hermaphrodite

A hermaphrodite is an organism having both male and female reproductive organs.^[1] In many species, hermaphroditism is a common part of the life-cycle, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which partners are not separated into distinct male and female types of individual. Hermaphroditism most commonly occurs in invertebrates, although it is also found in some fish, and to a lesser degree in other vertebrates.

Historically, the term hermaphrodite has also been used to describe ambiguous genitalia and gonadal mosaicism in individuals of gonochoristic species, especially human beings. The term comes from the name of the minor Greek god Hermaphroditus, son of Hermes and Aphrodite (see below).

Recently, intersex has been used and preferred by many such individuals, encouraging medical professionals to use the term.^[2]

Zoology

Sequential hermaphrodites

Sequential hermaphrodites (dichogamy) occur in species in which the individual is born as one sex but can later change into the alternate sex. This is in contrast with simultaneous hermaphrodites, in which an individual may possess fully functional male and female gonads. Sequential hermaphroditism is common in fish (particularly teleost fish), many gastropods, and most flowering plants. While some sequential hermaphrodites can change sex multiple times, most can only change sex once. Sequential hermaphrodism is important in understanding behavioral ecology and life history theory.

Sequential hermaphrodites fall into two broad categories:

• Protandry: Where an organism is born as a male, and then changes sex to a female.
  • Example: The clownfish (Genus Amphiprion) are colorful reef fish found living in symbiosis with anemones. Generally one anemone contains a 'harem', consisting of a large female, a smaller reproductive male, and even smaller non-reproductive males. If the female is removed, the reproductive male will change sex and the largest of the non-reproductive males will mature and become reproductive. It has been shown that fishing pressure can change when the switch from male to female occurs, since fishermen naturally prefer to catch the larger fish. The populations are generally changing sex at a smaller size, due to artificial selection.
• Protogyny: Where the organism starts as a female, and then changes sex to a male.
  • Example: wrasses (Family Labridae) are a group of reef fish in which protogyny is common. Wrasses also have an uncommon life history strategy, which is termed diandry (literally, two males). In these species, two male morphs exists: an initial phase male or a terminal phase male. Initial phase males do not look like males and spawn in groups with other females. They are not territorial. They are perhaps, female mimics (which is why they are found swimming in group with other females). Terminal phase males are territorial, and have a distinctively bright coloration. Individuals are born as males or females but if they are born males, they are not born as Terminal Phase males. Females and initial phase males can become terminal phase males. Usually the most dominant female or initial phase male replaces any terminal phase male, when those males die or abandon the group.

Simultaneous hermaphrodites

A simultaneous (or synchronous) hermaphrodite (homogamy) is an adult organism that has both male and female sexual organs at the same time. Usually, self-fertilization does not occur.

• Reproductive system of gastropods: Snails are perhaps the most classic of simultaneous hermaphrodite, and the most widespread of terrestrial animals possessing this sexual polymorphism. Sexual material is exchanged between both animals via spermatophore which can then be stored in the spermatheca. After exchange of spermatazoa, both animals will lay fertilized eggs after a period of gestation, which then proceed to hatch after a development period. Snails typically reproduce in early spring and late autumn.
• Hamlets, unlike other fish, seem quite at ease mating in front of divers, allowing observations in the wild to occur readily. They do not practice self-fertilization, but when they find a mate, the pair takes turns between which one acts as the male and which acts as the female through multiple matings, usually over the course of several nights.
• Earthworms are another example of a simultaneous hermaphrodite. Although they possess ovaries and testes, they have a protective mechanism against self fertilization and can only function as a single sex at one time. Sexual reproduction occurs when two worms meet and exchange gametes, copulating on damp nights during warm seasons. Fertilized eggs are protected by a cocoon, which is buried on or near the surface of the ground.
• Banana slugs are one more simultaneous hermaphrodite example. Mating with a partner is most desirable, as the genetic material of the offspring is varied, but if mating with a partner is not possible, self-fertilization is practised. The male sexual organ of an adult banana slug is quite large in proportion to its size, as well as compared to the female organ. It is possible for banana slugs, while mating, to become stuck together. If a substantial amount of wiggling fails to separate them, the male organ will be bitten off (with the slug's radula). If a banana slug has lost its male sexual organ, it can still self-fertilize, making its hermaphroditic quality an invaluable adaptation.

