Books on Intersex

Some books and reading material recommended for a better understanding

of what it means to be an intersex individual.

I will add to this list as I move forward:

Contesting Intersex: The Dubious Diagnosis, by Dr. Georgiann Davis

Click Here to buy Contesting Intersex on Amazon!

Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority and Lived Experience, by Katrina Karkaziz

• 
• Click Here ----->>> Buy Fixing Sex on Amazon
• 
  
• For an insight about the book and the author please go to this link: http://www.katrinakarkazis.com/book

• Intersex (for lack of a better word), by Thea Hillman
• 
• Click Here ----->>> Buy Intersex (for lack of a better word) on Amazon
• 
  
• For an insight about this book and the author please go to this link
• http://www.isna.org/about/thea_hillman

Another book regarding intersex  was written by Sharon E. Prevees.  I was a participant in her study, and as an intersex individual was asked to fill out a questionnaire for her research. This  book is extremely well researched and comprehensive:

• Intersex and Identity: the contested self,

by Sharon E. Preeves

• Click here ----->>> Buy Intersex & Identity on Amazon
• 
  
• For an insight about this book and the author please go to this link: http://www.isna.org/intersexandidentity

• Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex, by Alice Dreger

• Click Here --->>>Buy Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex on Amazon
• 
  
• For an Insight about the book and author please go to this link:
• http://www.alicedreger.com/

• You can read the following books online or dowload via PDF: 
• Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Disorders of Sex Development; and 
• Handbook for Parents

• Click here to read online or via PDF ---->>> DSD Guidelines & Parent's Handbook

Click here to print out!!!----->>>AIS-DSD SUPPORT GROUP BROCHURE

As always, thank you for your support 

and Intersex Advocacy!!!

Orchids are all around you!

The Secret Inside Me, Part 2: Feeling Shame

“Shame is only good for writing sad poetry like a cutter slowly ticking away at your own flesh to feel something: even if it is only emptiness." Zollie

I didn’t find out I was an intersex individual or the name of my syndrome until I was in my mid-30s. So finding out the truth was a hard pill to swallow. By that age I didn’t suffer from the peer pressure of my high school days, or the angst of my college years of “will anyone ever love me or want to marry me?” By then, I had already had my gonadectomy (when I was 18-years) so I did know I could not have children and, because of that, I didn’t think a man would want to marry someone “damaged” like me. Yes, I felt damaged in my twenties which was an oxymoron to look at me. I knew I turned heads.  However, the look of confidence and swagger was a façade. And that feeling that I was a façade, an empty shell, went deep and grew roots in my marrow.

I did not know that my geneticist, obstetrician, endocrinologist, and parents had lied to me for my “safety and well-being.” They all told me I needed to have a “radical hysterectomy” or I could “die of cancer.” How safe and well was that lie? The experts never really talked to me.  My parents were always led behind closed doors while I waited in waiting rooms. Being a good daughter, I just did what I was told and if I was told I needed to have surgery then so be it. I was terrified. I never told a soul I was afraid. To know me was to see and hear the tall confident and funny person. I never mentioned that in my heart I felt something just wasn’t right about my urgent scheduled surgery. The word “radical” also scared me. My fear made me feel voiceless, weak, ugly, and freakish but, most of all, it made me angry and I didn’t know why. My confusion was a brewing storm.

What really complicated my inner turmoil is that outside family members like aunts, uncles and cousins were told I was in the hospital for an “appendectomy.”  I had freakish feelings when I was a young girl in my early teens because I didn’t have a period, was flat-chested, didn’t grow underarm or pubic hair like my friends talked about happening to them.  So, when I heard the nurses being told to tell anyone if they inquired that I was in the hospital for an appendectomy, my silent fears, confusion, and feelings of being a “freak” made me very depressed and quiet and sad. If I was ashamed before then that sentiment doubled because in my heart I knew I didn’t have a radical hysterectomy or an appendectomy; however, I couldn’t quite pinpoint what really was done and why.

