- MYTH #10: Intersex is extremely rare
- MYTH #9: Only true hermaphrodites are really intersexed.
- Myth #8: If you're transsexed, then you are intersexed.
- Myth #7: ISNA advocates doing nothing and raising intersexed babies in a third gender
- MYTH #6: You can't raise an intersexed child as a boy or girl without surgery.
- MYTH #5: Surgery makes normal looking genitals.
- MYTH #4: Once surgery is better, we won t have to worry about intersex
- MYTH #3: Corrective cosmetic surgeries make parents forget their kid was born different
- MYTH #2: John Money is responsible for all of the troubles that have befallen intersexed people
- MYTH #1: My little contribution to ISNA can't possibly make a difference.
MYTH #5: Surgery makes normal looking genitals.
This simply isn’t true in the vast majority of cases. As Cheryl Chase, the Executive Director of ISNA, noted in Intersex in the Age of Ethics, “Surgery is good at removing structures … it is much less useful for creating structures.” ISNA believes that medically necessary surgeries should be employed when a child or adult’s physical health is threatened. We believe that, for example, if a child’s urine is not draining in a healthy way, the child should receive medical treatment for that problem. But “cosmetic” surgeries designed to make genitals look “normal” are not medically necessary.
Intersexed genitals are not diseased! They just look different. And don’t go giving into Myth 4 …
