity developing motivation” towards them somewhere near equally even though human and animals don’t have the same morality weight to them. I am anthropocentric (from Greek means “human being center”) as an Axiological Atheist.

I see humans value as above all other life’s value. Some say well, we are animals so they disagree with my destination.  But how do the facts play out? So, you don’t have any difference in value of life? Therefore, a bug is the same as a mouse, a mouse is the same as a dolphin, a dolphin is the same as a human, all to you have exactly the same value? You fight to protect the rights of each of them equally? And all killing of any of them is the same crime murder? I know I am an animal but you also know that we do have the term humans which no other animal is classified. And we don’t take other animals to court as only humans and not any other animals are like us. We are also genetically connected to plants and stars and that still doesn’t remove the special class humans removed from all other animals.

A society where you can kill a human as easily as a mosquito would simply just not work ethically to me and it should not to any reasonable person either. If you think humans and animals are of equal value, are you obviously for stronger punishment for all animals to the level of humans? If so we need tougher laws against all animals including divorce and spousal or child support and we will jail any animal parent (deadbeat animal) who does not adequately as we have been avoiding this for too long and thankfully now that in the future the ideas about animals being equal we had to create a new animal police force and animal court system, not to mention are new animal jails as we will not accept such open child abuse and disregard for responsibilities? As we don’t want to treat animals as that would be unjust to some humans, but how does this even make sense?

To me, it doesn’t make sense as humans a different from all other animals even though some are similar in some ways. To further discuss my idea of *dignity developing motivation” can be seen in expressions like, I love you and I appreciate you. Or the behavior of living and appreciating. However, this is only true between higher cognitive aware beings as dignity and awareness of selfness is directly related to dignity awareness. The higher the dignity awareness the higher the moral weight of the dignity in the being’s dignity. What do you think are the best ways to cultivate dignity? Well, to me dignity is not a fixed thing and it feels honored or honoring others as well as help self-helping and other helping; like ones we love or those in need, just as our dignity is affected by the interactions with others. We can value our own dignity and we can and do grow this way, but as I see it because we are a social animals we can usually we cannot fully flourish with our dignity. Thus, dignity is emotionally needy for other dignity beings that is why I surmise at least a partially why we feel empathy and compassion or emotional bonds even with animals is a dignity awareness and response. Like when we say “my pet” cat one is acknowledging our increased personal and emotional connecting.

So, when we exchange in experience with a pet animal what we have done is we raze their dignity. Our dignity flourishes with acceptance, understanding, and support. Our dignity withers with rejection, misunderstanding, and opposition. Dignity: is the emotional sensitivity of our sense of self or the emotional understanding about our sense of self. When you say, they have a right to what they believe, what I hear is you think I don’t have a right to comment on it. Dignity is the emotional sensitivity of our sense of self or the emotional understanding about our sense of self. To me when we say it’s wrong to kill a human, that person is appealing to our need to value the dignity of the person.’ The person with whom may possibly be killed has a life essence with an attached value and moral weight valuations. And moral weight,’ which is different depending on the value of the dignity being you are addressing understanding moral weight as a kind of liability, responsibility, or rights is actualized. So, it’s the dignity to which we are saying validates the right to life. But I believe all living things with cognitively aware have a dignity.

As to me, dignity is the name I home to the emotional experience, emotional expression, emotional intelligence, or sensitivity at the very core of our sense of self the more aware the hire that dignity value and thus worth. Dignity is often shredded similar to my thinking: “Moral, ethical, legal, and political discussions use the concept of dignity to express the idea that a being has an innate right to be valued, respected, and to receive ethical treatment. In the modern context dignity, can function as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable rights.

English-speakers often use the word “dignity” in prescriptive and cautionary ways: for example, in politics, it can be used to critique the treatment of oppressed and vulnerable groups and peoples, but it has also been applied to cultures and sub-cultures, to religious beliefs and ideals, to animals used for food or research, and to plants. “Dignity” also has descriptive meanings pertaining to human worth. In general, the term has various functions and meanings depending on how the term is used and on the context.” Dignity, authenticity, and integrity are of the highest value to our experience, yet ones that we must define for ourselves. People of hurt and harm, you are not as free to attack other beings of dignity without any effect on you as you may think.

