If you had a child born with both a penis and vagina, what would you do?

Question

What sex would you chose for them and why? Would God think the baby an abomination? What if you chose for them to be male and they were really female or vis versa, what then?

So, Homosexuals are not abominations??

Answer 1

This is actually quite common in the Dominican Republic, where doctors there are the leading experts on handling the situation. It is an unfortunate birth defect that is largely genetic, as it causes a great deal of confusion in the mind of the child when they reach puberty. Early on, however, surgery is performed to convert the child to whatever sex the parents decide upon. It is a gamble as to which way the child will turn, but most of them end up homosexual.

Answer 2

I would most likely chose female. No, God would not think the baby is an abomination. For a child to grow up among most societies a sex needs to be determined. Something as simple as deciding what bathroom to use or what gym class to take. Decisions like this have to be made early. Even in daycare the workers need to know the sex. You are not raising this child in a vaccum. Plus, the surgery is not an easy one and leaving it until a child is older is extremely hard on the child. Yes, as parent you may chose wrong, but better than not making any choice at all.

And I agree with the above poster. Your doctor can help advise you on this matter after all testing is completed.

Answer 3

I would not choose a sex for them. I would have no right to do so. You might want to check out the website of ISNA -- the Intersex Society of North America at:

http://www.isna.org

This is an organization of people who are not clearly male or female and identify as intersexed -- with pride! Their org is "devoted to systemic change to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with an anatomy that someone decided is not standard male or female." (From their mission statement on their site.)

And no, I do not think such a person is an abomination. In some cultures, such a person would be sacred -- according to John Lame Deer (Lakota Holy man) the most powerful shamans were often intersexed.

Answer 4

That is what is called a hermorphodite. It is a parisitic twin. What has happened is that it is a pair a twins that did not separate in the womb and one did not form the rest of the way, and the rest of the body was desolved in the womb while still in vetro in the mother, leaving the genataila. Some babies have extra arms or an extra head. or one man was found to have part of his twin's eyes and mouth attatched to the side of his face that blinked and the mouth still opened. It is a birth defect. What I might consider is to let the child develope long enough to see whether they were female or male before removal of the extra genitailia.

Answer 5

I would not choose. I don't think the choice is mine to make. I watched a program about this and it stated that the true "nature" of the person doesn't really begin to appear until puberty. At that point, it would be up to the child mostly bases on their natural development. No one begins life as an abomination.

Answer 6

Until the child is old enough to decide, I would leave both genitalia. It is not an abomination. The child is still loved by God.
God only sends souls that are strong and wise enough to occupy bodies that are more challenging than others.
Feel blessed you are in such a presence.

Answer 7

Interestingly, the talmud discusses this. (as well as people who show no visible sign of either gender.)
I don't think judaism would approve of choosing either sex (though I'm not sure about this).
Certainly the child is not an abomination (what did it do? it was born that way!).

Answer 8

A person whom you describe is called a hermaphrodite and is not a rarity. Generally speaking, a blood test will show which is the predominant sex and an operation is carried out to remove which portions are not needed.

Answer 9

I would either have their DNA checked to see which they were meant to be or I would have their sex assigned based on which they were able to reproduce as. They are not born with true double genitalia. No one has both testes and ovaries. This is usually caused by human intervention such as drugs or medication.

Answer 10

Have the child tested to see which sex was most prevalent, hormonally speaking and ask the doctor if the child could be altered to be the sex that was most dominant.