androgeny

Yoma 43a ~ Androgyny and the Fluidity of Gender

The Torah proscribes a series of steps required to render a person spiritually pure. One of those steps (Numbers 19:17) is to pour spring water on the ashes of a sacrificed animal. But who is qualified to do the pouring? The Talmud cites a Mishnah (Parah 5:4) that tells us:

יומא מג, א

מֵיתִיבִי: הַכֹּל כְּשֵׁרִין לְהַזּוֹת, חוּץ מִטּוּמְטוּם וְאַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס וְאִשָּׁה. וְקָטָן (שֶׁיֵּשׁ) בּוֹ דַּעַת, אִשָּׁה מְסַיַּעְתּוֹ וּמַזֶּה.

Everyone is qualified to sprinkle the purification waters, except for a person whose sexual organs are concealed [tumtum], and a hermaphrodite [androginus], and a woman. And concerning a minor who has a basic level of intelligence, a woman may assist him and he sprinkles the purification waters.

Today we will explore the nature of these two mysterious categories known as the tumtum and the androginus. We also posted this about a year ago while studying Shabbat, but hey, lots of people have subscribed to Talmudology since then, and be honest, can you recall that post in detail? No? Then read on…

The tumtum is a person whose genitalia are somehow hidden or covered, so that it is not known if they are male or female. In contrast, the genitalia of the androgyne (an ancient Greek word formed from ἀνδρός  andros - “man” and γυνή gune, - “woman”) are in plain sight. It just isn’t clear whether they are male or female organs. The two are mentioned on at least twenty-three pages of the Babylonian Talmud, and in no fewer than nine halachot in the Jerusalem Talmud, so let’s figure out what, from a medical perspective, they are.

The Tumtum

There is no ambiguity about the gender of a tumtum. We just need to get a glimpse of the genitals. (The eleventh century dictionary known as the Aruch connects the word tumtum with the word atum (אטום), meaning sealed.) The problem is that the genitals are covered by what is usually described as skin. Once this cover is surgically opened, the gender will be revealed. In fact according to Rav Ammi (Yevamot 64a), both Abraham and Sarah were each a tumtum. Yes, you read that correctly. Each had genitalia that were hidden. Rav Ammi suggests this as an explanation as to why the couple were infertile for so many years. Once the covering had been removed the couple could then procreate as normal, and along came Isaac.

אמר רבי אמי אברהם ושרה טומטמין היו שנאמר (ישעיהו נא, א) הביטו אל צור חוצבתם ואל מקבת בור נוקרתם וכתיב (ישעיהו נא, ב) הביטו אל אברהם אביכם ואל שרה תחוללכם

Rabbi Ami said: Abraham and Sarah were originally tumtumin, as it is stated: “Look to the rock from where you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from where you were dug” (Isaiah 51:1), and it is written in the next verse: “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you” (Isaiah 51:2),

רשי:

חוצבתם - נעשה לו זכרות: “Hewn”: He was made into a male

נוקרתם - נעשה לה נקבות : “From where you were dug” which made here a female

Urologists have yet to identify this syndrome.

The Androgyne

In 1797 the physician James Parsons, published a book which he dedicated to the Royal Society of London, of which he was a Fellow: “ A Mechanical and Critical Inquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites.” Parsons noted that the Romans “had laws made against their Androgyni [which were] remarkably severe; for whensoever a child was reputed one of these, his sentence was to be shut up in a chest alive, and thrown into the sea…

Parsons was not only well-read in Roman law; he cited the fourth chapter of the Mishnah in Bikkurim, which contains a list of the ways in which the androgne sometimes resembles a man, and sometimes a woman:

ביכורים פרק ד

כֵּיצַד שָׁוֶה לַאֲנָשִׁים: מְטַמֵּא בְּלֹבֶן כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וְזוֹקֵק לְיִבּוּם כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וּמִתְעַטֵּף וּמִסְתַּפֵּר כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וְנוֹשֵׂא אֲבָל לֹא נִשָּׂא כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וְחַיָּב בְּכָל מִצְוֹת הָאֲמוּרוֹת בַּתּוֹרָה כַּאֲנָשִׁים:

In what ways is the andogyne like men?…He dresses like men; He can take a wife but not be taken as a wife, like men. [When he is born] his mother counts the blood of purification, like men; He may not be secluded with women, like men. He is not maintained with the daughters, like men…And he must perform all the commandments of the Torah, like men.

