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Wie häufig ist Intersexualität?

Ein interessanter Artikel behandelt die Häufigkeit von Intersexualität, also Personen, die weder Mann noch Frau sind.

Anne Fausto-Sterling’s suggestion that the prevalence of intersex might be as high as 1.7% has attracted wide attention in both the
scholarly press and the popular media. Many reviewers are not aware that this figure includes conditions which most clinicians do not
recognize as intersex, such as Klinefelter syndrome, Turner syndrome, and late-onset adrenal hyperplasia. If the term intersex is to
retain any meaning, the term should be restricted to those conditions in which chromosomal sex is inconsistent with phenotypic sex, or
in which the phenotype is not classifiable as either male or female. Applying this more precise definition, the true prevalence of
intersex is seen to be about 0.018%, almost 100 times lower than Fausto-Sterling’s estimate of 1.7%.

 Quelle: How common is intersex? A response to Anne Fausto-Sterling

 

Der wesentliche Punkt dort ist, dass Fausto-Sperling viele Personen hineinrechnet, die recht eindeutig einem Geschlecht zugeordnet werden, also eine sehr ungewöhnliche Definition von Intersexualität verwendet und nur deswegen auf höhere Zahlen kommt:

Fausto-Sterling’s argument that human sexuality is a continuum, not a dichotomy, rests in large measure on her claim that intersex births are a fairly common phenomenon. Specifically, Fausto-Sterling computes the incidence of intersexual births to be 1.7 per 100  live births, or 1.7%. To arrive at that figure, she defines as intersex any „individual who deviates from the Platonic ideal of physical  dimorphism at the chromosomal, genital, gonadal, or hormonal levels“ (Blackless et al., 2000, p. 161).

This definition is too broad. Fausto-Sterling and her associates acknowledge that some of the individuals thus categorized as intersex „are undiagnosed because they present no symptoms“ (Blackless et al., 2000, p. 152). A definition of intersex which encompasses individuals who are phenotypically indistinguishable from normal is likely to confuse both clinicians and patients. John Wiener, a urologist, has suggested defining intersex simply as „a discordance between phenotypic sex and chromosomal sex“

(Wiener, 1999), While this definition would cover most true intersex patients, there are some rare conditions which are clearly intersex  which are not captured by this definition. For example, some people are mosaics: Different cells in their body have different chromosomes. A 46,XY/46,XX mosaic is an individual in whom some cells have the male chromosomal complement (XY) and some cells have the female chromosomal complement (XX). If such an individual has both a penis and a vagina, then there is no mismatch  between phenotypic sex and genotypic sex: Both the phenotype and the genotype are intersexual. Yet according to Wiener’s definition,  such an individual would not be intersex.

A more comprehensive, yet still clinically useful definition of intersex would include those  conditions in which (a) the phenotype is not classifiable as either male or female, or (b) chromosomal sex is inconsistent with phenotypic sex.

Danach sind also die Zahlen deutlich niedriger.

The available data support the conclusion that human sexuality is a dichotomy, not a continuum. More than 99.98% of humans are
either male or female. If the term intersex is to retain any clinical meaning, the use of this term should be restricted to those conditions
in which chromosomal sex is inconsistent with phenotypic sex, or in which the phenotype is not classifiable as either male or female.
The birth of an intersex child, far from being „a fairly common phenomenon,“ is actually a rare event, occurring in fewer than 2 out of
every 10,000 births.

Danach kommen also auf 10.000 Geburten 1,7 intersexuelle. In einer Stadt von 100.000 Einwohner demnach etwa 17, bei 500.000 etwa 85 und in einer 5 Millionen Stadt etwa 850, unfd auf die etwa 82.000.000 Menschen in Deutschland etwa 13.940 Transexuelle. Bei den restlichen 81.986.060 Menschen ist eine Geschlechtszuweisung hingegen möglich, auch wenn davon sicherlich nicht alle sich in ihrem jeweiligen Geschlecht oder den dazu bestehenden Geschlechterollen wohl fühlen

Wenn eine Zuordnung in 99,98% zutrifft erstaunt es nicht, dass diese auch weitgehend verwendet wird und man sie auf Passe druckt oder jemanden als Mann oder Frau anspricht. Natürlich kann man dann daneben für diese ca. 14.000 auch Vorschriften schaffen, die ihre besondere Situation berücksichtigen und natürlich haben auch kleine Minderheiten ein Recht, nicht diskriminiert zu werden und in ihren Besonderheiten beachtet zu werden.

Allerdings werden Regelungen, die nur für 0,017% relevant sind, den übrigen 99,98% aber das Leben erschweren, wie überstrukturierte Sprachregelungen zum Thema Geschlecht eben in der Bevölkerung auf wenig Gegenliebe stoßen.