After my surgery and the appendectomy lie, I resigned myself to not giving a fuck anymore about anything.  It hurt me very much when a nosy aunt came to visit me in the hospital and called me a baby for crying. (I was sullen and teary. I never “cried.”) She said I was being silly to feel sorry for myself because an appendectomy wasn’t such a big deal.  The sarcastic busybody just made me retreat into myself even further. It wasn’t her fault of course but I was angry and depressed that whatever was done to me was such a big secret. Because prior to that, I thought I knew everything that was going on with my surgery, which I later found out was an “orchidectomy” or “oophorectomy” which was the removal of my undecended testes.

My research in my 30s told me I was an “intersex” individual and my records stated I had “Testicular Feminizing Syndrome” and that I was an “affected male.” As I said before I felt such relief that I finally knew the truth. My innermost fears about my body became a reality. After that sunk in I got angry. Very angry.  I kept thinking, “Why was I lied to when I was already an adult 18 year old woman?” This question stirred around and around in my head and became a bubbling poison inside of me.  Writing this makes me think of a term which actually describes how I was feeling at the time: I was a “soup sandwich!” Being lied to, was a focus for a very long time. As a result, I despise being lied to and deceived.

Back then, I thought, “Why would they tell a child they had cancer or leukemia but they couldn’t tell an adult young woman the truth?” The anger festered inside of me. I have always been a truth seeker. That has always been my nature. That’s why I studied journalism at university. I learned to get to the bottom of things to seek out the truth.

I also never liked the feelings of shame that I had felt for a very long time.  Having shameful thoughts about oneself is very stressful. It’s like driving your car with expired tags and you are constantly turning your head left then right looking for a police car and being found out. Not a great example but you get my meaning, right? Imagine feeling like that year after year.  I always felt that if I walked into a room of strangers they would be able to tell something different about me. Just because outwardly I appeared a tall, good looking, confident woman, I felt people could tell I was a genetic male. Such poop! But that’s what SHAME did to me.

By the time my anger drove me to try to confront my doctors they had already died. When I confronted my parents about the lying and shame all hell broke loose.  You see, after my surgery all those years ago, they never talked about it to me ever again. Poof! It never happened. Let’s hide the shame under the dingy shag carpet! And, of course, by that time I was too ashamed to bring it up anyway. God forbid that I upset anyone in my family! I tried to have a family meeting to talk openly about AIS and inform them all.  I had made copies of my research to hand out for my intended family meeting but, they all refused to meet. By then, I figured my parents and siblings had already had their meeting without me to discuss my “rampage” and were all unified to block me out.

One sister told me, “If I ever have any questions or want to know anything I’ll seek you out.” Are you kidding me? That was 17 years ago and she has yet to seek me out. When I wanted to talk to my brother – he was already married at the time – he too refused to hear anything about AIS.  All he wanted to know was if he would pass the condition to his children. I said no because it is passed through the maternal line. He thought a moment then he said, “Well, then if it doesn’t affect my children then I don’t want to know about it.” This was a message to me, back then, that he really didn't care what I have gone through with this. It was my cross to bear. I just needed a friend at the time. Someone to talk to. I was reaching out to my brother but he wasn't there for me. Maybe it just embarrassed him. I don't know. And I will never know because I will never attempt to talk with him about anything again. I'll just see him at family gatherings and give the surface hug and kiss and 'how are you' type of conversation. That is what his remark did to me. It pushed me away. Far away. That cavalier announcement broke my heart. I was devastated. I felt so alone. Although I had always felt close to my family, my realization was that I was close with them and, like most families, in times of tragedy we all band together; but this AIS thing, that was mine alone to deal with. That was the message I got from my family members.

Finding a support group was the best thing that ever happened to me. The joy and happiness in finding and being surrounded by your own tribe, your own brethren; the many who had undergone similar or worse circumstances than myself, gave me a feeling of standing my ground and holding my head high.  It’s been a long journey but I can finally say I no longer feel shame for being an intersex individual. I’m proud and my other “orchid” sisters make me feel proud to be part of their tribe. Members of my "tribe" are students, lawyers, artists, singers, writers, and professors seeking and living their dream. Just like the rest of you.