כֵּיצַד שָׁוֶה לַנָּשִׁים: מְטַמֵּא בְּאֹדֶם כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ מִתְיַחֵד עִם הָאֲנָשִׁים כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ עוֹבֵר עַל "בַּל תַּקִּיף" וְלֹא עַל "בַּל תַּשְׁחִית" וְלֹא עַל "בַּל תְּטַמֵּא לַמֵּתִים" כַּנָּשִׁים, וּפָסוּל מִן הָעֵדוּת כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ נִבְעַל בַּעֲבֵירָה כַּנָּשִׁים, וְנִפְסַל מִן הַכְּהֻנָּה כַּנָּשִׁים:

And in what ways is he like women?… he must not be secluded with men, like women; And he doesn’t make his brother’s wife liable for yibbum (levirate marriage); And he does not share [in the inheritance] with the sons, like women; And he cannot eat most holy sacrifices, like women…. he is disqualified from being a witness, like women…

The Androgyne & Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Ambiguous genitalia in neonates. From here.

One of the most common causes of androgyny is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), caused by a mutation in the CYP21 gene. The adrenal glands, which sits atop the kidneys, are where the action takes place. They produce androgens, which are then converted into the potent sex hormone testosterone. In most (95%) cases of CAH, there is a deficiency of the enzyme 21-hydroxylase. As a result, the adrenal glands produce excessive amounts of the virilizing hormone androgen. (It also causes severe salt wasting, which can be very dangerous, but we are not getting into that now. And there are different severities of the syndrome, but you’ve got a limited attention span, so we will keep it simple.) This excessive androgen production does very little in (XY) males; their genitalia look normal. But in genetic (XX) baby girls the androgens affect the external genitalia and they may become ambiguous: the clitoris becomes enlarged, sometimes to the degree that it resembles a penis. In very severe cases the baby girl has what appears to be an empty scrotum, and may be raised as a boy, all the while being an XX girl with CAH.

Today all newborns are screened for 21-hydroxylase. The deficiency can be treated with hormone replacement, and the genital ambiguity may be corrected, although this latter intervention has, over the last decades, become very controversial.

Anecdotally, in the Western world most [intersex] babies were raised as female because the genitalia were easier to reconstruct... clinical experience suggests that cultural factors are very influential. This may be no bad thing as there is no ‘right’ medical answer and the child will have to grow up in the community into which it is born.
— Woodhouse, C.R.J. Intersex Surgery in the Adult. BJU International 2004. 93 (3): 57-65

The androgyne and the hermaphrodite

The Soncino Talmud identifies the androgyne as a hermaphrodite, that is, a person with both male and female genitalia. So does Goldschmidt’s German translation (“der zwitter”). Cases of true hermaphroditism are extremely rare, and there are only a few scattered case reports in the medical literature. (You can read one reported from Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv here.) Rather than there being two sets, in these cases the genitalia are ambiguous, and although they have both ovarian and testicular tissue the scrotum does not always contain testes.

Alice Dreger, formerly a Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics at Northwestern University, (it’s complicated) wrote a terrific (and controversial) book that tackles some of the issues facing intersex people - those who were once called hermaphrodites. In the past, when faced these difficult cases of intersex or ambiguous genders, clinicians focused on what she calls a “gonadal division.” (Since biopsies and genetic sequencing were not available to the rabbis of the Talmud, they, like clinicians, focused on this gonadal division, for what else could they do?) But, she notes,

a system that emphasizes gonadal anatomy above all else suffers from two major deficits. First, it is scientifically questionable, because it relies on the anatomy of the gonads (functioning or not) more than any other considerations. Second, it provides little clinical help, often confusing and harming the patient, and sometimes also the physician.