So, I am sorry, not sorry that there is no such thing in general, as hurting or harming other beings of dignity without psychological destruction to the dignity being in us. This is an understanding that once done hunts and harm of other beings of dignity emotionally/psychologically hurts and harms your life as an acceptance needy dignity being, as we commonly experience moral discuss involuntary as on our deepest level as dignity beings. Disgust is deeply related to our sense of morality.

• Value-blindness Gives Rise to Sociopathic evil.
• On the Value of Being a Real Person
• Axiology and Value Consciousness
• Axiological Atheism Explained
• Ethical Thinking or Moral Reasoning Should be Rational AND Emotional
• Morals, Values, and Ethics
• True Morality Not the Golden Rule…
• Natural Morality?
• Axiology, Naturalism, Realism and Moral Theory Ideas
• Interview of Formal Axiological Atheist Dr. William Kelleher
• Don’t be Boxed in by Abstraction
• Why care? Because we are Dignity Beings.

Using Axiological Awareness to Assist in Argumentation

I hear some saying that the universe does not care and thus no one matters. However, the universe is not aware to make any thought or judgment of any kind. Just as a tree or rock, not understanding love does nothing to devalue love. Therefore, the universe not caring about humans is an invalid argument because it cannot be said to assess humans’ value. Because of this fact, it is disqualified to provide any valid rebuke of value or what matters. Let me make this clearer, the universe can make no assessment at all and this means nothing to the truth status of anything, such as I could say the universe does not know I exist but that expresses nothing about me existing or not.

The Axiology of Knowing Others, the World and Oneself

Axiology (theory of value) Knowing Others and the World

1. INTRINSICALLY = empathy thinking: value who others and the world are

2. EXTRINSICALLY = practical thinking: what value others and the world have

3. SYSTEMICALLY = structured thinking: other-definition / world-definition and expectations

Axiology (theory of value) Knowing Oneself

4. INTRINSICALLY = empathy thinking: inner self-value who I am

5. EXTRINSICALLY = practical thinking: outer value what I am to others and the world

6. SYSTEMICALLY = structured thinking: self-definition and expectations

Smith, B. (2011). Axiology for human behavior professionals. Dallas, TX: Clear Direction.

“Life is just too damn short to not be kind.”

Would it make any difference how you treated others was really dependent on how empathizing you can be with them as well as how much emotional intelligence can you muster or demonstrate? What if you knew that a person was going to die in an hour would you feel more compelled to be kinder almost no matter what? I would like to think I always would. I know for some this is too extreme, but think about it like I do and you may just start to see the reason life’s just too damn short to not be kind. A main goal of mine in this life is to first not forget to enjoy it, but secondly is strive to make the world a little bit better because I was alive. We can make a big difference with little actions. In the end, all we really have is each other and life is too damn short to not be kind.

True (real) morality is a valued behavior we do that interacts with others; it is not really related to what we do to ourselves. Which is why I do not agree with the so-called golden rule as it is what you don’t want do to others but this fails in that it’s focused on ourselves which is us focused and true morality needs to be other focused on what valued behavior we do that interacts with others. I say treat others the way they should be treated. People have self-ownership, self-rights, right to dignity, freedom, and equality. True morality is a valued behavior we do that interacts with others starting with the conception that people matter, they have worth and value, It is in this way they should be treated.

Pseudo Morality is seen when holy books or people “cognitively reconstruct” an inhumane idea or behavior to make it into something different from than it is, to something more moral than what it actually is. Or turn something highly immoral into something highly moral. One way to do that is to cloak the behavior “in moral wrappings” or “in divine authority” such as god hates gays, gays are evil, thus killing gays is doing good by destroying evil. This thinking is obviously pseudo morality as gays are not evil but killing them is an evil and inhumane idea or behavior thus very immoral. The god justified immoral into moral is some of the most common pseudo morality though political and others in power tend to employ it as well. They all are using “pseudo-moral justifications” to describe something immoral as moral. To me, true morality is not starting with an us-focused morality or me-focused morality, as morality is a social interaction exchange thus it must be other-focused. “treating others as they should be treated” To me, I see everyone as owning themselves all equal in this right as humans. Moreover, to me morality is behavioral and a social property, there is no immoral thing one can do to themselves as one cannot violate themselves or their own consent as they choose their own actions. Thus, to me, all morality is about others and our interactions with them and them with us.