As of this writing, I urge all of you to throw away your shame with me. Walk with me, away from the shame and don’t ever turn back. Shame only makes you regret all the things that you could have done in your life but held yourself back for whatever reason. Trust me. I know.

The bottomless pit of shame is a stifling tourniquet around any motivation or drive or creativity. Shame is only good for writing sad poetry like a cutter slowly ticking away at your own flesh to feel something: even if it is only emptiness.

Resources and Websites:

1. Definition of Intersex via ISNA: http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex
2. AIS-DSD Support Group: http://www.aisdsd.org/
3. The Kinsey Institute: http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/
4. I recommend reading Alice Dreger's work. She has written "Intersex in the Age of Ethics" and "Handbook for Parents of Children with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD Consortium, 2006)" at http://alicedreger.com/books.html
5. Definition of a DSD: Disorder of Sex Development: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disorder_of_sexual_development
6. Article on DSD/intersex in Stanford medical magazine: http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2011spring/article4.html
   Gender X - 2011 SPRING - Stanford Medicine Magazine - Stanford University School of Medicine

All rights reserved. Photograph and blog post by Zollies-Spot. Permission is required to copy or disburse any content of Zollies-Spot.

Each Memory Has a Story. Each Story Has a Memory.

A story told in the form of a photograph:

True Love: the greatest story ever told

(From Zoltana-of-the-Desert Arts Black and White Series)

The eye of wrath: with delusions of grandeur

(From Zoltana-of-the-Desert Arts Black and White Series)

Children At Play

(Zoltana-of-the-Desert Arts)

Sun God

(From Zoltana-of-the-Desert Arts Sepia Series)

Sun On Gnarled Sahuaro

(From Zoltana-of-the-Desert Sepia Series)

Confidence Exposed

(Zoltana-of-the-Desert Arts)

The Eye of God

(Zoltana-of-the-Desert Arts)

Happy Solitude

(Zoltana-of-the-Desert Arts)

All rights reserved. Photographs and blog posts by Zoltana-of-the-Desert. Permission is required to copy or disburse any content of Zoltana-of-the-Desert. Thank you.

The Secret Inside Me

A dear friend of mine wears a t-shirt that says it all: 

"1 in 2000 People are Intersex. 

Do you know any? 

Are you sure?" 

(c) 2011 Zollies-Spot. All rights Reserved.

Don't Judge Me: Learn Something From Me

We all have secrets. Secrets so deep that you may never tell a soul. Can you imagine blogging and telling the world about your deep dark secret? I'm coming out of my cave, my deep dark cavern to tell you that I am an intersex individual who was born with a difference in sexual development and many people out there in the world may think they don't know anyone like me; however, you may have a friend or relative like me, or may have met a person like me and you may not even know.

Intersexed individuals are like the lost tribe that has remained hidden in the wild jungles and people are just now learning about them. Or that rare plant or animal species that we never knew existed but has always been in existence. Oh, it hasn't been by choice that people like me aren't very public to the masses. It's just that, in the past, people like me have been stigmatized, marginalized, and made to feel as if we don't belong in the cog of the wheel of humanity:  their version of the binary "norm." But things, they are a-changin.

Here's a little information to try to enlighten those that have never heard the term, Intersex.

What is the definition of Intersex? The online explanation says:  "“Intersex” is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside..." 

For a full definition see http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex.

I'm not anyone special, except to my dear friends and family. Actually, I'm just like you. A person who lives in this world. Who loves and dreams and has hopes and aspirations just like you.  I am also not that different from you. If you are a woman reading this I want you to know that I am like you. I am feminine. I identify as a female. I was raised as a female and, like you, I have been called a "beautiful woman" at least one time in my life by a special someone. I AM LOVED.

