Androgynos

In Jewish tradition, the term androgynos (אנדרוגינוס in Hebrew, translation “intersex”) refers to someone who possesses both male and female sexual characteristics. Due to the ambiguous nature of the individual’s sex, Rabbinic literature discusses the gender of the individual and the legal ramifications that result based on potential gender classifications. In traditional observant Judaism, gender plays a central role in legal obligations.

During the development of the embryo into a fetus, a specific process occurs that determines the physiological properties of the fetus. In other words, there is a point in time where the fetus exists without male or female genitalia. Eventually, due to the release of hormones in one part of the fetus and the recognition of these hormones in another, the fetus either develops male genitalia or female genitalia. This process occurs roughly a month and a half after conception, and occurs completely separately from genetic sex. Genetic sex is determined solely by the presence or absence of the Y chromosome (presence = male, absence = female).

Because these two factors (hormone release and genetic existence of a Y chromosome) combine to determine sex, it is possible (though exceedingly rare) for a mix-up to occur. This situation can arise in a number of different ways. One possibility is that a genetic male does not produce (or alternatively, produces but does not detect) testosterone. Because the fetus does not sense testosterone, it reacts by forming female genitalia in addition to the already-present male genitalia. A second way this can happen is if testosterone, which is normally produced exclusively in the testicles, is produced in another area of the body, a genetic female recognizes it and generates male genitalia, along with the already-present female genitalia.

Again it is important to note that this category exists not because of doubt regarding genetic sex of the individual, but because of ambiguity with respect to the physical genitalia.

As explained above, the Jewish androgynos refers specifically to an individual who outwardly appears to have both male and female genitals. A similar though distinct category exists, called a tumtum (טומטום in Hebrew, meaning "hidden"). Maimonides explains that a tumtum is an individual "in whom neither masculine or feminine [genitalia] are discernible." In this way, it is the opposite of the androgynos - where the androgynos has both sets of genitals, the tumtum's genitals cannot be clearly seen. Importantly, Jewish tradition does not view a tumtum in the same way as an androgynos. While the identity of an androgynos is acknowledged to be ambiguous, a tumtum is declared to have a specific sex that is merely hidden externally. Nonetheless, legal authorities within Judaism have continued to debate the status of the tumtum in much the same way as they have debated the status of the androgynos.

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