So, morality arises in a social context with all things not that all things have the same moral weight. Therefore, moral relationships with life outside humans have a different moral weight or value. Such as, killing 100 humans is not the same as killing 100 dogs, killing 100 fish, killing 100 flies, etc. Of course, the method of killing used should inflict the least amount of suffering to the animal or plant. And to not do that could make it immoral. Such as torturing them to death is immoral even if the killing was not. Harm is often a violation of trust and a violation of expected trust makes bad things even worse like if I told you a child was killed, you would feel it was terrible but if I further told you it was the child’s doctor that murdered the child out of anger. You would be more angered as doctors are expected to care for people not harm them. And if you think that is bad what if I further told you the doctor who killed the child was her mother would you hold her even mone in contempt as mothers also are expected to care and not kill children, so a violation of trust is terrible and even makes things worse. Therefore, we can see why people that hold places of trust should never abuse them, and that we should hold them accountable if they do violate such trust by harming others.

Morality first, that is morality should be at the forefront in all I do. I hope I am always strong enough to put my morality at the forefront in all I do, so much so, that it is obvious in the ways I think and behave. To better grasp, a naturalistic morality one should see the perspective of how there is a self-regulatory effect on the self-evaluative moral emotions, such as shame and guilt. Broadly conceived, self-regulation distinguishes between two types of motivation: approach/activation and avoidance/inhibition. one should conceptually understand the socialization dimensions (parental restrictiveness versus nurturance), associated emotions (anxiety versus empathy), and forms of morality (proscriptive versus prescriptive) that serve as precursors to each self-evaluative moral emotion.

Moral fear and Moral love (which together motivate my axiological ethics)?

“Sometimes justice has to outweigh care and sometimes care has to outweigh justice.”

And one may ask or question how do you discern the appropriate morality course of action between what is ethically right? To me, it takes Axiology (i.e. value consciousness: value judgment analysis of ethical appropriateness do to assess value involved).

MORAL FEAR (fight or flight “justice perspective”):

To feel a kind of morality “anxiety” (ethical apprehension to potentially cause harm) about behaviors and their outcomes empathy (I feel you) or sympathy (I feel for you) about something moral that may be done, is being done, or that has been done, thus feeling of distress, apprehension or alarm caused by value-driven emotional intelligence concern; moral/ethical anxiety to the possibility; chance (to do something as a moral thinker and an ethical actor) or dread; respect (to take the sensitivity of a personal moral choice that leads one to choose an ethical behavior(s) and grasping the moral weight of the actions involved and potential outcomes this engagement can or will likely create (using data from learning whether theoretical or practical to lessen the effect of an unpleasant choice as much as posable (morality development/awareness/goals/persuasion). “Moral Anxiety, improves us, while Social Anxiety kills. Some anxieties are indicators of healthy curiosity and strong moral fiber, while others are a source of severe stress. Knowing which is which can help you to navigate your personal, professional, and intellectual life more effectively.” Ref Moral fear thus is a kind of morality “anxiety” that motivates a fascinating aspect of humanity, which is that we hold ourselves to high moral standards. With our values and emotional intelligence and moral development, we gain a developed prosocial persuasion thus “tend to self-impose rules on ourselves to protect society from the short-term temptations that might cause us to do things that would have a negative impact in the long-run.  For example, we might be tempted to harm a person who bothers us, but a society in which everyone gave in to the temptation to hurt those who made us angry would quickly devolve into chaos. And once we accept that emotion plays some role in complex decisions, it is important to figure out which emotions are influencing different kinds of choices. Therefore, when we make these moral judgments to an extent we are somewhat driven by our ability to reason about the consequences of the actions or are  influenced by their emotions to or about the outcomes of the consequences of the actions.” https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/ulterior-motives/201308/anxiety-and-moral-judgment