Instead, she advocates for a description based on etiology and the patient’s needs. “Such an approach would have the salutary effects of improving patient and physician understanding and reducing the biases that are inherent in the use of the current language of 'hermaphroditism'.”

True hermaphrodites: defined as presenting at least one ovary and at least one testis, or at least one ovotestis...The scientific understanding of sexual development has progressed tremendously in the last 125 years, but the existing taxonomy does not reflect that progress. Scientists and clinicians now recognize that the structure of the gonads does not correlate simply with genotype, phenotype, physiology, diagnosis, or gender identity. The anatomy of testicular tissue in women with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is quite similar to the anatomy of testicular tissue in non- intersex males, yet their physiologies, phenotypes and gender identities differ markedly.
— Dreger, A, et al. Changing the Nomenclature/Taxonomy for Intersex. Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism 2005. 18, 729-733

The many Shades of Gender

We are used to think that when an egg carrying an X chromosome meets a sperm carrying an X or Y chromosome, one of two things will happen: a genetic female (46XX) or a genetic male (46XY) with genitalia to match. But in fact it is way more complicated than that. We know that there are at least 14 genes involved in the process of sexual differentiation, and many more will likely be discovered. A mutation or malfunction of any of these has a dramatic effect on the process of gender differentiation. For example if there is a defect in the enzymes involved in producing testosterone, there may be ambiguous external genitalia; deficiency of the enzyme 5α-reductase results in variable degrees of under-masculinized external genitalia and genital ambiguity; individuals with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome may also have ambiguous genitalia, and there is no consensus regarding an optimal sex of rearing them; and newborns with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, may have male appearing genitalia while all the time being 46XX.

We have previously noted the strange effects of yet gene discovered in the 1980s. This sex-determining gene on a tiny bit of the male Y chromosome is called the sry gene. That gene tells the body to develop into a male or female appearing body. Sometimes the sry gene sneaks off of the Y gene and makes its way into the DNA of an XX female. As a result, she will develop male anatomy while genetically remaining an XX female. (Please read that sentence again, just to be sure you have understood it.) And sometimes the sry gene on an XY genetic male can mutate and not work. In that case, the genetic male appears to have the organs of a female, which is what occurs in Swyer syndrome. (You can hear more about the amazing sex-changing effects of sry in this fascinating podcast.)

And then there is the small community in the Dominican Republic where there have been a number of cases in which little girls grow a penis and turn into little boys. These observations were first reported to the scientific community in 1974, and are caused by a deficiency of the steroid 5α-reductase. Here is how the BBC explained what is going on when they reported about it in 2015.

When you are conceived you normally have a pair of X chromosomes if you are to become a girl and a set of XY chromosomes if you are destined to be male. For the first weeks of life in womb you are neither…Then, around eight weeks after conception, the sex hormones kick in. If you're genetically male the Y chromosome instructs your gonads to become testicles and sends testosterone to a structure called the tubercle, where it is converted into a more potent hormone called dihydro-testosterone. This in turn transforms the tubercle into a penis. If you're female and you don't make dihydro-testosterone then your tubercle becomes a clitoris…the reason [some genetic males] don't have male genitalia when they are born is because they are deficient in an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone.

So the boys, despite having an XY chromosome, appear female when they are born. At puberty, like other boys, they get a second surge of testosterone. This time the body does respond and they sprout muscles, testes and a penis.

So gender identity is very complicated. James Parsons, that physician who wrote the book on hermaphrodites in 1797 tackled some of the difficult questions that were addressed in Mishnah Bikkurim: can a hermaphrodite get married? (yes, but to which gender varies by case); can they be a witness? (only if the “predominating sex” is male); can they be ordained as a minister? (no); The rabbis were puzzled as to the “true” gender of the androgyne, and so classified them as sometimes male, and sometimes female. It was the best they could do at the time, and Parsons, writing 1,500 years later did the same. Thanks to modern medicine we have learned why these intersex cases occur, but as a society we have still a long way to go to help make their lives easier.

