Do anyone know of a real hermaphrodite ?

Answer 1

Yes, although they don't use the word 'hermaphrodite', they're usually referred to as 'intersexed' - hermaphrodite's rarely used anymore. The person I met was born with a completely female anatomy on the outside, but found out she had testicles (that did not 'drop' but were still inside her body), and she'd actually started to grow a beard, so she started to develop some male characteristics as well.
She optioned to have surgery to remove some of the male sex organs, but she's pretty comfortable with herself being not quite male or female.

I should also add that many babies are born intersexed - but medical "professionals" intervene, and assign the baby a sex - they perform surgery to "fix" the kid. They pick the gender according to their own inclination, or what seems like an "easier" surgery to perform. Basically it's an unfair measure that does affect intersexed people when they grow up. Very often they don't feel normal, or whole, because of what was done to them as a child. We don't hear about intersexed people as often because a lot of intersexed people are "covered up" with medical surgery. The right thing to do is to wait until the child's grown older, and can choose for him or herself how they feel, and who they want to be.

If you want to read a really interesting story about someone who's intersexed, check out the novel "Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides. It's a really neat (fictional) examination of an intersexed kid.

Answer 2

In the strictest biological sense, they do not exist. Humans are not capable of producing both eggs and sperm cells simultaneously, like many simpler animals, nor are we capable of spontaneously changing sex, as some fishes and amphibians, and even a few reptiles can.

What you may be referring to are so-called "Intersexuals", as other commentators have mentioned. They are rare, but not extremely so. possibly as high as 0.2% of births

Intersexuals are caused by a number of things, from chromosomal disorders, like nondysjunction of sex chromosomes, to hormonal conditions, such as testosterone insensitivity, etc. Or they may simply be born with ambiguous sex organs, or their genitalia may resemble the opposite sex. The first two cases nearly always result in sterility. In the latter two cases, the child may be functionally male or female, and the difference is only in surface appearance.

Until very recently the standard practice was to arbitrarily assign a gender, and perform surgery while the child was still very young. The argument was that early surgery was easier and less risky, having a distinct gender was easier on the parents, gender identities were based on the upbringing of the child, and that hormone therapy could be used as a last resort.

It is easy to see that such draconian and presumptuous ideas are bound to cause problems. The best method of dealing with problems arising from intersexuality is still a controversial issue.

My understanding is that babies develop basically as females until the age of about six weeks, when the gonads differentiate.

Answer 3

Worked in healthcare in the 70's.Worked with a Plastic Surgeon that did recostruction on a hermaphrodite who had more of male tendecy .

Answer 4

Yes... I had a friend as a child who was.... she lived as a boy untill after 6th grade and then the family moved and I heard she had undergone surgery and became a fully functional woman and had a couple kids....the torment she went through from some ignorant sicko's was more than even I as the resident bully target had to endure... I think that is why we were able to relate... unless one knew about the "condition" no one whould ever have known.... and to answer the next question...yes I did get to"look" and it was not that special but we had a laugh about it... the parents had made the wrong choice to raise her as a boy... but had the good sense not to permanetly alter things untill she was ready to make the decision for herself... that is why they moved... because she wanted to start over somewhere where no one knew her as a "boy"....

Answer 5

Assuming your talking about humans, no, they dont exist, but a family friend IS intersexed (has immature ovaries inside, but she has a penis) She's getting vaginoplasty however

But there is a differance, hermaphrodites would have both a penis and a vagina at the same time, and be able to self-fertilize

Answer 6

Yes, she was really a feminine woman, but had very small withered testicles between her vagina and rectum. She was happily married but was never able to have children.
I worked at a hospital and saw it myself.

Answer 7

No, but I would be curious to see a photo of what their genitalia looks like (out of general curiosity).

Answer 8

Janet Reno, Sylvia Browne and that man/girl from the movie Boys dont cry

Answer 9

no, hermaphodites usaully get surgery and hide it as much as possible so it is hard to tell. Who knows your next door neibor could be one.

Answer 10

i was thinking.
are you talking about oysters? yeah I've seen one