Suzanne J. Kessler Lessons from the Intersexed (New Brunswick,
NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998) 193 pages (ISBN:
0-8135-2529-2; hardcover) (ISBN: 0-8135-2530-6; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number: RC883.K47 1998) Intersex
people were physically ambiguous at birth with respect to their
sex: They were born neither clearly male nor clearly female. And
since it became possible in the 20th century, they were usually
given medical treatments to make them more definitely one sex or
the other. But the author of this book takes a different stand:
Kessler believes that doctors should not interfere with what
nature has created. She believes that 'gender' is a social
construct. Her consistent use of the word "gender" to refer to
the sex of an individual --whether that person is a male or a
female-- continues the confusion so common in our everyday
thinking about sex and gender. When we discuss the gender-
personality of an individual person, whether that person has
'masculine' or 'feminine' character traits, w