Sexual characteristics and sex assignment (II)
Sexual characteristics and sex assignment (II)
Do you know what a phallometer is?
Intersex activists have coined this term to ironically refer to the scale used by medical personnel to determine whether genitalia are male or female. On this scale, an acceptable clitoris will measure between 0.2 cm and 0.85 cm, and a penis will measure 2.5 cm or more. If a clitoris is larger than acceptable but smaller than the expected size of a penis, the most common practice in many parts of the world is amputation. Although it is also worth noting that in some countries this practice is beginning to be banned.
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images http://wellcomeimages.org
Therefore, we see that in relation to biological sex or sexual characteristics, the traditional binary configuration is quite obsolete, because often people are not at the extremes, but the bodily diversity is so wide that it fluctuates between the two extremes.
Could you tell us what the sexual organs are?
The first thing that comes to mind when asked this question is the penis and vulva (or their intersex variants) and, at most, the breast (and only the female breast). And it is true that these are sex organs, but, more specifically, the penis, vulva and intersex genitalia are genital organs.
Do you know what the most important sex organ is? The brain!
And do you know what the largest sex organ is? The skin!
The skin, thanks to its nerve endings (in a single square centimetre of skin there are more than 5000 sensitive receptors), receives stimuli and sends them to the brain for processing. When we are in a safe environment and with a person/s we trust, the stimuli our skin receives are interpreted by our brain as positive and pleasurable stimuli and we secrete hormones such as oxytocin, which is known as the hormone of pleasure or love. On the contrary, if we do not feel that the space is safe or we do not trust the person/s, our brain will interpret these stimuli as negative or unpleasant and will secrete adrenaline, a hormone that will put us on alert and activate our survival mode.
Therefore, the same stimulus can be interpreted as positive or negative, as pleasant or unpleasant, as pleasant or unpleasant, depending on the context.