The only thing that sets me apart from "normal" women is that I am intersexed.  What does that mean? Well, my genetic/DNA makeup is XY/male but even though I have male chromosomes my external genital development continued among the female lines at birth because the embryonic testes that developed inside of me, although they produced male hormones, were not able to continue along the lines of the male genital development. This syndrome is called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) which means that my fetal body tissue was insensitive to the male androgens I was producing.  Therefore, I developed physically as a female, by default. My exterior is ALL woman but because my body was confused I didn't develop reproductive organs. I cannot have children. The older literature regarding this syndrome used the stigmatizing term, "Testicular Feminizing Syndrome."

The medical community at the time never told me what was wrong with me, yet I was already 18 years old. Doctors told my parents not to say anything to me because I would become suicidal or go crazy. The doctors and geneticists were like gods to people of my parent's generation. So, like good parents and doctors of their time, I was instead told that I may die of cancer and that they had to remove my "ovaries" as soon as possible.  The problem with this is that what they were removing were not ovaries but undescended testes. I also did not have cancer.  I was a shy girl and I was stunned and never asked any questions.  I was just scared. Very scared. I did not find out the truth of my "syndrome" until the advent of the Internet in the 1990s. The world wide web provided me its font of information at a touch of a button.

My journalistic background also dove me into heavy research and I read everything I could read about this syndrome.  Then, I read my medical records. The enlightenment was cathartic in the sense that I was relieved to know the facts about me. The mystery and the guesswork was taken out of the equation. Of course, my freakish feelings were still a part of me because I was made to feel that way by lies and innuendo. My records termed me as a "male-pseudo hermaphrodite" and throughout my records I was referred to as the "affected male." Shocking? Yes. But I was also relieved that it was all laid out in front of me in black and white, in print. My research answered all of my questions. A doctor was not around to lie to me. A doctor was not around to stammer at me and not look me in the eye. Have you ever been at "rock-bottom" in your life? I have. But from that "rock-bottom" ignorance I emerged like the legendary Phoenix and like all of us, when we are thrown into the bowels of something unknown, I just dealt with it and became empowered by what I learned about myself.

The journey I have traveled has been filled with obstacles like anger, shame, and very very sad and inner feelings of not really belonging or even being able to identify with others' "womanhood." For example, the rites of passage every young pubescent girl experiences. I did not experience the explosion of changes of a young girl: the dreaded "period", the hair growth in places you weren't expecting, the acne, etc. 

I usually describe my genitals like this: I have a beautiful "blind-ending" vagina with labia and a nice little clitoris. What does a "blind-ending" vagina mean? Think of a pool table with pool pockets. My vagina is like a small pool pocket that does not lead anywhere. I was born with no reproductive organs like a cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, etc. It's funny how I will go to a doctor's office and will be asked when I had my last period. I just honestly say, "I've never had a period." Then the questions begin, "What do you mean?" "Every woman has had a period!" That is when I can educate nurses or doctors if they are honest with me and admit they do not know what it means to be an intersex individual or about my AIS.

I can always tell when either they don't care or if they don't understand even when they do not admit they don't understand. Because the conversation usually goes like this:

Nurse: Are you on your period or when was your last period?

Me: I am an intersex individual. I have no reproductive organs.

Nurse: Ok, but when was your last period?

Me: I have no reproductive organs.

Nurse: Do you have children or have you ever been pregnant?

Me: I have no reproductive organs.

When this happens I begin to wonder and get worried. I will then explain very carefully my situation. I usually carry printouts of information and flyers explaining intersex conditions with information about support groups so that medical staff can have the information handy to offer parents or patients if they encounter any other intersex patients. I always authorize them to feel free to give people my contact information if any parents or intersex individuals would like to talk with me so that they don't feel so alone.

The journey to my discovery has been long. Very long. And this journey with its twists and varying crossroads has made me feel empowered enough to come out of my shell and inform and educate others. I am an advocate for people like me that haven't come out of their own cavern. I am their voice. There are others like me and we are banding together to be heard and to let others know that we are here living among you and that we DO belong to the human spectrum.

Note: Think of the term Differences of Sexual Development as the umbrella that covers many types of conditions like my AIS.  You can learn more about AIS or about other conditions like Swyers Syndrome, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) and other differences via the world wide web or by following the links below. When you do learn more, I urge you to tell a friend what you learned so that they can tell their friends. After all, you may one day meet a person like me if you think you haven't already and you will be able to listen to their story with compassion and with respect and understanding.

