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In the social sciences, sex is usually defined as a collection of traits—X/Y chromosomes,
gonads, hormones, and genitals—that cluster together in most people but may also occur in
atypical combinations (e.g., Blakemore et al., 2009; Fausto-Sterling, 2012; Helgeson, 2016; Joel,2012). This definition is the basis for the widely repeated claim that up to 2% of live births are
intersex (Blackless et al., 2000). Few researchers and commenters seem aware that the 2% figure is a gross overestimate. To begin, correcting for inaccuracies and counting errors in the original report brings the total frequency down to less than 0.5% (Hull, 2003). More importantly,
Blackless et al. (2000) defined intersex very broadly as individuals who deviate from the
“Platonic ideal” of sex dimorphism; accordingly, they included several conditions (e.g.,
Klinefelter syndrome, vaginal agenesis, congenital adrenal hyperplasia) that affect the
development of sexual characters but can be classified as “intersex” only in a loose sense (Sax,2002). If one restricts the term to conditions that involve a discordance between chromosomal and phenotypic sex, or a phenotype that cannot be classified unambiguously as either male or female, the frequency of intersex is much lower—almost certainly less than 0.02% (Sax, 2002;
see also Hull, 2003).
- del giudice, 2009