*ps. MORAL FEAR (fight or flight “consequentialist ethics/utilitarian ethics”) is roughly referring to the fight-or-flight response, also known as the acute stress response, which refers to a physiological reaction that occurs in the presence of something that is terrifying, either mentally or physically. The fight-or-flight response (also called hyperarousal, or the acute stress response) is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. An evolutionary psychology explanation is that early animals had to react to threatening stimuli quickly and did not have time to psychologically and physically prepare themselves. The fight or flight response provided them with the mechanisms to rapidly respond to threats against survival. This response is recognized as the first stage of the general adaptation syndrome that regulates stress responses among vertebrates and other organisms. The reaction begins in the amygdala, which triggers a neural response in the hypothalamus. The initial reaction is followed by activation of the pituitary gland and secretion of the hormone ACTH. The adrenal gland is activated almost simultaneously and releases the hormone epinephrine. The release of chemical messengers results in the production of the hormone cortisol, which increases blood pressure, blood sugar, and suppresses the immune system. The initial response and subsequent reactions are triggered in an effort to create a boost of energy. This boost of energy is activated by epinephrine binding to liver cells and the subsequent production of glucose. Additionally, the circulation of cortisol functions to turn fatty acids into available energy, which prepares muscles throughout the body for response. Catecholamine hormones, such as adrenaline (epinephrine) or noradrenaline (norepinephrine), facilitate immediate physical reactions associated with a preparation for violent muscular action and :

• Acceleration of heart and lung action
• Paling or flushing, or alternating between both
• Inhibition of stomach and upper-intestinal action to the point where digestion slows down or stops
• General effect on the sphincters of the body
• Constriction of blood vessels in many parts of the body
• Liberation of metabolic energy sources (particularly fat and glycogen) for muscular action
• Dilation of blood vessels for muscles
• Inhibition of the lacrimal gland (responsible for tear production) and salivation
• Dilation of pupil (mydriasis)
• Relaxation of bladder
• Inhibition of erection
• Auditory exclusion (loss of hearing)
• Tunnel vision (loss of peripheral vision)
• Disinhibition of spinal reflexes
• Shaking

The physiological changes that occur during the fight or flight response are activated in order to give the body increased strength and speed in anticipation of fighting or running. Some of the specific physiological changes and their functions include:

• Increased blood flow to the muscles is activated by diverting blood flow from other parts of the body.
• Increased blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugars, and fats in order to supply the body with extra energy.
• The blood clotting function of the body speeds up in order to prevent excessive blood loss in the event of an injury sustained during the response.
• Increased muscle tension in order to provide the body with extra speed and strength. Ref, Ref

Here is a little on Consequentialist ethics and Utilitarian ethics

*”Consequentialist ethics: involves a class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one’s conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct. Thus, from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act (or omission from acting) is one that will produce a good outcome, or consequence. In an extreme form, the idea of consequentialism is commonly encapsulated in the saying, “the end justifies the means“, meaning that if a goal is morally important enough, any method of achieving it is acceptable. Consequentialism is usually contrasted with deontological ethics (or deontology), in that deontology, in which rules and moral duty are central, derives the rightness or wrongness of one’s conduct from the character of the behavior itself rather than the outcomes of the conduct. It is also contrasted with virtue ethics, which focuses on the character of the agent rather than on the nature or consequences of the act (or omission) itself, and pragmatic ethics which treats morality like science: advancing socially over the course of many lifetimes, such that any moral criterion is subject to revision. Consequentialist theories differ in how they define moral goods. Some argue that consequentialist and deontological theories are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, T. M. Scanlon advances the idea that human rights, which are commonly considered a “deontological” concept, can only be justified with reference to the consequences of having those rights. Similarly, Robert Nozick argues for a theory that is mostly consequentialist, but incorporates inviolable “side-constraints” which restrict the sort of actions agents are permitted to do.” Ref

*”Utilitarian ethics: involve an ethical theory which states that the best action is the one that maximizes utility. “Utility” is defined in various ways, usually in terms of the well-being of sentient entities. Jeremy Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism, described utility as the sum of all pleasure that results from an action, minus the suffering of anyone involved in the action. Utilitarianism is a version of consequentialism, which states that the consequences of any action are the only standard of right and wrong. Unlike other forms of consequentialism, such as egoism, utilitarianism considers the interests of all beings equally. Proponents of utilitarianism have disagreed on a number of points, such as whether actions should be chosen based on their likely results (act utilitarianism) or whether agents should conform to rules that maximize utility (rule utilitarianism). There is also disagreement as to whether total (total utilitarianism) or average (average utilitarianism) utility should be maximized.” ref

“Though the seeds of the theory can be found in the hedonists Aristippus and Epicurus, who viewed happiness as the only good, the tradition of utilitarianism properly began with Bentham, and has included John Stuart Mill, Henry Sidgwick, R. M. Hare, David Braybrooke, and Peter Singer. It has been applied to social welfare economics, the crisis of global poverty, the ethics of raising animals for food, and the importance of avoiding existential risks to humanity. Because utilitarianism is not a single theory but a cluster of related theories that have been developed over two hundred years, criticisms can be made for different reasons and have different targets. Karl Marx, in Das Kapital, criticizes Bentham’s utilitarianism on the grounds that it does not appear to recognize that different people have different joys:

Not even excepting our philosopher, Christian Wolff, in no time and in no country has the most homespun commonplace ever strutted about in so self-satisfied a way. The principle of utility was no discovery of Bentham. He simply reproduced in his dull way what Helvétius and other Frenchmen had said with esprit in the 18th century. To know what is useful for a dog, one must study dog-nature. This nature itself is not to be deduced from the principle of utility. Applying this to man, he who would criticize all human acts, movements, relations, etc., by the principle of utility, must first deal with human nature in general, and then with human nature as modified in each historical epoch. Bentham makes short work of it. With the driest naivete he takes the modern shopkeeper, especially the English shopkeeper, as the normal man. Whatever is useful to this queer normal man, and to his world, is absolutely useful. This yard-measure, then, he applies to past, present, and future. The Christian religion, e.g., is “useful,” “because it forbids in the name of religion the same faults that the penal code condemns in the name of the law.” Artistic criticism is “harmful,” because it disturbs worthy people in their enjoyment of Martin Tupper, etc. With such rubbish has the brave fellow, with his motto, “nulla dies sine linea [no day without a line]”, piled up mountains of books. ref

An article in the American Journal for Economics has addressed the issue of Utilitarian ethics within the redistribution of wealth. The journal stated that taxation of the wealthy is the best way to make use of the disposable income they receive. This says that the money creates utility for the most people by funding government services. Many utilitarian philosophers, including Peter Singer and Toby Ord, argue that inhabitants of developed countries, in particular, have an obligation to help to end extreme poverty across the world, for example by regularly donating some of their income to charity. Peter Singer, for example, argues that donating some of one’s income to charity could help to save a life or cure somebody from a poverty-related illness, which is a much better use of the money as it brings someone in extreme poverty far more happiness than it would bring to oneself if one lived in relative comfort. However, Singer not only argues that one ought to donate a significant proportion of one’s income to charity, but also that this money should be directed to the most cost-effective charities, in order to bring about the greatest good for the greatest number, consistent with utilitarian thinking. Singer’s ideas have formed the basis of the modern effective altruist movement. ref

MORAL LOVE (tend and befriend “voice of care perspective”):

To me, this relates to care/caring ethics, which affirms the importance of caring motivation, emotion, and the body in moral deliberation, as well as reasoning from particulars. This moral theory is known as “ the ethics of care” implies that there is moral significance in the fundamental elements of relationships and dependencies in human life. Normatively, care ethics seeks to maintain relationships by contextualizing and promoting the well-being of care-givers and care-receivers in a network of social relations. Most often defined as a practice or virtue rather than a theory as such, “care” involves maintaining the world of, and meeting the needs of, ourself and others. It builds on the motivation to care for those who are dependent and vulnerable, and it is inspired by both memories of being cared for and the idealizations of self. Following in the sentimentalist tradition of moral theory, care ethics affirms the importance of caring motivation, emotion, and the body in moral deliberation, as well as reasoning from particulars. One of the original works of care ethics was Milton Mayeroff’s short book, On Caring, but the emergence of care ethics as a distinct moral theory is most often attributed to the works of psychologist Carol Gilligan and philosopher Nel Noddings in the mid-1980s. Though there are notable thinkers who express early strains of care ethics such as those that can be detected in the writings of feminist philosophers such as Mary Wollstonecraft, Catherine and Harriet Beecher, and Charlotte Perkins. Offering a general charged that traditional moral approaches contain a kinda of male bias, and asserted the “voice of care” as a legitimate alternative to the “justice perspective” of liberal human rights theory. Annette Baier, Virginia Held, Eva Feder Kittay, Sara Ruddick, and Joan Tronto are some of the most influential among many subsequent contributors to care ethics. Typically contrasted with deontological/Kantian and consequentialist/utilitarian ethics, is that of care ethics.

