Woman Hating: A Radical Look at Sexuality

intact follicle, without any possible contact with spermatozoa. ” 9

On the basis o f Shettles’ work, Francoeur estimates

that virgin births are a rather common occurrence,

in about the same frequency as fraternal twins and

twice as often as identical twins occur among white

Americans. 10

Seemingly a conservative, Dr. Sherwood Taylor, a

British scientist, “has suggested a much lower frequency

for human parthenogenesis, estimating one case in ten

thousand births. ” 11 However much, however little, it

does occur.

We can presume then that there is a great deal about

human sexuality to be discovered, and that our notion

o f two discrete biological sexes cannot remain intact. We

can presume then that we will discover cross-sexed

phenomena in proportion to our ability to see them. In

addition, we can account for the relative rarity o f hermaphrodites in the general population, for the consistency o f male-female somatotypes that we do find, and for the relative rarity o f cross-sexed characteristics in the general population (though they occur with more frequency than we are now willing to imagine)

by recognizing that there is a process o f cultural selec­

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tion which, for people, supersedes natural selection in

importance. Cultural selection, as opposed to natural

selection, does not necessarily serve to improve the

species or to ensure survival. It does necessarily serve

to uphold cultural norms and to ensure that deviant

somatotypes and cross-sexed characteristics are systematically bred out of the population.

However we look at it, whatever we choose to make

out of the data of what is frequently called Intersex, it

is clear that sex determination is not always clearcut

and simple. Dr. John Money of Johns Hopkins University has basically isolated these six aspects of sex identity:

1. Genetic or nuclear sexuality as revealed by indicators

like the sex-chromatin or Barr-body, a full chromosomal count and the leucocytic drumstick; *

2. Hormonal sexuality which results from a balance that

is predominantly androgenic or estrogenic;

3. Gonadal sexuality which may be clearly ovarian or

testicular, but occasionally also mixed;

4. Internal sexuality as disclosed in the structure of

the internal reproductive system;

5. External genital sexuality as revealed in the external

anatomy, and finally;

6. Psychosexual development which through the external

forces of rearing and social conditioning along with

the individual's response to these factors directs the

development o f a personality which is by nature

sexual. 12

* An object in the cell itself which would seem to determine gender.