Sex is a Spectrum
Biological sex is a spectrum. Yes you heard me correctly. Let me say it a little louder for those in the back: SEX IS A SPECTRUM.
(Question) No, sex is not a spectrum. Sex is binary. Male & Female.
(Answer) Contemporary American society’s concept of sex is indeed binary – the idea that there is only a man and a woman. A penis and a vagina. Simple right? Well, the world is a lot more complex than that. As many as 1.7% of the world’s population (source) do not neatly fit into the categories of male or female, but are somewhere between male and female. This sex spectrum exists between male and female is defined by hormonal differences, physical differences, and sex organ differences. We call people who fall in the sex spectrum Intersex or Differences of Sex Development (DSD).
(Question) What is Intersex / Differences of Sex Development (DSD)?
(Answer) Intersex or Differences of Sex Development (DSD) are the umbrella terms for those who are in the spectrum between the sexes. We naturally exist and are born with our different conditions and syndromes. There is nothing wrong with us, and we are often fighting medically unnecessary surgeries to normalize us to make us fit neatly into being male or female.
For example, I have complete androgen insensitivity syndrome. Part of this syndrome is that I have internal testes and XY chromosomes, but I personally have the body of a woman, think like a woman, and feel like a woman. I am constantly fighting off surgery to remove my testes to normalize my body and to put me on artificial hormones. My body doesn’t understand testosterone, even though my body produces a lot of testosterone. In my case, my karyotype (XY chromosomes) and my phenotype (observable as female) do not match. This makes me intersex. I am living proof that sex is indeed a spectrum, and I am far from alone.
(Question) What about reproduction? You still need male & female!
(Answer) Many people who are in the spectrum between male and female are infertile, but not everyone who is intersex or DSD is infertile. This website, for example, is dedicated to people who have androgen insensitivity syndrome. People with complete and partial androgen insensitivity syndrome are infertile and are unable to bear or conceive children. With medical advancements, though, our ability to conceive children may change with time. With modern medical advancements, some people with mild androgen insensitivity syndrome are able to have children.
(Question) I’m tired of young people redefining what biological sex is.
(Answer) This information may be new to you, but it’s not new to history or the human experience at all! The existence of the sex spectrum does not deny the existence of male and female people; people exist on the sex spectrum between male and female whether you choose to acknowledge our existence or not. We exist currently, and have always existed as long as there are people. There are greek myths, native american culture, even a bible verse about intersex people. We appear consistently though out history, and to imply that sex is a spectrum is a new concept is simply disregarding thousands of years of history and the experiences of non-western cultures.
(Question) I am a Christian; sex being a spectrum goes agains my faith.
(Answer) If you are a faith filled Christian, then you should have no problem turning to the bible to see what the bible has to say on the body:
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
12 There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. 13 We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. 14 So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.
15 Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. 16 And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? 18 God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. 19 If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? 20 As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.
21 The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without. 23 The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honor. The private parts aren’t shown. But they are treated with special care. 24 The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any. 25 In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy.
27 You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.
“God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be.” Intersex people were born intersex. God created intersex people with care and with intent. Intersex bodies, bodies that exist on the sex spectrum, are the bodies of Christ, just as those that are classically male and female. If our intersex parts said to our bodies, we do not belong, they are the parts that are treated with special care. They are the parts that should be given honor, and the whole body shares in its joy.
We are not meant to understand God’s plan, and it is not our place to question God and his creations. To shame and and doubt intersex people is to doubt God’s plan and wisdom.
Do you still doubt in God’s plan for intersex people?
Isaiah 45:9
"Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, 'What are you making?' Does your work say, 'The potter has no hands'?
The bible is very clear on this. It is not for you to question the lord and to ask why sex is a spectrum. It is for you to listen to God and love his creations, and love and accept intersex people.