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Shabbat 136 ~ The Tumtum, the Androgyne, and the Fluidity of Gender

The Mishnah that we learned two days ago (134b) teaches that certain acts, normally prohibited on Shabbat, are permitted if the Shabbat is the day of a newborn’s circumcision, or brit milah. For example, a newborn boy may be bathed in warm water on Shabbat in preparation for his circumcision. Although such bathing is usually prohibited it was permitted in this instance, because bathing was thought to have important healing properties, But there are exceptions to this exception, also noted in the Mishnah.

שבת קלד,ב

סָפֵק וְאַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס — אֵין מְחַלְּלִין עָלָיו אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת. וְרַבִּי יְהוּדָה מַתִּיר בְּאַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס

If there was a question about whether or not to circumcise the baby, or if the baby was an androgyne, we do not desecrate the Shabbat [in order to perform the circumcision]. But Rabbi Yehuda permits a Shabbat circumcision in the case of the adrogyne.

Let’s put to one side the case in which there was “a question about whether or not to circumcise” (it has to do with whether the baby was born prematurely, in the eighth month of pregnancy and you can read more about it here), and focus on the androgyne. In today’s page of Talmud we read a statement from the Sifra that excludes two groups of people from the category of being a male (at least in so far as the laws of human valuation is applied).

שבת קלו, ב

 דְּתַנְיָא: ״הַזָּכָר״ — וְלֹא טוּמְטוּם וְאַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס. יָכוֹל לֹא יְהֵא בְּעֵרֶךְ אִישׁ אֲבָל יְהֵא בְּעֵרֶךְ אִשָּׁה — תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: ״הַזָּכָר״, ״וְאִם נְקֵבָה הִיא״. זָכָר וַדַּאי, נְקֵבָה וַדָּאִית — וְלֹא טוּמְטוּם וְאַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס

As it was taught in the Sifra, the halakhic midrash on Leviticus, with regard to the verse: “Then your valuation shall be for the male from the age of twenty years until the age of sixty years, your valuation shall be fifty shekel of silver, after the shekel of the Sanctuary” (Leviticus 27:3). The Sages inferred: “The male” means the definite male but not a tumtum or an androgynus.

Although in the Mishnah in Shabbat only mentioned the case of the androgyne, it is frequently mentioned together with the androgynus. In Jewish law, these two groups are neither completely male or completely female, but are at some times treated as male, and at others female.

The tumtum is a person whose genitalia are somehow hidden or covered, so that it is not known if they are male or female. In contrast, the genitalia of the androgyne (an ancient Greek word formed from ἀνδρός  andros - “man” and γυνή gune, - “woman”) are in plain sight. It just isn’t clear whether they are male or female organs. The two are mentioned on at least twenty-three pages of the Babylonian Talmud, and in no fewer than nine halachot in the Jerusalem Talmud  (and we have written on some of them before). So let’s figure out what, from a medical perspective, they are.

The Tumtum

There is no ambiguity about the gender of a tumtum. We just need to get a glimpse of the genitals. (The eleventh century dictionary known as the Aruch connects the word tumtum with the word atum (אטום), meaning sealed.) The problem is that the genitals are covered by what is usually described as skin. Once this cover is surgically opened, the gender will be revealed. In fact according to Rav Ammi (Yevamot 64a), both Abraham and Sarah were each a tumtum. Yes, you read that correctly. Each had genitalia that were hidden. Rav Ammi suggests this as an explanation as to why the couple were infertile for so many years. Once the covering had been removed the couple could then procreate as normal, and along came Isaac.

אמר רבי אמי אברהם ושרה טומטמין היו שנאמר (ישעיהו נא, א) הביטו אל צור חוצבתם ואל מקבת בור נוקרתם וכתיב (ישעיהו נא, ב) הביטו אל אברהם אביכם ואל שרה תחוללכם

Rabbi Ami said: Abraham and Sarah were originally tumtumin, as it is stated: “Look to the rock from where you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from where you were dug” (Isaiah 51:1), and it is written in the next verse: “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you” (Isaiah 51:2),

רשי:

חוצבתם - נעשה לו זכרות: “Hewn”: He was made into a male

נוקרתם - נעשה לה נקבות : “From where you were dug” which made here a female

Urologists have yet to identify the syndrome responsible for Rav Ami’s teaching.

