These words, intersex, incest, and inbreeding have been flying back and forth recently and we are here for it. The fact that these are issues in our society that receive little or no awareness pushes the reason behind this piece.
It wasn’t until the past four years of my life that I began hearing the word intersex. Studying in secondary school, all we were thought were hermaphrodites (a term that is not fit for describing persons now). With no proper explanations of the causes and solutions, we were just told that they are people who are both male and female at the same time.
Intersex basically is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with reproductive anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types—for example, a girl may be born with a noticeably large clitoris or lacking a vaginal opening, or a boy may be born with a notably small penis, or with a scrotum that is divided so that it has formed more like labia. Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics so that some of her cells have XX chromosomes and some of them have XY. The situations in which the intersex situation can manifest varies but the condition is the same.
So, now we see that these people born intersex did not choose to be that way. It is imperative to also note that intersex people are not homosexuals.
This issue of intersex is like a virgin land in Nigeria. As much as a lot of people are not aware of it, Nigeria has too many people born in this condition. A good number of them exist in Nigeria but they live mostly in hiding. There is a need for them to be accepted and assisted with the necessary medical help. Keeping in mind that it is not a spiritual attack, fake churches in Nigeria should halt harming people in the guise of expelling the evil spirit.
Medically, intersex is regarded as birth deformity. According to the National Institutes of Health, the US, the intersex situation is caused when the fetus, at the developmental stage is exposed to exogenous chemicals known as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). EDCs are known to disrupt reproductive organ differentiation and development thus leading to an Intersex Variation.
Dwelling on the increase in the birth of children with deformity especially in Nigeria, many have attributed this to the increasing rate of incest and inbreeding. Claiming that inbreeding enhances the domination of the less desirable genes, thus leading to incest. Well, intersex is a deformity with known causes and have almost nothing in common with incest.
An example of this is evident in the book Middlesex. This book is acclaimed for making the intersex situation more popular. In Middlesex Cal’s grandparents are siblings and his parents are second cousins. This incest leads to Cal’s birth with 5 Alpha Reductase, an intersex condition. The truth is the chances of having a child with an intersex condition, including 5 Alpha Reductase, are not increased greatly by incest. The birth of an intersexed child in no way means that the family is incestuous.
So, for those trying to find reasons to blame parents for the intersex situation of their children, be it known that it had nothing to do with the producing couple.
As much as it is known that incest and inbreeding increase the chance of having children with deformity, the problems are mainly genetic. However, intersex is a hormonal situation with some external causes.
Hence, do not blame intersex on incest/inbreeding.