Intersex people are individuals born with any of several variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes , gonads , sex hormones or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights , "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". Intersex people were previously referred to as hermaphrodites or "congenital eunuchs ". It was the first attempt at creating a taxonomic classification system of intersex conditions. Intersex people were categorized as either having true hermaphroditism , female pseudohermaphroditism , or male pseudohermaphroditism. Intersex people face stigmatization and discrimination from birth, or from discovery of an intersex trait, such as from puberty. This may include infanticide , abandonment and the stigmatization of families.

Hermaphrodite



hermaphroditism | Definition, Types, & Effects | Britannica
For example, the great majority of tunicates , pulmonate snails, opisthobranch snails , earthworms , and slugs are hermaphrodites. Hermaphroditism is also found in some fish species and to a lesser degree in other vertebrates. Most plants are also hermaphrodites. Historically, the term hermaphrodite has also been used to describe ambiguous genitalia and gonadal mosaicism in individuals of gonochoristic species, especially human beings. The word intersex has come into usage for humans, since the word hermaphrodite is considered to be misleading and stigmatizing , [5] [6] as well as "scientifically specious and clinically problematic.


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Ambiguous genitalia is a rare condition in which an infant's external genitals don't appear to be clearly either male or female. In a baby with ambiguous genitalia, the genitals may be incompletely developed or the baby may have characteristics of both sexes. The external sex organs may not match the internal sex organs or genetic sex.



Hermaphroditism , the condition of having both male and female reproductive organs. Hermaphroditic plants —most flowering plants, or angiosperms —are called monoecious, or bisexual. Hermaphroditic animals—mostly invertebrates such as worms , bryozoans moss animals , trematodes flukes , snails , slugs , and barnacles —are usually parasitic, slow-moving, or permanently attached to another animal or plant.