Though I might have been wiser to touch up my roots, I thought to get in touch with my roots, specifically my upbringing as a Catholic, which for many years of my youth I was a paragon, until I no longer was. I particularly thought I might look into the church's position on Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. This is a condition caused by a genetic condition where the "male", (XY chromosome) is insensitive to the androgens that guide physical development as a male. Such an individual looks like a baby girl at birth, and while they have no uterus, this may not be discovered until puberty when they do not menstruate. Hence they are raised as and believe themselves to be girls, until they get an unpleasant surprise. Most of these individuals have the normal gender identity of a female.
So I thought, the common refrain that marriage is between a man and a woman. How does AIS factor in? There is a very lucid description of the issues from an intersex person's perspective in the following blog: Intersex Roadshow. There was not a lot on this from the catholic perspective that I could find, but here is a reasonable discussion. The bottom line seems to be that intersex conditions, gender disorders, are treated like homosexuality as being "intrinsically disordered". My understanding is that this means that these are like physical disabilities, a product of our fallen nature. (Blame Eve bitches!) So, you should practice chastity and stay out of the marriage pool where you will just muddy the waters. This at first caught me by surprise. Until I realized that in the Church's view, masturbation and sex with contraception are also in the same status. For reference, regular masturbation is true for more than 50% of older teenage boys. with girls under 50%. Contraception during marital sex is also quite common.
The bottom line appears to be that the Catholic Church in its doctrine maintains that sexual desire serves a single purpose which is reproduction, just as food serves a single purpose which is providing nutrients. God intended a certain model, ( man and woman, marry, have sex when they want children, raise children together) Everything else is due to God's plan being corrupted by original sin and is to be avoided.
To be sure, I have problems with this. I am not sure why Catholics aren't Baptists by this logic. Alcohol serving no nutritive function, surely this appetite should be avoided? Also, when the highest positions in the organization can only be reached by those who claim to be chaste, how does the organization come to the conclusion that family life was God's plan.
At any rate, I see that in the Catholic view, we are ideally of two genders, linked to two types of bodies, and two I suspect social roles. This is how God wanted it, and everything else is the perversions of nature, and culture in a sinful world.
As for AIS, I must conclude that the Catholic position is that an individual with AIS is male, (since the underlying issue is a gene that has not allowed maleness to be expressed, and presumable a "cure" for AIS would result in a male child.) Myself? likewise. We in each case, just have some "flaws" that are best treated with prayers, and chastity, and I don't mean chastity devices.
