中间性 - 怎样对待中间性

社会-文化的态度

人的各种性态度由许多个人的和社会-文化的因素所建立。其中最为重要的是宗教、法律和医学传统的因素。在古代社会是这样，在当代社会也是这样。在史前时代，那时没有成文的法律，也没有属于科学的医学，只有一些祭祀的教条来解释健康与疾病和解释正确与错误。这种解释在那时也意味着行为规范。甚至在现代世俗社会，有了详尽的法律条款和先进的医疗机构，即使只是以间接的方式，传统宗教价值观仍然发挥着它们的作用。
一些传统宗教价值观可以追溯到数千年以前，其他的从起源上看比许多人所认为的要更现代。在过去的数个世纪里，某些非常古老的宗教已经演绎出了“现代的”观念，在发展的进程中变得即更“解放”也更“保守”。在一定程度上，这种演变也发生在法律传统方面。在过去的数十年里，就性的法律变更方面，西方的法律已经慢慢地、并且稳步地发生了改变，变得更加“解放”了。另一方面，一些非西方国家新近采用了更为“保守的”伊斯兰法律。当然，医生们总是医治十分明显的男性与女性的生理疾病，直到18世纪中叶他们才开始担忧各种性准则违背(sexual norm violations，在此指性生理和性心理违背所谓常规的状态——译者注)，要求行政当局解释和改正它们。在19世纪，医生的要求终于被广泛接受，并且确立了一些性准则违背的诊断与治疗标准。可是，在20世纪，随着非医学学科对性的研究不断地发展，医学专业被迫变得更自律和对其传统假说提出了质疑。其结果是，许多医学疗程发生了改变，并且事实上现时仍在发生改变。中间性的问题就是一个很好的例证。
以下的内容简要地概括本教程所讨论的有关性准则违背的宗教、法律和医学传统。最后，概要地谈一谈当前有关性准则违背的总体情形。

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.