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Thursday, April 18, 2002


"It's easier to make a hole than build a pole."

Slate features an e-mail exchange between Atul Gawande, a surgical resident in Boston, and Natalie Angier, a NY Times science writer, at the Breakfast Table.

Wednesday's conversation involves the Hermaphrodite Frog Phenomenon and intersexed humans.

Natalie at one point explains why so many intersexed babies are "made" into women by quoting a surgeon -- its easier to make a hole than build a pole.

Click here for NOCIRC's page on the legal implications of parents "fixing" children's genitals before they are old enough to consent.

In case you think this is not a "common" problem, click here to see a table with numbers that will probably surprise you.

From the Intersex Society of Northern America's web site -- the table reports one of a hundred births as being the number of people whose bodies differ from standard male or female. It also breaks the numbers down by type of difference.