ABSTRACT
The hermaphroditic identity is a rare psychological state, by no means found in all intersexed patients. If from the start, the child’s elders are not sure enough, because the child is anatomically ambiguous or because the parents are delusional, then a defect in character structure can develop in which the patient knows only the gender identity of a hermaphrodite. Structures on each side resembling round ligaments are seen and these structures can be seen to exit from the peritoneal cavity in a rather normal fashion. Nothing occurred in the feelings of anyone in the family that the patient would have sensed as an unsureness about the sex to which she rightfully belonged. While one’s biology and one’s society demand that there be stages in the development of gender identity, some of these stages clearly marked with ceremony, the fundamental ascription of sex is granted instantly and permanently.
