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I have never understood the this terminology being used for our children. I mean if you said "My child has CAH" you could prove it scientifically so the terminology is correct. If I were to say "My child is intersexed" How would it be proven scientifically? Not all children born with CAH have ambiguous genitals and all have definite reproductive organs. One or the other, not both and not some of both. If an enlarged clitoris is technically a phallus then a small clitoris should be a small phallus and we should all be intersexed because we would all have a phallus of one kind or another. That makes no sense to me because unless we are completely an androgynous society then that is not possible with what we have defined as a male and a female through how they reproduce, not how they look.
I would be more than happy to write a letter to someone saying just that. I am not very good at picking the right place to start but I will have my letter ready and will send it as the ideas come. I found the general offices of the AMA on-line (since Aimee mentioned them) which appear to be in Chicago but perhaps someone who has done more research could give a better idea of where to send it so it doesn't get lost in the general mail that never gets seen because a mail room didn't know who to direct it to. I looked at their categories of options on their site but I couldn't seem to grasp which one would be the best.
In other words, let me know, I am here with my letter ready, lets figure out where to send it!
Take Care,
RebeccaM
On a long side-note: I have taken my stand in small ways like at the CAH conference a couple of years ago in Baltimore, I spoke to Dr. Claude Migeon about it. He wanted me to fill out a questionnaire for a professor and I was going to but when I read it, it used "intersexed" several times. I wasn't going to validate that study by answering the questions when I felt it was already based on incorrect information. Dr. Migeon and I talked about it for awhile and although he understood my position, he is still a man a medicine who thinks of the term as trivial in the whole of things. I told him I differed in that not only did I feel it was incorrectly used, but I also felt that the far reaching impact of this term on our children psychologically could lead them in a direction completely different than where they would be headed if they stood on firmer ground as far as the basics of what most of us know for sure about ourselves. Some children can not be saved from that part of life's heartache but some can so I would assume that the term could at least be looked at to see if it could be removed. I mean Doctors are supposed to think "If it would save one persons life...then I would do it." Well, I am here to say that if one child committed suicide because they didn't feel like they couldn't even check a male or female box on an application then it seems logical that they would take it more seriously and at least explain or change their perspective. A good thesis for one of those researchers that come here and ask questions would actually be to look at the opposite of what their focus usually is. I bet they would make an "A" if they took the time to show the logic of it all as well as the horrible psychological impact it could possibly have on these children.
Further side note: Dr. Migeon didn't know me from Adam and I only had that one conversation with him at the conference. He had asked my daughter's name, though, and out of nowhere showed up when my daughter was preparing for her surgery for support. He, like a lot of doctors actually do care and do listen. I feel that if one ear was bent and was affected to the point where the next conversation they have with their colleagues about the subject might turn out a little differently, then it is worth it. Every small step is worth it and I am ready with my letter for anyone in the medical community who will listen.