Screen Shot 2019-06-17 at 2.31.21 PM.png

The Androgyne

In 1797 the physician James Parsons, published a book which he dedicated to the Royal Society of London, of which he was a Fellow: “ A Mechanical and Critical Inquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites.” Parsons noted that the Romans “had laws made against their Androgyni [which were] remarkably severe; for whensoever a child was reputed one of these, his sentence was to be shut up in a chest alive, and thrown into the sea…

Parsons was not only well-read in Roman law; he cited the fourth chapter of the Mishnah in Bikkurim, which contains a list of the ways in which the androgne sometimes resembles a man, and sometimes a woman:

ביכורים פרק ד

כֵּיצַד שָׁוֶה לַאֲנָשִׁים: מְטַמֵּא בְּלֹבֶן כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וְזוֹקֵק לְיִבּוּם כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וּמִתְעַטֵּף וּמִסְתַּפֵּר כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וְנוֹשֵׂא אֲבָל לֹא נִשָּׂא כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וְחַיָּב בְּכָל מִצְוֹת הָאֲמוּרוֹת בַּתּוֹרָה כַּאֲנָשִׁים:

In what ways is the andogyne like men?…He dresses like men; He can take a wife but not be taken as a wife, like men. [When he is born] his mother counts the blood of purification, like men; He may not be secluded with women, like men. He is not maintained with the daughters, like men…And he must perform all the commandments of the Torah, like men.

כֵּיצַד שָׁוֶה לַנָּשִׁים: מְטַמֵּא בְּאֹדֶם כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ מִתְיַחֵד עִם הָאֲנָשִׁים כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ עוֹבֵר עַל "בַּל תַּקִּיף" וְלֹא עַל "בַּל תַּשְׁחִית" וְלֹא עַל "בַּל תְּטַמֵּא לַמֵּתִים" כַּנָּשִׁים, וּפָסוּל מִן הָעֵדוּת כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ נִבְעַל בַּעֲבֵירָה כַּנָּשִׁים, וְנִפְסַל מִן הַכְּהֻנָּה כַּנָּשִׁים:

And in what ways is he like women?… he must not be secluded with men, like women; And he doesn’t make his brother’s wife liable for yibbum (levirate marriage); And he does not share [in the inheritance] with the sons, like women; And he cannot eat most holy sacrifices, like women…. he is disqualified from being a witness, like women…

The Androgyne & Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Ambiguous genitalia in neonates. From here.

Ambiguous genitalia in neonates. From here.

One of the most common causes of androgyny is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), caused by a mutation in the CYP21 gene. The adrenal glands, which sits atop the kidneys, are where the action takes place. They produce androgens, which are then converted into the potent sex hormone testosterone. In most (95%) cases of CAH, there is a deficiency of the enzyme 21-hydroxylase. As a result, the adrenal glands produce excessive amounts of the virilizing hormone androgen. (It also causes severe salt wasting, which can be very dangerous, but we are not getting into that now. And there are different severities of the syndrome, but you’ve got a limited attention span, so we will keep it simple.) This excessive androgen production does very little in (XY) males; their genitalia look normal. But in genetic (XX) baby girls the androgens affect the external genitalia and they may become ambiguous: the clitoris becomes enlarged, sometimes to the degree that it resembles a penis. In very severe cases the baby girl has what appears to be an empty scrotum, and may be raised as a boy, all the while being an XX girl with CAH.

Today all newborns are screened for 21-hydroxylase. The deficiency can be treated with hormone replacement, and the genital ambiguity may be corrected, although this latter intervention has, over the last decades, become very controversial.