Pseudohermaphroditism

Female Hyenas have a clitoris that is greatly enlarged, so much so, that they were described as hermaphrodites — not only by the ancient Greeks, but as recently as the twentieth century among circus animal handlers — until scientific information was provided that clarified the misunderstanding.

Botany

Hermaphrodite plant Hylocereus undatus in Kona, Hawaii

Hermaphrodite is used in botany to describe a flower that has both staminate (male, pollen-producing) and carpellate (female, ovule-producing) parts. This condition is seen in many common garden plants. A closer analogy to hermaphrodism in animals is the presence of separate male and female flowers on the same individual—such plants are called monoecious. Monoecy is especially common in conifers, but occurs in only about 7% of angiosperm species (Molnar, 2004).

The 1st-century BC sculpture 'The Reclining Hermaphrodite', in the Museo Nazionale Romano, Palazzo Massimo Alle Terme in Rome

XVIII Century Woodcut Engraving, by K. Lufloss, depicting the famous sculpture, 'The Reclining Hermaphrodite" (From Dr. Nuno Carvalho de Sousa Private Collections - Lisbon)

Second Century AD Roman copy of second Century BC Greek original of Sleeping Hermaphrodite. Restored in 1619; at the Louvre

Other uses of the term

Hermaphrodite was used to describe any person incompatible with the biological gender binary, but has recently been replaced by intersexual in medicine. Humans with typical reproductive organs but atypical clitoris/penis are called pseudohermaphrodites in medical literature.

People with intersex conditions sometimes choose to live exclusively as one sex or the other, using clothing, social cues, genital surgery, and hormone replacement therapy to blend into the sex they identify with more closely. Some people who are intersexed, such as some of those with Klinefelter's syndrome and androgen insensitivity syndrome, outwardly appear completely female or male already, without realizing they are intersexed. Other kinds of intersex conditions are identified immediately at birth because those with the condition have a sexual organ larger than a clitoris and smaller than a penis. Intersexuality is thought by some to be caused by unusual sex hormones; the unusual hormones may be caused by an atypical set of sex chromosomes.

Sigmund Freud (based on work by his associate Wilhelm Fliess) held fetal hermaphroditism to be a fact of the physiological development of humans. He was so certain of this, in fact, that he based much of his theory of innate sexuality on that assumption. Similarly, in contemporary times, fetuses before sexual differentiation are sometimes described as female by doctors explaining the process.^[3] Neither concept is technically true. Before this stage, humans are simply undifferentiated and possess a Müllerian duct, a Wolffian duct, and a genital tubercle.

Etymology

The term "hermaphrodite" derives from Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite in Greek mythology, who was fused with a nymph, Salmacis, resulting in one individual possessing physical traits of both sexes. Thus Hermaphroditus could be called, using modern terminology, a simultaneous hermaphrodite. The mythological figure of Tiresias, who figures in the Oedipus cycle as well as the Odyssey, could be called a sequential hermaphrodite, having been changed from a man to a woman and back by the gods.

