John Money
John Money was a sexologist who developed sets of protocols for treating intersex children and transsexuals. He believed gender identity was fluid until the age of two and was influenced by internal and external forces. He did not consider intersexed people to be of a “third sex” and thought leaving child with ambiguous genitalia would cause long term psychological damage. He determined that the appearance of genitals was incredibly important to the development of gender identity. He concluded that the gender an intersex child should be raised as should be based on the appearance of the child’s genitals irrespective of its chromosomal sex; and that the child should undergo surgery to remove all ambiguity. Additionally, he was a pivotal in the creation of the Gender Identity Clinic at John Hopkins University and in convincing doctors there to perform sex change operation. He developed a set of activities that transsexuals had to engage in, such as living as their desired gender and taking hormones, before being eligible for sex reassignment surgery. The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) grew out opposition to Money’s protocols for treating intersex children. The ISNA asserts that psychological damage is done to an intersex child when a gender is imposed on it. Especially if the child undergoes multiple genital operations. ISNA agrees with Money and does not advocate creating a ‘third sex.’ Unlike Money, ISNA maintains that the intersex person, not doctors or parents, should have control over its gender identity and what type of genitalia it has.
