amra@ihuxj.UUCP (Steven L. Aldrich) (06/06/84)
{ Blessed are those who are lead not into temptation, but
still manage to find it on their own! } [ :-) ]
Here's a topic I haven't seen on the net and thought
might be of interest to some of you. Namely, the subject
of hermaphroditism and its social/moral/religious implications.
Although hermaphrodites makes up only a small percentage of
the worlds population, their existance seems to raise some
interesting dilemas to some of our cultural definitions of
sexuality in general and sociologic norms of interactions
between individuals in society.
A few questions pop into my mind when thinking on this subject.
If anyone would care to comment/answer please do. I enjoy
hearing other peoples views.
1) If a hermaphrodite were to have intercource with themself
would this be considered incest? masturbation?? something else???
2) If two hermaphrodites were to have a sexual relationship,
would they be considered to be homosexual heterosexual or
androgynous?
3) IF,and this is pushing the point to extremes, a Fully
Functional hermaphrodite ( one who has both male & female
reproductive organs which function normaly) were to
impregnate themselves, would this be a form of cloning?
4) What would the social/moral/religious implications of number 3
be? { NO, I don't mean 3B's [ :-)] }
If anyone would like to comment on any of the above, send EMAIL
to IHNP4!IHUXJ!AMRA or POST to this news group. Thanks in
advance for your time and replies. If there is sufficent
responce to this, I'll post a follow up. It may take a while,
but I'll make every effort to reply in a timely manner.
Be yourself;
Let others imitate!
Best Regards,
Steve Aldrich
(ihnp4!ihuxj!amra)
P.S. "Have a purpose in life; be a NON-CONFORMIST!" [ :-) ]rrizzo@bbncca.ARPA (Ron Rizzo) (06/08/84)
There's an interesting & well-written novel set in East Texas whose main character is a Tex-Mex hermaphrodite: William Goyen, ARCADIO (not in paperback) "Don't conform! It's so tired." Ron Rizzo
neal@denelcor.UUCP (Neal Weidenhofer) (06/09/84)
************************************************************************** >Question: would such a child have genetic makeup more closely >identical to that of his parent than the child of identical twins? > >Wendy [NO NUKES! TURN OFF THE SUN!] Sorry, Wendy. Identical twins are always of the same sex. Regards, Neal Weidenhofer "Nothin' ain't worth nothin' Denelcor, Inc. but it's free" <hao|csu-cs|brl-bmd>!denelcor!neal
rh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Randy Haskins) (06/09/84)
I took the liberty of moving this into net.bio in addition to the groups it is in in the hopes of enticing people with scientific knowledge to contribute. As I understand it, hermaphrodites have all sorts of problems, and I think the vast major of them don't even have one set of gender-organs working completely. I think the instances of h's having the female reproductive organs functional is very low. Anyone know for sure? -- Randwulf (Randy Haskins); Path= genrad!mit-eddie!rh
ir128@sdccs6.UUCP (06/11/84)
In medical school I saw only one true hermaphrodite, a child of about 4 years old. Diagnostic tests had confirmed ovaries and testes, but the latter were undecended and rudimentary. Because of the rarity of true hermaphrodites the literature is very scanty about the functioning of both sets of gonads. However, because of the hormonal complexity of spermatogensis and ovulation simultaneous production of viable sperm and ova appear to be TECHNICALLY impossible. (I took the original questions about masturbation-incest-etc to be about LOGICAL possibilities--philosophical questions about the meaning of the terms involved.)
gsa@proper.UUCP (George Acton) (06/14/84)
Most texts of general pathology, endocrinology and gynecology have
a chapter discussing this subject, and usually a little chart
showing the 8-10 different subtypes. Gender can relate to
chromosome count, sex of gonads, arrangement of internal
genital organs, arrangement of external genital organs and
endocrinologic factors like type of sex hormones circulatong
and the body's responses to them. Not to mention psychological
and social identification. There are several ways for these
sexual characteristics to get mixed up. Having functional
gonads for both sexes, is impossible, to the best of my
recollection. It is possible to have one ovary and one testis,
and if this is based on a chromosomal rearrangement after
conception, they would contain germ cells, but my impression
is that a level of circulating sex hormones that would support
reproductive ability for one sex would interfere with function
of the opposite-sex gonad to the extent that it would be
infertile.
--George Acton, MD