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Re: So doctor, is it a boy or a girl? Ah... I don't know? - November 24th 2009, 09:04 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by magiciansasssistant View Post
I don't think they should be allowed to. I studied Psychology A level and we were told about a young boy whose genitals were mutilated by a dog ... his parents chose to ask doctors to make him "a girl" and raised him as a girl and his twin brother as a boy. Anyway as he grew up no matter what they did he insisted that he was a boy, and ended up having a sex change back to being male.
Basically I think that if the sex of a child is questioned at a young age, for whatever reason, that child should be allowed to get their own gender identity rather than their parents deciding for them. Gender is not just determined by sexual organs, so changing them will not define the child as a boy or girl, only he or she can do so.
That example doesn't fit because the boy was able to remember the event, whereas a newborn generally cannot remember events several years later, and so the newborn probably wouldn't know of the surgery unless they were told.

The problem with having the kid choose is that the newborn cannot choose right away, it has to mature over time. The problem arises with how it will be raised because society and cultures are geared to having two sexes, boy or girl. The parents may be at a loss because they may be unsure how to treat the infant, what clothes to buy, etc... . For example, pink is for girls, blue is for boys but if your child is intersexed, then what do you choose? Either choice you make you know the child isn't really that sex. People identify themselves and others by their sex but if this life-long identification is compromised, then it's going to be more stressful for the family and compromise the child's development. It's well-documented that boys and girls are raised differently, with different values instilled but what happens when the parents know that the child isn't truly a boy or isn't truly a girl? Furthermore, what if one parent views the child as more feminine whereas the other parents views the child as more masculine? All in all, the child's development and parents' raising of the child can be compromised.

So what is greater, having the child choose their sex years later at the cost of compromised development, confusion, etc... or having that solved, at least temporarily and avoid compromised development and sex confusion?