Anecdotally, in the Western world most [intersex] babies were raised as female because the genitalia were easier to reconstruct... clinical experience suggests that cultural factors are very influential. This may be no bad thing as there is no ‘right’ medical answer and the child will have to grow up in the community into which it is born.
— Woodhouse, C.R.J. Intersex Surgery in the Adult. BJU International 2004. 93 (3): 57-65

The androgyne and the hermaphrodite

The Soncino Talmud and the Koren Talmud identifies the androgyne as a hermaphrodite, that is, a person with both male and female genitalia. So does Goldschmidt’s German translation (“der zwitter”). Cases of true hermaphroditism are extremely rare, and there are only a few scattered case reports in the medical literature. (You can read one reported from Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv here.) Rather than there being two sets, in these cases the genitalia are ambiguous, and although they have both ovarian and testicular tissue the scrotum does not always contain testes.

Alice Dreger, formerly a Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics at Northwestern University, (it’s complicated) wrote a terrific (and controversial) book that tackles some of the issues facing intersex people - those who were once called hermaphrodites. In the past, when faced these difficult cases of intersex or ambiguous genders, clinicians focused on what she calls a “gonadal division.” (Since biopsies and genetic sequencing were not available to the rabbis of the Talmud, they, like clinicians, focused on this gonadal division, for what else could they do?) But, she notes,

a system that emphasizes gonadal anatomy above all else suffers from two major deficits. First, it is scientifically questionable, because it relies on the anatomy of the gonads (functioning or not) more than any other considerations. Second, it provides little clinical help, often confusing and harming the patient, and sometimes also the physician.

Instead, she advocates for a description based on etiology and the patient’s needs. “Such an approach would have the salutary effects of improving patient and physician understanding and reducing the biases that are inherent in the use of the current language of 'hermaphroditism'.”

True hermaphrodites: defined as presenting at least one ovary and at least one testis, or at least one ovotestis...The scientific understanding of sexual development has progressed tremendously in the last 125 years, but the existing taxonomy does not reflect that progress. Scientists and clinicians now recognize that the structure of the gonads does not correlate simply with genotype, phenotype, physiology, diagnosis, or gender identity. The anatomy of testicular tissue in women with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is quite similar to the anatomy of testicular tissue in non- intersex males, yet their physiologies, phenotypes and gender identities differ markedly.
— Dreger, A, et al. Changing the Nomenclature/Taxonomy for Intersex. Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism 2005. 18, 729-733

The many Shades of Gender

We are used to think that when an egg carrying an X chromosome meets a sperm carrying an X or Y chromosome, one of two things will happen: a genetic female (46XX) or a genetic male (46XY) with genitalia to match. But in fact it is way more complicated than that. We know that there are at least 14 genes involved in the process of sexual differentiation, and many more will likely be discovered. A mutation or malfunction of any of these has a dramatic effect on the process of gender differentiation. For example if there is a defect in the enzymes involved in producing testosterone, there may be ambiguous external genitalia; deficiency of the enzyme 5α-reductase results in variable degrees of under-masculinized external genitalia and genital ambiguity; individuals with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome may also have ambiguous genitalia, and there is no consensus regarding an optimal sex of rearing them; and newborns with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, may have male appearing genitalia while all the time being 46XX.

We have previously noted the strange effects of yet gene discovered in the 1980s. This sex-determining gene on a tiny bit of the male Y chromosome is called the sry gene. That gene tells the body to develop into a male or female appearing body. Sometimes the sry gene sneaks off of the Y gene and makes its way into the DNA of an XX female. As a result, she will develop male anatomy while genetically remaining an XX female. (Please read that sentence again, just to be sure you have understood it.) And sometimes the sry gene on an XY genetic male can mutate and not work. In that case, the genetic male appears to have the organs of a female, which is what occurs in Swyer syndrome. (You can hear more about the amazing sex-changing effects of sry in this fascinating podcast.)

And then there is the small community in the Dominican Republic where there have been a number of cases in which little girls grow a penis and turn into little boys. These observations were first reported to the scientific community in 1974, and are caused by a deficiency of the steroid 5α-reductase. Here is how the BBC explained what is going on when they reported about it in 2015.

