I wanted to post this comment on Pam's House Blend, but I keep getting a popup that says "Bad Gateway." So I will post it here. The article was in regards to forcing intersexed children to be one gender or the other rather than allowing them to choose when they got old enough to make the decision, and the drastic consequence of making such a critical decision for them.
Thank you to those of you who shared your stories about your experiences. Gender is much more complex than the average person believes it to be. And there is so much stigma if you aren't a "manly man" or a "girly girl." I'm a straight woman who was born female, but I was never a "girly girl" so I got branded a "tomboy" and a "dyke." Being branded a dyke didn't particularly bother me because I figured anyone who refused to be my friend because they thought I was a lesbian wasn't a friend worth having. However I've always hated the term "tomboy." My name wasn't Tom and I wasn't a boy. I was simply an active girl.
But I digress. The situations you are referring to are much, much worse. I myself knew a girl when I was in junior high who came from this horrible, redneck family. She looked and acted kind of boyish, and I always figured she was another "tomboy" like myself. Her hateful dick of an older brother was always beating her up and her parents did nothing about it. I later found out that she was intersexed and the doctors had decided that it would be easier to "make her into a girl" than a boy. I don't know what happened to her. I only know that I liked her no matter what her gender was and I felt sorry for her having to live in that awful family.
I hope one day that minds will open enough to realize that we should treat all people as people, whether they are gay, straight, or bisexual. Whether they are the sex that they were born, or they are transgendered. Whether they are one sex or intersexed. That is the only way to prevent these sad things from happening any more.
But I digress. The situations you are referring to are much, much worse. I myself knew a girl when I was in junior high who came from this horrible, redneck family. She looked and acted kind of boyish, and I always figured she was another "tomboy" like myself. Her hateful dick of an older brother was always beating her up and her parents did nothing about it. I later found out that she was intersexed and the doctors had decided that it would be easier to "make her into a girl" than a boy. I don't know what happened to her. I only know that I liked her no matter what her gender was and I felt sorry for her having to live in that awful family.
I hope one day that minds will open enough to realize that we should treat all people as people, whether they are gay, straight, or bisexual. Whether they are the sex that they were born, or they are transgendered. Whether they are one sex or intersexed. That is the only way to prevent these sad things from happening any more.
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