The binary system of identification between sexes has existed since the dawn of man. But sometimes there is an abnormality that bucks the system, sending the medical community and society into a frenzy resulting in a barrage of difficult questions.
The child born into this condition is labeled intersex. An intersexual child is an individual whose chromosomes, genitalia or internal reproductive system is not considered to be standard for a male or female, said Brett Beemyn, coordinator of the Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Services.
Wednesday the group celebrated the second consecutive Intersex Awareness Day.
The day is designed to educate the public of intersexual individuals, Beemyn said. Society is unaware of intersex people, he said. Sometimes even the intersex individual might not know it until years after birth.
"A lot of times people don't know because they may have chromosomes that are XXY as opposed to XY and (that) may play out in different ways," he said. "They may not grow the standard secondary sex characteristics when they reach puberty. If the individual was thought to be a male, he may not grow facial hair or the female may grow facial hair or she may not have her period."
Rachel Andrews, an intersex individual herself, spoke at the Multicultural Center on the fourth floor of the Ohio Union Wednesday night to heighten awareness about the intersex community.
One in about 2000 births produces an intersex child, she said.
"Everyone started out as female. Some made a left turn and turned male," she said. "There are some things that can go wrong along the pathways such as genetic variances or an excess or not enough chromosomes."
When an intersex child is born they will sometimes show traits of both genders, she said.
"Sometimes when a child is born it will look like a male on the outside but will have the internal reproductive system of a female," she said.
Often doctors will immediately assign a gender to child and perform surgery on it to "normalize" it, Andrews said.
"When someone is born as intersex (doctors) sometimes do irreversible damage to that newborn (through surgery)," Beemyn said.
Recently, there has been a large movement to stop preemptive surgery, Andrews said.
"If you could predict who this person is on the inside and on the outside you'd be all right," she said. "Unfortunately a lot of this has been swept under the rug by the medical community. When you decide to do surgery to 'normalize' the child, how do you pick?"
After Andrews was born and throughout her youth she was raised like a boy, she said.
"I always felt a little different but I couldn't put it into words," she said. "(But) when I hit puberty my body went in both directions at the same time."
Hair growth of a male began to develop but also breasts of a female, she said. She began to wear baggy clothes and tried to hide her condition.
"I came across the writings on intersex and said 'this looks really familiar,'" she said.
In the last 10 years the condition has made major ground in raising awareness but there is still a long way to go, she said.
"This is a fairly low profile condition," she said. "You don't see people picketing outside of hospitals. (But) it happens a lot more often than you think."
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