For a continuation of this story, click this link for 

Part Two: Feeling Shame

http://zollies-spot.blogspot.com/2011/03/secret-inside-me-part-2-feeling-shame.html

"The bottomless pit of shame is a stifling tourniquet around any motivation or drive or creativity.

Shame is only good for writing sad poetry like a cutter slowly ticking away at your own flesh to feel something: even if it is only emptiness." The Secret Inside Me, Part 2: Feeling Shame

Resources and Websites:

1. Definition of Intersex via ISNA: http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex
2. AIS-DSD Support Group: http://www.aisdsd.org/
3. The Kinsey Institute: http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/
4. I recommend reading Alice Dreger's work. She has written "Intersex in the Age of Ethics" and "Handbook for Parents of Children with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD Consortium, 2006)" at http://alicedreger.com/books.html
5. Definition of Differences of Sex Development: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disorder_of_sexual_development
6. Article regarding differences of sexual development/intersex in Stanford medical magazine: http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2011spring/article4.html
   Gender X - 2011 SPRING - Stanford Medicine Magazine - Stanford University School of Medicine



All rights reserved. Photograph and blog post by Zollies-Spot. Permission is required to copy or disburse any content of Zollies-Spot.

Orchids are all around you!

www.aisdsd.org

The Secret Inside Me

A dear friend of mine wears a t-shirt that says it all: 

"1 in 2000 People are Intersex. 

Do you know any? 

Are you sure?" 

(c) 2011 Zollies-Spot. All rights Reserved.

Don't Judge Me: Learn Something From Me

We all have secrets. Secrets so deep that you may never tell a soul. Can you imagine blogging and telling the world about your deep dark secret? I'm coming out of my cave, my deep dark cavern to tell you that I am an intersex individual who was born with a difference in sexual development and many people out there in the world may think they don't know anyone like me; however, you may have a friend or relative like me, or may have met a person like me and you may not even know.

Intersexed individuals are like the lost tribe that has remained hidden in the wild jungles and people are just now learning about them. Or that rare plant or animal species that we never knew existed but has always been in existence. Oh, it hasn't been by choice that people like me aren't very public to the masses. It's just that, in the past, people like me have been stigmatized, marginalized, and made to feel as if we don't belong in the cog of the wheel of humanity:  their version of the binary "norm." But things, they are a-changin.

Here's a little information to try to enlighten those that have never heard the term, Intersex.

What is the definition of Intersex? The online explanation says:  "“Intersex” is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside..." 

For a full definition see http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex.

I'm not anyone special, except to my dear friends and family. Actually, I'm just like you. A person who lives in this world. Who loves and dreams and has hopes and aspirations just like you.  I am also not that different from you. If you are a woman reading this I want you to know that I am like you. I am feminine. I identify as a female. I was raised as a female and, like you, I have been called a "beautiful woman" at least one time in my life by a special someone. I AM LOVED.

The only thing that sets me apart from "normal" women is that I am intersexed.  What does that mean? Well, my genetic/DNA makeup is XY/male but even though I have male chromosomes my external genital development continued among the female lines at birth because the embryonic testes that developed inside of me, although they produced male hormones, were not able to continue along the lines of the male genital development. This syndrome is called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) which means that my fetal body tissue was insensitive to the male androgens I was producing.  Therefore, I developed physically as a female, by default. My exterior is ALL woman but because my body was confused I didn't develop reproductive organs. I cannot have children. The older literature regarding this syndrome used the stigmatizing term, "Testicular Feminizing Syndrome."

The medical community at the time never told me what was wrong with me, yet I was already 18 years old. Doctors told my parents not to say anything to me because I would become suicidal or go crazy. The doctors and geneticists were like gods to people of my parent's generation. So, like good parents and doctors of their time, I was instead told that I may die of cancer and that they had to remove my "ovaries" as soon as possible.  The problem with this is that what they were removing were not ovaries but undescended testes. I also did not have cancer.  I was a shy girl and I was stunned and never asked any questions.  I was just scared. Very scared. I did not find out the truth of my "syndrome" until the advent of the Internet in the 1990s. The world wide web provided me its font of information at a touch of a button.

