How has the medical community treated hermaphrodites in the Unted States?

Hermaphrodites in the United States of America

Medical Treatments and Legal Provisions for the Intersex

Hermaphroditism : An Introduction

Etymologically , the term hermaphrodite ' came from Hermaphroditus , son of the Messenger of the Gods , Hermes , and the Goddess of Love and Beauty , Aphrodite , of the Greek Mythology (Harper 6 . According to Ovid 's tale , a nymph named Salmacis professed her love to Hermaphroditus and was shocked and got alarmed , he attempted to escape from Salmacis presence but she blocked him and threw both of them into the river where she lives - she wrapped

herself to him , making sure he would not be able to free himself (N par . 16-18 . The nymph prayed to the gods to let her and Hermaphroditus become one and was granted , they became one individual with both male and female attributes . From the Ancient Art to the Neoclassical Art , Hermophroditus have always been a favorite subject and is usually illustrated with his exposed genitals (Snyder par . 2 4 . In the beginning of the Renaissance , regarded hermaphrodites as symbol of marriage , however , that image changed and they were considered as sideshow freaks (Snyder par . 3 5

Biologically speaking , hermaphrodites do not only pertain to human beings . Hermaphroditism is even more common in plants and animals . In Botany , 70 of plants are hermaphrodites and the word can refer to three things (1 ) flowers - flowers that have both pistil and stamen (2 plants - plants that have hermaphrodite flowers and (3 ) plant populations - population od exclusively hermaphrodite plants (Monlar par . 6-8 . On the other hand , in Zoology , hermaphrodites are organisms that have functional reproductive organs of both male and female (Essenfeld et . al . 470 . This is an advantage for them because most of these organisms do not come across one another most of the time , but they can still mate with one another and both can produce an offspring Unfortunately , hermaphroditism on mammals and birds are not the same in the case of the organisms for it can cause them infertility (Ho par . 1 Still , there is a group of vertebrates that are naturally hermaphrodites like fishes such as Clownfish and Angelfish (Ho par 6-7 . Hermaphrodites in the Animal Kingdom are group into two : the synchronous hermaphrodites and the sequential hermaphrodites . Both possess male and female reproductive organs , however , Synchronous Hermaphrodites have both organs actively functioning simultaneously while Sequential Hermaphrodites have both reproductive organs that do not work at the same time (Ho par . 2 . Moreover , Sequential Hermaphrodites are classified as protogynus hermaphrodites and protandrous hermaphrodites . Protogynus hermaphrodites are those who are female at the early stage and then turn into males while protandrous hermaphrodites are just the vice versa

Unfortunately , the focus of this will be neither on the hermaphrodites in mythology , art , plants and animals but on human beings . This will focus on how the hermaphrodites are treated by the medical community in the United States of America . The discussion will also center on the issues that are connected with the treatments and the laws that USA...