[ **up: [[Sex (Biology)]]** ] --- # Intersexuality ## Intersex people [[2025-0313. Intersex people ‘risk and experience discrimination, stigmatisation and harmful practices because of the ways our bodies are seen as different.’|Intersex people ‘risk and experience discrimination, stigmatisation and harmful practices because of the ways [their] bodies are seen as different.’]][^1] [[2025-0313. 'Intersex people have innate sex characteristics that do not fit medical norms for female or male bodies. We are a hugely diverse population ...'|'Intersex people have innate sex characteristics that do not fit medical norms for female or male bodies. We are a hugely diverse population, with at least 40 different underlying traits known to science. Intersex variations can become apparent at many different life stages ...']][^2] ### Infertility/sterility [[2025-0313. 'Eutherian mammals have an extremely conserved sex determining system controlled by highly differentiated sex chromosomes.'|’Eutherian mammals have an extremely conserved sex determining system controlled by highly differentiated sex chromosomes. Females are XX and males are XY, and any deviation generally leads to infertility/sterility, particularly due to meiosis disruption.’]][^3] --- ## Intersex Variations in Other Species [[2025-0313. Researchers have documented intersex variations in grizzly, black, and polar bears; as well as in baboons, moose, deer, buffalo, and kangaroos.|Researchers have documented intersex variations in grizzly, black, and polar bears; as well as in baboons, moose, deer, buffalo, and kangaroos.]][^4] [[2025-0313. Researchers have documented intersex variations in grizzly, black, and polar bears; as well as in baboons, moose, deer, buffalo, and kangaroos.|'But in at least some instances, water pollutants — such as pesticides — have led to clearly abnormal conditions. For instance, biologists have found eggs in the testes of some male alligators and fish that had been exposed to certain pesticides.'|’No one is sure why. But in at least some instances, water pollutants — such as pesticides — have led to clearly abnormal conditions. For instance, biologists have found eggs in the testes of some male alligators and fish that had been exposed to certain pesticides.’]][^5] --- ## History ### Ancient Greece [[Pliny wrote, “There are persons who from birth are bisexual, whom we call ‘hermaphrodites’; they were formerly termed androgyni and regarded as prodigies, but now are instruments of pleasure.”]][^6] [^1]: Admin, ‘Interex’, *InterAction for Health and Human Rights*, updated 27 November 2024, https://interaction.org.au/19853/welcome/. [^2]: Admin, ‘Intersex for allies’, *InterAction for Health and Human Rights*, updated 7 March 2021, https://interaction.org.au/allies/. [^3]: Frédéric Baudat, Bernard de Mass & Frederic Veyrunes, ‘[[Baudat, de Mass & Veyrunes. ‘Sex chromosome quadrivalents in oocytes of the African pygmy mouse Mus minutoides that harbors non-conventional sex chromosomes’, 2019.|Sex chromosome quadrivalents in oocytes of the African pygmy mouse Mus minutoides that harbors non-conventional sex chromosomes]]’, *Chromosoma*, vol. 128, issue 3 (2019), p. 398. [^4]: Amanda Leigh Mascarelli, ‘[[Leigh. ‘Explainer_ Male-female flexibility in animals’, 2015.|Explainer: Male-female flexibility in animals]]’, *ScienceNewsExplores*, 31 July 2015, https://www.snexplores.org/article/explainer-male-female-flexibility-animals. [^5]: Amanda Leigh Mascarelli, ‘[[Leigh. ‘Explainer_ Male-female flexibility in animals’, 2015.|Explainer: Male-female flexibility in animals]]’, *ScienceNewsExplores*, 31 July 2015, https://www.snexplores.org/article/explainer-male-female-flexibility-animals. [^6]: Aulus Gellius, *[[Aulus Gellius. 'The Attic Nights of Aulus Gellius. With an English Translation'. Translated by John C. Rolfe. 1927.]]*, translated by John C. Rolfe (London: Heinemann Press, 1927; reprinted by the *Perseus Digital Library*), ix. 4.