Course 3
Dealing w. Intersex.
Soc.-cult. Attitudes
Religious Traditions
Legal Traditions
Medical Traditions
Continuing Changes
Socio-cultural Attitudes
中間性 - 怎樣對待中間性

社會-文化的態度

人的各種性態度由許多個人的和社會-文化的因素所建立。其中最為重要的是宗教、法律和醫學傳統的因素。在古代社會是這樣，在當代社會也是這樣。在史前時代，那時沒有成文的法律，也沒有屬於科學的醫學，只有一些祭祀的教條來解釋健康與疾病和解釋正確與錯誤。這種解釋在那時也意味著行為規範。甚至在現代世俗社會，有了詳盡的法律條款和先進的醫療機構，即使只是以間接的方式，傳統宗教價值觀仍然發揮著它們的作用。
 一些傳統宗教價值觀可以追溯到數千年以前，其他的從起源上看比許多人所認為的要更現代。在過去的數個世紀裏，某些非常古老的宗教已經演繹出了“現代的”觀念，在發展的進程中變得即更“解放”也更“保守”。在一定程度上，這種演變也發生在法律傳統方面。在過去的數十年裏，就性的法律變更方面，西方的法律已經慢慢地、並且穩步地發生了改變，變得更加“解放”了。另一方面，一些非西方國家新近採用了更為“保守的”伊斯蘭法律。當然，醫生們總是醫治十分明顯的男性與女性的生理疾病，直到18世紀中葉他們才開始擔憂各種性準則違背(sexual norm violations，在此指性生理和性心理違背所謂常規的狀態——譯者注)，要求行政當局解釋和改正它們。在19世紀，醫生的要求終於被廣泛接受，並且確立了一些性準則違背的診斷與治療標準。可是，在20世紀，隨著非醫學學科對性的研究不斷地發展，醫學專業被迫變得更自律和對其傳統假說提出了質疑。其結果是，許多醫學療程發生了改變，並且事實上現時仍在發生改變。中間性的問題就是一個很好的例證。
以下的內容簡要地概括本教程所討論的有關性準則違背的宗教、法律和醫學傳統。最後，概要地談一談當前有關性準則違背的總體情形。
Intersexuality - Dealing with Intersexuality

Socio-cultural Attitudes

Human sexual attitudes are shaped by many individual and socio-cultural factors. Very important among these are religious, legal, and medical traditions. This is true of both the ancient and the modern world. In prehistoric times, when there was no written law and no scientific medicine, some sacred doctrine explained health and sickness, right and wrong. This explanation then also implied the proper course of action. Even in modern secular societies with their elaborate legal codes and great medical institutions, traditional religious values still exert their influence, if only in indirect ways.
Some of the traditions go back several thousand years. Others are more recent in origin than many people realize. Some very old religions have, in the last few centuries, developed “modern” ideas, becoming either more “liberal” or more “conservative” in the process. To a certain extent, this is also true of the legal traditions. In the last few decades, Western law has slowly, but steadily become more “liberal” with regard to sexual variations. On the other hand, some non-Western countries have newly adopted a much more “conservative” Islamic law. Medical doctors, of course, have always treated obvious female and male physical problems, but it was not until the middle of the18th century that they also began to worry about sexual norm violations and to claim the authority to explain and correct them. In the 19th century, this claim came to be widely accepted, and certain diagnostic and therapeutic standards were established. However, with the growth of non-medical sex research in the 20th century, the medical profession was forced to become more self-critical and to question some of its traditional assumptions. As a result, many medical procedures were changed and, in fact, continue to be changed at the present time. The issue of intersexuality is a good example.
The following sections provide brief summaries of the religious, legal, and medical traditions with regard to the sexual variations discussed in this course. A final section offers a sketch of the current situation.

[Course 3] [Description] [How to use it] [Introduction] [Problems in Females] [Problems in Males] [Intersexuality] [Introduction] [Intersexual Spectrum] [Dealing w. Intersex.] [Additional Reading] [Examination]