In fiction

• Ursula K. Le Guin's novel The Left Hand of Darkness featured a planet inhabited by humans whose ancestors had modified themselves to be sequential hermaphrodites. For twenty-four days of each twenty-six day lunar cycle, they were sexually latent androgynes, and for the remaining two days were male or female, as determined by pheromonal negotiation with an interested sex partner.
• The 1990 Michael Crichton science fiction novel Jurassic Park and its 1993 film adaptation featured dinosaurs exhibiting a sequential hermaphrodite transformation as a key plot point. The ability of the scientists to maintain control over the park's cloned dinosaur population was derived by preventing the dinosaurs from developing a Y chromosome while in fetal development, thus ensuring that they were all females. However, the scientists used DNA of some other animals with sequential hermaphroditic abilities to complete fragmented portions of the dinosaurs' DNA, allowing some of them to become male in adulthood, and mate. However, dinosaurs probably had the bird type of sex chromosome system, with ZZ for male and WZ for female: see ZW sex-determination system.
• The 1993 Gary Jennings novel "Raptor" features Thorn, a hermaphrodite, as its main character.
• Baron Ashura, one of the Dr. Hell's henchmen in Mazinger Z series, is a hermaphrodite.
• The Star Trek: New Frontier series features the Hermat species, including Burgoyne 172. Hermats possess both male and female characteristics.
• In Nabari no Ou, Yoite was a hermaphrodite whose mother died giving birth to him.
• In Star Wars, Hutts are Hermaphrodites.
• In an episode of Freaks and Geeks, a character reveals that she was born with both male and female genitalia, but received an operation to become female.
• The 2002 novel Middlesex is narrated by its protagonist, Calliope Stephanides, who is a true hermaphrodite.
• The Greek mythical figure Tiresias appears in many classical and modern works, including The Odyssey, Oedipus the King and The Divine Comedy.
• In South Park Season 2 Episode 2, Dr. Mephisto reveals that Mrs. Cartman is a hermaphrodite.^[4]
• In the video game Spore, all creatures are hermaphrodites.
• In the novel and manga adaption of The Ring, Sadako Yamamura is told to be a hermaphrodite; that is, she has no uterus, but she identifies as female and has testes along with breasts.
• In the early 1990s, Channel 4, a British television channel showed a four-minute program in the late evening called "Hermaphrodite Bikini", where a few hermaphrodites danced naked to music.
• In the video game Zeno Clash, one of the main characters, Father-Mother is a hermaphrodite.
• In the anime series Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, the character/Duel Monsters spirit Yubel is a hermaphrodite. In the dub, however, she is censored and said to be female.
• Most life forms on the fictional planet Darwin IV are hermaphrodites.
• The short story 'Cinismo', by Argetinean writer Sergio Bizzio (in Spanish, at http://lomioesamateur.wordpress.com/el-cuento-del-mes/cinismo-de-sergio-bizzio/) and the movie XXY (2007, http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0995829/) based on that story.

See also

• Gynandromorph
• Gonochorism, an alternative reproduction system in which the sexes are distinct, determined genetically and do not change during an individual's lifetime
• Intersex
• Morphodite
• Supernumerary body part
• "Zwitter," a Rammstein song which translates to hermaphrodite
• Middlesex, a novel with an intersex protagonist
• Androgyny, a state when an organism has none of the reproductive organs of either gender of its species, and therefore, no gender. Could also mean not knowing whether an organism is male or female
• Transgender

Notes

References

1. Randall, John E.,(2005) Reef and Shore Fishes of the South Pacific, Univ. of Hawaii Press, p346 and 387. ISBN 0-8248-2698-1
2. SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database, "Fish Reproduction"
3. Kyu-Rae Kim M.D., et al. True Hermaphroditism and Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis in Young Children: A Clinicopathologic Study of 10 Cases, Modern Pathology, 2002;15(10):1013
4. Discovery Health Channel, (2007) "I Am My Own Twin"

External links

• An article on Lynn Edward Harris (a clinically-diagnosed born intersexed person, and presumed precedent-setting case of rectification of civil status without surgical alteration.)
• http://www.hermaphroditism.info/ More information on hermaphroditism)]
• XXY (2007) movie, directed by Lucía Puenzo

Further reading

• Anne Fausto-Sterling, "How Many Sexes Are There?" from The New York Times, Op-Ed page, March 12, 1993, reprinted in Sterling Harwood, ed., Business as Ethical and Business as Usual (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1996), pages 168-170.
• M.M. Grumbach, and F.A. Conte. 1998. "Disorders of sex differentiation." in Williams Textbook of Endocrinology, eds. J.D. Wilson, D.W. Foster, H.M. Kronenberg, and P.R. Larsen, (Philadelphia: W B Saunders:1303-1425).
• Molnar, Sebastian. 2004. Plant Reproductive Systems, internet version posted February 17, 2004.
• Kyu-Rae Kim M.D., et al. True Hermaphroditism and Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis in Young Children: A Clinicopathologic Study of 10 Cases, Modern Pathology, 2002;15(10):1013–1019
• Chase, Cheryl. (1998). "Affronting Reason" in Looking Queer: Body Image and Identity as Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender Communities, edited by David Atkins, pages 205-219. (Publishing 1998 Haworth Press).