Intersexchildren and adolescents: What dilemmas?

Abstract

The paper presents some relevant issues related to Disorders of Sex Development. The topic gives rise to avery livelyinternational debate both scientific and socialthat affects notonly the childor adolescentintersexand his family, but alsoall the operatorswho come in contact with thesefamilies. The termDisordersof Sex Developmentrefers to aset of congenital conditions under whichthe development ofchromosomal,gonadal or anatomic sexis atypical.Theterminology used to describethese conditions isone of the currentissues on which thescientific and socialcommunitydebates. Inizio moduloInizio moduloAnother important issue is related to the surgeries underwentduring childhood. Intersex conditions, in fact, represent a medical emergency because they would put in doubt the distinctnessof the morphological boundaries that distinguish the two genres and the doctor would be the one who is called to restore, through the correction of ambiguous or atypical genitalia, the dichotomous structure of the two sexes. Inthis case, therefore, intersex people would be medicalizedandpathologizeddue to atypical genitalsthat fall outside ofthemale-femaledichotomythat societyexpects, and lead, insome cases, to prematuresurgical interventionsin earlyyears of lifeand aiming at "normalizing" the genitals, adjusting thechild's genitalto the femaleorthe male ones. Thepaper presentsthe topicfrom several pointsof view, though the fact that the two authors are clinical psychologists, will prevailin the interpretation of the cases.