中间性

怎样对待中间性：真实的范围(A Range of Realities)

正如在本教程反复所见到的那样，人类的性在所有的层面是一个程度差异的问题：

对于上述每一举例，我们不会做出明晰的二元之一的选择，而是把每一举例看作一个可能发生的各种性现象的谱系，甚至于看作性的真象的性像谱。在自然界处处都可以找到这种性像谱，当然，这样的性像谱长久以来就被生物学家所熟知。但是，作为整体的西方文明已经倾向于对这种显而易见的性像谱视而不见，并且把自然界曲解为有明确界限和一成不变的存在。人们宁愿迷信自然界的绝对事物，把所观察到的现象安放得井然有序，把它们规整为一成不变的等级系统。因而，人们也想当然地把各个性别看作可清晰定义的相反的对应体(“相反的性别”，opposite sex；以往被翻译成“异性”——译者注)。 他们顽固地拒绝接受中间的过渡层阶，不承认所有的生理和心理变异现象，把这些变异看作偏离亘古不变准则的异端。

现代科学只有逐渐而艰难的进步才能化解人们刻板的头脑，才能让人们看清在客观实际里的层阶范围，才能让他们注意到自然现象从一种向另一种转变的过渡形式。尤其自从查尔斯•达尔文(1809 -1882)出现以后，生物学家才开始明白和重视自然界产生变异的巨大潜能。确实，只有达尔文的理论才让他们终于认识到：自然界的这种潜能是我们这个星球上所有生物的真正的源泉。这种见识及其隐喻仍旧未被每一个人所领悟。不过，至少在中间性的病例里，从医学专业中，从普遍的社会方面，我们现在正在逐渐熟悉一些古典生物学原理。通过中间性权益倡导与援助社团的宣传和不懈的努力，这种熟悉的进程已经有了极大的进展。

Intersexuality

Dealing with Intersexuality: A Range of Realities

As we have repeatedly seen in this course, human sexuality is, in all of its aspects, a matter of degree:

In each of these instances, we are not dealing with clear-cut alternatives, but with a spectrum of possibilities and, indeed, realities. Such spectra are found everywhere in nature, and, of course, they have long been well known to biologists. However, Western civilization as a whole has tended to turn a blind eye to the obvious and to misread nature as a sum of definite, immutable entities. People preferred to believe in natural absolutes, fitting all observed phenomena in into a neat, hierarchical system of invariables.Thus, they also thought of the sexes as clearly definable opposites (“opposite sex”). They refused to accept intermediate stages as valid in themselves and dismissed all physical and psychological variations as deviations from some eternal norm.

It was only the slow, painful progress of modern science that enabled people to develop a less rigid view, to discover ranges within categories and to notice transitions from one natural phenomenon to another. Especially since Charles Darwin (1809 -1882), biologists began to understand and appreciate the enormous capacity of nature to produce variations. Indeed, they came to realize that this capacity is the very source of all life on our planet. This insight and its implications have not yet been absorbed by everyone. However, at least in the case of intersexuality, the medical profession and society at large are now becoming familiar with some old biological truths. This process has been greatly helped by the formation and tireless work of intersexual advocacy and support groups.