My journalistic background also dove me into heavy research and I read everything I could read about this syndrome.  Then, I read my medical records. The enlightenment was cathartic in the sense that I was relieved to know the facts about me. The mystery and the guesswork was taken out of the equation. Of course, my freakish feelings were still a part of me because I was made to feel that way by lies and innuendo. My records termed me as a "male-pseudo hermaphrodite" and throughout my records I was referred to as the "affected male." Shocking? Yes. But I was also relieved that it was all laid out in front of me in black and white, in print. My research answered all of my questions. A doctor was not around to lie to me. A doctor was not around to stammer at me and not look me in the eye. Have you ever been at "rock-bottom" in your life? I have. But from that "rock-bottom" ignorance I emerged like the legendary Phoenix and like all of us, when we are thrown into the bowels of something unknown, I just dealt with it and became empowered by what I learned about myself.

The journey I have traveled has been filled with obstacles like anger, shame, and very very sad and inner feelings of not really belonging or even being able to identify with others' "womanhood." For example, the rites of passage every young pubescent girl experiences. I did not experience the explosion of changes of a young girl: the dreaded "period", the hair growth in places you weren't expecting, the acne, etc. 

I usually describe my genitals like this: I have a beautiful "blind-ending" vagina with labia and a nice little clitoris. What does a "blind-ending" vagina mean? Think of a pool table with pool pockets. My vagina is like a small pool pocket that does not lead anywhere. I was born with no reproductive organs like a cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, etc. It's funny how I will go to a doctor's office and will be asked when I had my last period. I just honestly say, "I've never had a period." Then the questions begin, "What do you mean?" "Every woman has had a period!" That is when I can educate nurses or doctors if they are honest with me and admit they do not know what it means to be an intersex individual or about my AIS.

I can always tell when either they don't care or if they don't understand even when they do not admit they don't understand. Because the conversation usually goes like this:

Nurse: Are you on your period or when was your last period?

Me: I am an intersex individual. I have no reproductive organs.

Nurse: Ok, but when was your last period?

Me: I have no reproductive organs.

Nurse: Do you have children or have you ever been pregnant?

Me: I have no reproductive organs.

When this happens I begin to wonder and get worried. I will then explain very carefully my situation. I usually carry printouts of information and flyers explaining intersex conditions with information about support groups so that medical staff can have the information handy to offer parents or patients if they encounter any other intersex patients. I always authorize them to feel free to give people my contact information if any parents or intersex individuals would like to talk with me so that they don't feel so alone.

The journey to my discovery has been long. Very long. And this journey with its twists and varying crossroads has made me feel empowered enough to come out of my shell and inform and educate others. I am an advocate for people like me that haven't come out of their own cavern. I am their voice. There are others like me and we are banding together to be heard and to let others know that we are here living among you and that we DO belong to the human spectrum.

Note: Think of the term Differences of Sexual Development as the umbrella that covers many types of conditions like my AIS.  You can learn more about AIS or about other conditions like Swyers Syndrome, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) and other differences via the world wide web or by following the links below. When you do learn more, I urge you to tell a friend what you learned so that they can tell their friends. After all, you may one day meet a person like me if you think you haven't already and you will be able to listen to their story with compassion and with respect and understanding.

For a continuation of this story, click this link for 

Part Two: Feeling Shame

http://zollies-spot.blogspot.com/2011/03/secret-inside-me-part-2-feeling-shame.html

"The bottomless pit of shame is a stifling tourniquet around any motivation or drive or creativity.

