Neither male nor female. An intersex person has just obtained from the French justice to have his marital status affixed the mention "neutral sex". The person, considered until now to be a man, was born without a complete genitalia. In France, it is considered that one in 100,000 children is born intersex.
If the decision is the subject of an appeal from the public prosecutor's office in Tours (Indre-et-Loire), which fears that it will lead to the creation of a "third sex", or the questioning of the "ancestral binary of the sexes", it represents a real turning point for those concerned. Sex, gender, identity, francetv info takes stock of the questions posed by "neutral sex".
Intersex is the inability to be classified as male or female
According to the doctor of the person making the request, "Mr. X" was born with a "rudimentary vagina" and a "micropenis", without testicles. Indeed, intersex people are born with visible sexual ambiguity: their genitals are difficult to define or are atrophied, so that it is impossible to classify these people as "man" or "woman" according to the usual standards. According to biology researcher Anne Fausto-Sterling, around 1.7% of the world's population would be affected by this type of disturbance, quotes 20 Minutes, even if it is difficult to determine the exact number of people concerned.
Most refuse to be called hermaphrodites, because unlike hermaphrodites, their genitals are rarely functional. Intersex people also differ from transsexuals, who claim a sex change.
It is identified at birth or at puberty
Most of the time, intersex, sometimes called intersex, is detected at birth. Some doctors use the Prader scale to determine the anatomical sex of the child at birth. This tool makes it possible to define whether the genitalia are "male or female" by classifying them from 0 to 5: 0 corresponds to clearly female external genitalia, 5 to clearly male external genitalia, recalls Rue 89.
Intersex exists in different ways. This is the case, for example, of people with Klinefelter syndrome, who have more than two sex chromosomes: "In any case, it's not a pathology, tempers Antoine Faix, urologist contacted by francetv info. He can it can be a genetic variation of the sex chromosomes, or it can be hormonal. If a pregnancy has not gone normally because the mother lacks testosterone, the child is born with an indeterminate anatomy."
Intersex can also be revealed during puberty. When the body changes, "some boys can develop androgyny, their muscles do not develop, their hair does not grow..., continues Antoine Faix. Conversely, girls develop a lot of hair and their clitoris takes on the aspect of a penis."
However, if science can decide, and determine the biological sex of a person, the intersex ask them to be "neutral" and not to be classified in any category. "Society only admits the man or the woman. (...) But this obligation is a political construction", confides Vincent Guillot, intersex activist at Ouest-France.
It required until now to differentiate the social sex from the biological sex
Faced with this situation, many families, supported by certain doctors, therefore decide themselves on the sex of their children at birth, which the supporters of "neutral sex" deplore: "We arbitrarily try to choose a male or female sex without knowing how these babies will evolve by operating them", explains Mr. X, at the origin of the request in Tours, at 20 Minutes. “These operations have no therapeutic interest. We therefore do not favor the interest of the child and his well-being, but rather that of the parents and society, which has provided only two boxes, male and feminine", adds Mila Petkova, one of his lawyers, underlining the psychological and bodily consequences of these operations.
This is the case of Kris, a 58-year-old intersex, born with an XY (male) karyotype, but declared a woman by his doctor. Throughout his growth, and until he was 17, he received heavy treatment in the form of hormone injections, says the Belgian news site Apache:
The side effects of the treatment are very heavy, some irreversible: sterilization, loss of sensitivity, hot flashes, decreased libido and changeable mood... Kris even thinks about suicide for a while.
Vincent, an intersex activist in his fifties, still has nightmares related to the "dilator", this object intended to deepen the vagina, which he was forced to use during his childhood, to become "a daughter". "It is necessary to choose a sex, defends the urologist Antoine Faix. I understand that these people are disoriented, but in biology, there is the gender man or woman, not the in-between." For their part, intersex activists refute this logic which distinguishes biological sex, sexual identity and sexuality. They ask to be recognized with their two sexes.
It is recognized as a genre in its own right in some countries
For the moment, during the birth of a child in France, if the determination of the sex is not obvious, a circular of 2011 authorizes that the birth certificate does not immediately mention the sex. This period is valid for one to two years, recalls Le Monde, then "all useful measures should be taken so that, thereafter, the birth certificate can be effectively completed".
However, if the decision of the Court of Tours is confirmed, it could cancel this period and put in its place, in a timeless way, the mention "neutral sex". It will also make it possible to give more time to the families affected by this situation, "not to rush surgically (...) and to decide more calmly on the future of the child", assures the psychologist Pascale Moulinier to Europe 1 .
At the judicial level, this mention would respect article 8 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (CSDHLF), relating to the protection of privacy and respect for one's identity, in particular sexual. In May, the European Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks, had also called for the legal recognition of intersex people. The applicant's lawyers from Tours also hope that this decision will lead to an amendment authorizing intersex people to benefit from specific mention.
France would not be the first country to decide in this direction. Several States have authorized in recent years the addition of "X" or "other" boxes in the passport in addition to the mentions "M" and "F", such as Australia, New Zealand, Nepal, India and South Africa. Malta, Argentina and Denmark have passed legislation that makes it easier to change legal gender.
