Intersexuality

The GLAAD media guide defines intersexual as, "an umbrella term describing people born with reproductive or sexual anatomy and/or a chromosome pattern that can't be classified as typically male or female."

As Anne Fausto-Sterling notes, the very idea of intersexuality is rooted in the idea that there are two sexes -- male and female, and defining who qualifies as "intersex" has been left up to doctors.

Approximately 1.7 percent of people are born with anatomical or chromosomal abnormalities that place them outside of the traditional categories of "female" or "male".

It used to be common practice for doctors to assign gender to these babies after birth, and sometimes surgeries would accompany this assignment; however, in recent years there has been a call to end these surgeries. California lawmakers recently passed the first resolution to prevent surgery on intersex children "until the child is able to participate in decision making."