Shame is only good for writing sad poetry like a cutter slowly ticking away at your own flesh to feel something: even if it is only emptiness." The Secret Inside Me, Part 2: Feeling Shame

Resources and Websites:

1. Definition of Intersex via ISNA: http://www.isna.org/faq/what_is_intersex
2. AIS-DSD Support Group: http://www.aisdsd.org/
3. The Kinsey Institute: http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/
4. I recommend reading Alice Dreger's work. She has written "Intersex in the Age of Ethics" and "Handbook for Parents of Children with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD Consortium, 2006)" at http://alicedreger.com/books.html
5. Definition of Differences of Sex Development: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disorder_of_sexual_development
6. Article regarding differences of sexual development/intersex in Stanford medical magazine: http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2011spring/article4.html
   Gender X - 2011 SPRING - Stanford Medicine Magazine - Stanford University School of Medicine



All rights reserved. Photograph and blog post by Zollies-Spot. Permission is required to copy or disburse any content of Zollies-Spot.

Orchids are all atound you!

www.aisdsd.org

Books Books Books: what's your secret stash?

If you like books like me then consider yourself a bibliophile. Here is the online definition that I found at http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bibliophile:

bibliophile [ˈbɪblɪəˌfaɪl], bibliophil [ˈbɪblɪəfɪl]

n

a person who collects or is fond of books

bibliophilism  [ˌbɪblɪˈɒfəˌlɪzəm] n

bibliophilistic  adj

Yes, you like the look and feel of a book. You like being surrounded by books. You admire your bookshelf. You arrange how your books are laid out in every room in your home. You drop a book you are currently reading into your backpack, purse, murse, or even stuff one in your back pocket: you ARE a bibliophile.

Now, bibliophiles tend to be snobs.  Yes, I can admit that about myself.  Why? Well there are only certain books I want others to see that I am currently reading.  The stash hidden under my bed, of course you know this being a bibliophile, is for my own guilty pleasure and my very own delicious secret.

Oh, for me, it's not erotica as you were probably wondering. It's western novels. Anything pertaining to the old west, old time history, the "back in the day" books are my guilty pleasures.  I think I have read all of Louis L'Amour, McMurtry's stuff, and of course, being a woman, I LOVE reading about pioneer women and how the woman of "back in the day" lived and overcame obstacles.  These hidden little treasures are my secret stash, my delicious stash, the books I can't wait to come home to and when I'm ready to lay down in bed I can't wait to reach under and get my current book and smell it first (of course!) and let it take me away to that "back in the day" time.

Do you have a Nook? Kindle? These e-readers don't really do it for me but I still had to get me the Barnes & Noble Nook.  OF COURSE I LOVE IT! Why? Because I'm a bibliophile of course! Now, however, I don't just throw a real book into my bag before leaving my house, but I also drop my beloved little nook in the bag too. You bibliophiles know how I roll.

Have you ever read Steampunk? Steampunk literature/genre also has that "back in the day" nuance but with a punch. This type of literature takes you back to the civil war era but it has dirigibles, zombies, and all manner of crazy hooligans that take you for a loop. It's fun to read too.  Now that, for me sure is a guilty pleasure. 

Here are a few guilty pleasures I've recently enjoyed:

1. The Hearts of Horses, by Molly Gloss. This is a heartwarming story of a girl with a knack for gentling wild horses.

2. Warrior Woman: The story of Lozen, Apache Warrior and Shaman, by Peter Aleshire. Lozen is my hero and a woman I deeply admire. She was one amazing woman. Since I have Apache blood running through my veins I want to read more about her. There isn't much but I'm looking. By the way, below is a picture of the real Lozen, amazing warrior and shaman. This photo gives me chills:

3.  These is My Words: The Diary of Sarah Agnes Prine 1881-1908, Arizona Territories, by Nancy Turner. This is a true and factual account of the author's family memoirs.

4. Currently on my wish list to obtain is The Blue Tattoo: The Life of Olive Oatman, by Margot Mifflin.  This book is about an Arizona woman who was abducted and lived among the Mohave Indians. 

As for the steampunk genre, I'm currently reading everything by Cherie Priest. Some of her books I have hiding under my bed and considered part of my "delicious stash" are: Boneshaker and Dreadnought of her Clockwork Century Series.

What are you currently reading? What do you recommend? What kind of bibliophile are you?
What books do you currently have hiding under your bed as your "secret stash?"