*ps. MORAL LOVE (tend and befriend “care ethics (ethics of care)/reciprocity (reciprocal altruism) ethics”) is similar to the fight or flight which is also only part of a bigger picture, according to Shelley Taylor, Ph.D., a psychology professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and her colleagues. In the Psychological Review, as in evolutionary psychology, researchers describe how stress can elicit another behavioral pattern they call “tend and befriend”–especially in females. Tend-and-befriend is a behavior exhibited by some animals, including humans, in response to threat. It refers to protection of offspring (tending) and seeking out the social group for mutual defense (befriending), tend-and-befriend is theorized as having evolved as the typical female response to stress, just as the primary male response was fight-or-flight. This kind of gender determinism within the field is the subject of some controversy but I see it as to limited as well because we tend to use multiple sstrategiesto further sucuresafty depending of avalable resorces and if one regardless of gender persuasion is not able to either adequately defend themselves/or others (the fight part of  fight or flight ) or is not able to either adequately flee a given threat (the flight part of  fight or flight ) then other options such as  The tend-and-befriend theoretical model was originally developed by Dr. Shelley E. Taylor and her research team at the University of California, Los Angeles and first described in a Psychological Review article published in the year 2000.

Here is a little on Care ethics and Reciprocal altruism

*Care ethics: is a normative ethical theory that holds interpersonal relationships and care or benevolence as a virtue as central to moral action. It is one of a cluster of normative ethical theories that were developed by feminists in the second half of the twentieth century. Here is a link to Feminist ethics. While consequentialist and deontological ethical theories emphasize universal standards and impartiality, ethics of care emphasize the importance of response. The shift in moral perspective is manifested by a change in the moral question from “what is just?” to “how to respond?”. Ethics of care criticize application of universal standards as “morally problematic since it breeds moral blindness or indifference.”

Some beliefs of the theory are basic:

1. Persons are understood to have varying degrees of dependence and interdependence on one another. This is in contrast to deontological and consequentialist theories that tend to view persons as having independent interests and interactions.
2. Those particularly vulnerable to one’s choices and their outcomes deserve extra consideration to be measured according to their vulnerability to one’s choices.
3. It is necessary to attend to contextual details of situations in order to safeguard and promote the actual specific interests of those involved.

Care ethics contrasts with more well-known ethical models, such as consequentialist theories (e.g. utilitarianism) and deontological theories (e.g. Kantian ethics) in that it seeks to incorporate traditionally feminized virtues and values which, proponents of care ethics contend, are absent in such traditional models of ethics. While some feminists have criticized care-based ethics for reinforcing traditional stereotypes of a “good woman” others have embraced parts of this paradigm under the theoretical concept of care-focused feminism. Care-focused feminism is a branch of feminist thought, informed primarily by ethics of care as developed by Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings. This body of theory is critical of how caring is socially engendered to women and consequently devalued. “Care-focused feminists regard women’s capacity for care as a human strength” which can and should be taught to and expected of men as well as women. Noddings proposes that ethical caring has the potential to be a more concrete evaluative model of moral dilemma, than an ethic of justice. Noddings’ care-focused feminism requires practical application of relational ethics, predicated on an ethic of care. Ethics of care is also a basis for care-focused feminist theorizing on maternal ethics. Critical of how society engenders caring labor, theorists Sara Ruddick, Virginia Held, and Eva Feder Kittay suggest caring should be performed and caregivers valued in both public and private spheres. Their theories recognize caring as an ethically relevant issue. This proposed paradigm shift in ethics encourages that an ethic of caring be the social responsibility of both men and women. Joan Tronto argues that the definition of the term “ethic of care” is ambiguous due in part to the lack of a central role it plays in moral theory. She argues that considering moral philosophy is engaged with human goodness, then care would appear to assume a significant role in this type of philosophy. However, this is not the case and Tronto further stresses the association between care and “naturalness”. The latter term refers to the socially and culturally constructed gender roles where care is mainly assumed to be the role of the woman. As such, care loses the power to take a central role in moral theory. Tronto states there are four ethical elements of care:

1. Attentiveness
   Attentiveness is crucial to the ethics of care because care requires a recognition of others’ needs in order to respond to them. The question which arises is the distinction between ignorance and inattentiveness. Tronto poses this question as such, “But when is ignorance simply ignorance, and when is it inattentiveness”?
2. Responsibility
   In order to care, we must take it upon ourselves, thus responsibility. The problem associated with this second ethical element of responsibility is the question of obligation. Obligation is often, if not already, tied to pre-established societal and cultural norms and roles. Tronto makes the effort to differentiate the terms “responsibility” and “obligation” with regards to the ethic of care. Responsibility is ambiguous, whereas obligation refers to situations where action or reaction is due, such as the case of a legal contract. This ambiguity allows for ebb and flow in and between class structures and gender roles, and to other socially constructed roles that would bind responsibility to those only befitting of those roles.
3. Competence
   To provide care also means competency. One cannot simply acknowledge the need to care, accept the responsibility, but not follow through with enough adequacy – as such action would result in the need of care not being met.
4. Responsiveness
   This refers to the “responsiveness of the care receiver to the care”. Tronto states, “Responsiveness signals an important moral problem within care: by its nature, care is concerned with conditions of vulnerability and inequality”. She further argues responsiveness does not equal reciprocity. Rather, it is another method to understand vulnerability and inequality by understanding what has been expressed by those in the vulnerable position, as opposed to re-imagining oneself in a similar situation. Ref

Reciprocal altruism: (the evolution of cooperation)is a social interaction phenomenon where an individual makes sacrifices for another individual in expectation of similar treatment in the future. Originally introduced as a concept by biologist Robert Trivers, reciprocal altruism explains how altruistic behavior and morality can arise from evolutionary causes, as evolution selects for the best possible game theory results. If the benefit is higher than the initial cost, then multiple reciprocal interactions can actually out-compete more “greedy” forms of relationships, thus providing an evolutionary incentive for altruistic behavior. At the same time (and in opposition to unlimited altruism), reciprocity ensures that cheaters are also harmed when they choose to do so and are gradually made less fit as a result of their own behavior. Modern ethnology seems to support at least part of this hypothesis, as many societies on all continents have developed highly complex forms of gift economy where gifts are given with no immediately obvious material return, but the implicit societal expectation of “repayment” in gift form at some later point in time. Amazingly, those societies work. The custom of giving gifts for birthdays in the West may be seen as a remnant of this. It’s not uncommon for someone to engage in this behavior with the object of their affection, i.e. being nice to them with the expectation of a sexual relationship. Since a lot of these situations tend to involve lonely, single straight men, the common term for this is “Nice Guy” — in other words, the suitor’s claim “but I’m a nice guy…” translates to “I went through all the motions and she still won’t sleep with me.” As a general rule, this is not an effective strategy, and often even drifts into stalking behavior. Women who engage in the same behavior do not get as much attention but are still known (naturally) as Nice Girls. Either way, such people are seldom actually nice, and frequently come off as manipulative and bitter without realizing it. The fallacy lies in their equating sexual relationship with being nice – if their expectation of tit for tat was actually equal, aka being nice for being nice and being honest for being honest (which they, coming into relationship with entirely different expectations than they communicate, fail at), they wouldn’t face such a problem. Ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

• “The term “inconspicuous penis” could be a short penile shaft, that is, micropenis, or more commonly due to abnormalities of the investing structures. The latter group is further divided as buried penis, webbed penis, and trapped penis.” ref
• “The term “micropenis” is most often used medically when the rest of the penis, scrotum, and perineum are without ambiguity, such as hypospadias. Of the abnormal conditions associated with micropenis, most are conditions of reduced prenatal androgen production or effect, such as abnormal testicular development (testicular dysgenesis), Klinefelter syndrome, Leydig cell hypoplasia, specific defects of testosterone or dihydrotestosterone synthesis (17,20-lyase deficiency, 5α-reductase deficiency), androgen insensitivity syndromes, inadequate pituitary stimulation (gonadotropin deficiency), and other forms of congenital hypogonadism. Micropenis can also occur as part of many genetic malformation syndromes that do not involve the sex chromosomes.” ref
• “The term “Intersex” involves “Intersex people” who are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies”. Though the range of atypical sex characteristics may be obvious from birth through the presence of physically ambiguous genitalia, in other instances, atypical characteristics may go unnoticed, presenting as ambiguous internal reproductive organs or atypical chromosomes that may remain unknown to an individual all of their life. The number of births with ambiguous genitals is in the range of 0.02% to 0.05%. Other conditions involve atypical chromosomes, gonads, or hormones. Some persons may be assigned and raised as a girl or boy but then identify with another gender later in life, while most continue to identify with their assigned sex. The number of births where the baby is intersex has been reported differently depending on who reports and which definition of intersex is used.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):

Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism

My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com