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I have to say, I wouldn't have found this website if I hadn't been browsing websites linked from intersexed resource pages... and I'm surprised at the level of vehemence I'm seeing here. To put it bluntly, it seems that some people are saying "Intersexed? Nonsense! (I'm/My child)'s not a freak like those other people."
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Don't you think the goal should be to get society to realize "normal" is a bigger neighborhood than they expected, rather than trying to fight about who gets a house in the small exclusive neighborhood?
I notice that some people here prefer the term "ambiguous genitalia." It's interesting that some of the pro-intersex (as terminology) sites I've read this evening disparage that term for similar reasons to what's being put forth here. As one site put it, "No child's genitals are ambiguous to them. They're simply theirs."
The term "intersex" is only useful as a broad term... I don't think I have to tell anybody here that there are no real medical conditions that result in, to use a little frank medical terminology, a child with a fully functioning hoo-hoo and cha-cha... all the conditions I've found it used to describe resemble CAH to some degree, and they all seem to present a varied spectrum of expression ranging from unusually sized/shaped genitalia to disparate phenotype and genotype.
If the word's going to be thrown out for CAH, it would have to be thrown out across the board... and I understand that the people who find it hurtful may be advocating just that... but think about the obstacle that would present to people searching for more information, who may or may not have the cooperation of competent and caring medicial officials? A catch-all term is useful to have... and as long as it's understood to be a catch-all term, a broad umbrella rather than a precise medical diagnosis, there's nothing misleading about it.
