ABSTRACT
Intersex has been used as an umbrella term encompassing a range of conditions, some of which cause ambiguous external genitalia. However, as Bo Laurent and others have pointed out, it was never well-defined. There has been much disagreement about whether particular conditions should or should not be considered intersex conditions (Dreger and Herndon 2009). Contentious as it is, then, the term 'disorder of sex development' may be a more useful broad term than intersex, given that it can encompass a wide range of developmental variations of the chromosomes, reproductive and endocrine systems, not all of which were ever considered 'intersex' conditions. In this glossary I continue to use the construction 'intersex/DSD conditions', whilst acknowledging that there is still disagreement about whether certain physical occurrences should or should not be counted as instances of intersex/DSD. Some of the more well-known intersex/DSD conditions are outlined below for reference; a fuller list appears in Consortium on the Management of Disorders of Sex Development 2006a: 5–7.
