**<center>Intersexuality: One of the most misunderstood and Most Overlooked things in Biology</center>**

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<center>22 Years ago there was a embryo developing, developing neither typically biosex male or biosex female anatomy, almost a merging of the two. That embryo was me, I am Intersex, but Intersexuality is one of the most overlooked things in common knowledge biology (Basic Biology the lay person knows and understands to some degree or another). When the argument of "there are only 2 Genders" comes up whether you are discussing trangender issues or Non-binary genders, to any Biology student the question of sex and gender is not as simple as you would think. When biological sex comes into it, its not a matter of whether you have a vagina or a penis, there's a lot more that goes into biological sex. Hormones, secondary sexual anatomy (breasts, facial hair, smaller waist, etc), sex chromosomes, psychological characteristics and even placement of the primary sexual anatomy come into play when we talk about Biological sex, Intersex is the catch-all term used for people who are Anatomically intersex, eg hermaphrodites (people born with 2 sets of genitalia) and Chromosomally intersex people like me. **Intersex by definition is when someones physical anatomy does not match their chromosomal pattern, or where their chromosomal pattern is outside of the typical male or female pattern which can lead to physical attributes of both biosex males and biosex females being expressed in the same body.**

<center>**--Chromosomally intersex--**</center> 

Chromosomally intersex usually means that the sex chromosomes in your cells are abnormal, and do **NOT** fit in with the bio-typical sex chromosome patterns of XX and XY, XY for Biosex males and XX for Biosex females. So for example, my sex chromosome pattern is that of XXY, This is called a Trisomy,  meaning there is 3 sex chromosomes in each cell. However, there are many patterns of sex chromosome and intersex isn't exclusively used for chromosome based conditions either, here is a list of conditions classed as intersex by the Intersex Society of North America: </center>

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<center> To confuse you more, i'm going to throw in some more terminology that may confuse you but i'll elaborate on what i mean. There are 3 main categories of chromosomally intersex people that i've met, there are Intersex Male, Intersex Female and Intersex Non-binary. Intersex male and intersex female are people who physically and anatomically appear to be either more male or more female, intersex non-binary are people who medically don't fit the sex binary for humans in their physical anatomy, including their hormones, secondary sexual anatomy and genital placement, it can also refer to their sociological placement of gender in that they don't fit the societal norms of men or women. 

<center>**--Going forward--**</center>

If you meet a intersex person, don't say "there are only 2 genders" because what you actually mean is there is only 2 sexes, and even with that correction, you are still incorrect, there are upwards of 30 biological sexes as far as hormones, sex chromosomes and anatomical placement are concerned. The sex announced at birth is following the legal proceedings and the legal systems in most of the western world are based off of the genders mentioned in the Bible, so if you truly believe in science, you should already know that legally outlined genders are already a bit iffy. 

If you are concerned about pronouns, what to call an intersex person regardless of whether they are intersex male, intersex female or intersex non-binary, the best thing to do is ask. Same thing with people who use a sociological gender that is neither male or female, just ask, no one is going to be offended if you are just asking what someone would prefer to be referred by. </center> 

<center>**-- For more information --** </center>

The FAQ on the Intersex Society of North America is an incredible source of information about Intersexuality and the conditions included under the umbrella: http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex