Leading Post: How Many Sexes Will Be Enough?

In "Of Gender and Gentials," Fausto-Sterling she explains the irrational reasons doctors decide to change an intersex infant into a female or a male and she further discusses the historic debate whether nurture or nature is the main determinant of a person's gender/sex. In this chapter Fausto-Sterling gives readers insight on the procedure that goes on in a hospital and how doctors are obligated to make sure intersex infants leave the hospital as one definite sex--because there is no room for ambiguity. There is a 1.7% chance for intersex babies--this is higher than the chance of albino in new born. When these cases of intersex infants occur doctors normally don't fully inform the parents about the situation; instead doctors vaguely tell the parents that there is a mix-up that's not allowing them to see the sex of the baby. Factors such as penis size and vagina appearances help doctors determine what sex to choose for the baby; normally it is easier to make girl than a boy. It is argued that doctors don't tell parents the full truth because they don't want the parents' knowledge to interfere with their child rearing. As Money and the Hampsons argue, nurture is a greater factor than nature in determining a child's gender. On the other hand, Diamond argues that sexuality identity is not fundamentally malleable--nature (hormones) is a greater factor than nurture (environment).  Fausto-Sterling ends her chapter with a powerful statement: "scientific and medical understanding of multiple human sexes brings with them both the means to disrupt and the tools to reinforce dominant beliefs about sex and gender" (77).

In "Should There Be Only Two Sexes" Fausto-Sterling problematize intersex infant procedures and how that process reaffirms the binary system. In this chapter she encourages a five sex system rather than a two sex system. She also advocates for the need to change the medical management of intersexual birth in three aspects: 1) stop unnecessary infant surgery (only for emergencies) 2) determine the sex with better knowledge (rather than based on penis size or vagina appearance) and 3) inform parents and child about the process. Fausto-Sterling provides many cases where the doctors decision on what sex the intersex child will be, in the future that decision what not of the best one and how it had negative effects on the child. Due to so many cases like that, many organization arose to enlighten and fight for intersex rights.