ita, you're interested in phenotypically intersex people? Some sources:
Dreger, A. (2003). Notes on the Treatment of Intersex. Intersex Society of North America. [link]
This is an article about the surgery-centered model (pick a sex, make the kid as much like that sex as possible) and the patient-centered model (hey, when you're ready, decide what sex you want to be) of treatment of intersex children (all types).
Sax, Leonard. (2002) How Common is Intersex? A Response to Anne Fausto-Sterling. Journal of Sex Research.
[link]
Sax, Fausto-Sterling, and Blackless are the big three names in current intersex research right now.
And here's a law approach: Hermer, Laura. (2001). Surgical Revision of Intersex Children. [link]
There's also an interesting film called "First Do No Harm", put out by ISNA, involving interviews with adults who were assigned to sexes in childhood, and a rountable of psychologists, parents, and intersex adults. It's a strongly editorial film (as you might guess), but it addresses psychological outcome directly (which a lot of surgical approaches seem to fail to do).
Thanks.
Do those dwell on the psychological aspects?
eta: Because I'm finding lots of stuff from a phenotypical angle, and am interested now in people who
feel
they're the wrong gender.
#1 and #3, yes, (#1 moreso). The video most of all.
ETA: Discovery Health also has an hour-long video segment about congenital adrenal hyperplasia (girl with boyish sex-parts), which you might be able to find at a library. It follows a family that ends up going for the surgical approach, and shows the decision-making that goes into it all, and the parents' angst about choosing.
ita, one book I've heard a lot about is As Nature Made Him. It's a very sad story, not least of all b/c the subject of the bio recently killed himself.
[ETA but I just realized it's not what you're looking for, since David Reimer was born with unambigous male genitalia that were damaged during circumcision.]
Thanks Nutty and Dani.
The surreal thing about Middlesex was that
there was no gender dysmorphia at all -- just a change in clothes, hair and walking, switch up some language, but he wasn't a girly boy or a boyish girl.
Okay, maybe not
the
surreal thing, but one that made me wonder about the reality of it all.
Actually, Dani, that is precisely what I'm interested in -- what makes a boy feel like a boy, and a girl like a girl. How did he know he was wrong?
I think I've seen a TV show on that case, and had forgotten the name of the book.
ita, I'd recommend Anne Fausto-Sterling's Sexing the Body as an introduction to both the biological and the psychic/cultural sides of this whole area; the author is trained in both biology and (iirc) sociology, so she's one of the rare people who's able to talk across the usual disciplinary boundaries.
ita, have you read Trans-sister Radio? I can't remember if I got it from you or Kat (?).
I finished reading The Time Traveller's Wife yesterday and I was a mess of tears by the end. I agree with a former poster that it is probably a book with massive b.org appeal.
So put in on the rec list for book club, Megan.