When you are conceived you normally have a pair of X chromosomes if you are to become a girl and a set of XY chromosomes if you are destined to be male. For the first weeks of life in womb you are neither…Then, around eight weeks after conception, the sex hormones kick in. If you're genetically male the Y chromosome instructs your gonads to become testicles and sends testosterone to a structure called the tubercle, where it is converted into a more potent hormone called dihydro-testosterone. This in turn transforms the tubercle into a penis. If you're female and you don't make dihydro-testosterone then your tubercle becomes a clitoris…the reason [some genetic males] don't have male genitalia when they are born is because they are deficient in an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone.

So the boys, despite having an XY chromosome, appear female when they are born. At puberty, like other boys, they get a second surge of testosterone. This time the body does respond and they sprout muscles, testes and a penis.

So gender identity is very complicated. James Parsons, that physician who wrote the book on hermaphrodites in 1797 tackled some of the difficult questions that were addressed in Mishnah Bikkurim: can a hermaphrodite get married? (yes, but to which gender varies by case); can they be a witness? (only if the “predominating sex” is male); can they be ordained as a minister? (no); The rabbis were puzzled as to the “true” gender of the androgyne, and so classified them as sometimes male, and sometimes female. It was the best they could do at the time, and Parsons, writing 1,500 years later did the same. Thanks to modern medicine we have learned why these intersex cases occur, but as a society we have still a long way to go to help make their lives easier.

[Mostly a repost from Arachin, but well worth the read.]

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Arachin 4b ~ The Tumtum, the Androgyne, and the Fluidity of Gender

ערכין ד,ב

זכר - ולא טומטום ואנדרוגינוס

“A male” - and not a tumtum or androgyne.

In addition to male and female, the Talmud describes two other gender categories: tumtum and androgynous. The tumtum is a person whose genitalia are somehow hidden or covered, so that it is not known if they are male or female. In contrast, the genitalia of the androgyne (an ancient Greek word formed from ἀνδρός  andros - “man” and γυνή gune, - “woman”) are in plain sight. It just isn’t clear whether they are male or female organs. The two are mentioned on at least twenty-three pages of the Babylonian Talmud, and in no fewer than nine halachot in the Jerusalem Talmud, so let’s figure out what, from a medical perspective, they are.

The Tumtum

There is no ambiguity about the gender of a tumtum. We just need to get a glimpse of the genitals. (The eleventh century dictionary known as the Aruch connects the word tumtum with the word atum (אטום), meaning sealed.) The problem is that the genitals are covered by what is usually described as skin. Once this cover is surgically opened, the gender will be revealed. In fact according to Rav Ammi (Yevamot 64a), both Abraham and Sarah were each a tumtum. Yes, you read that correctly. Each had genitalia that were hidden. Rav Ammi suggests this as an explanation as to why the couple were infertile for so many years. Once the covering had been removed the couple could then procreate as normal, and along came Isaac.

אמר רבי אמי אברהם ושרה טומטמין היו שנאמר (ישעיהו נא, א) הביטו אל צור חוצבתם ואל מקבת בור נוקרתם וכתיב (ישעיהו נא, ב) הביטו אל אברהם אביכם ואל שרה תחוללכם

Rabbi Ami said: Abraham and Sarah were originally tumtumin, as it is stated: “Look to the rock from where you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from where you were dug” (Isaiah 51:1), and it is written in the next verse: “Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you” (Isaiah 51:2),

רשי:

חוצבתם - נעשה לו זכרות: “Hewn”: He was made into a male

נוקרתם - נעשה לה נקבות : “From where you were dug” which made here a female

Urologists have yet to identify this syndrome.

Screen Shot 2019-06-17 at 2.31.21 PM.png

The Androgyne

In 1797 the physician James Parsons, published a book which he dedicated to the Royal Society of London, of which he was a Fellow: “ A Mechanical and Critical Inquiry into the Nature of Hermaphrodites.” Parsons noted that the Romans “had laws made against their Androgyni [which were] remarkably severe; for whensoever a child was reputed one of these, his sentence was to be shut up in a chest alive, and thrown into the sea…

Parsons was not only well-read in Roman law; he cited the fourth chapter of the Mishnah in Bikkurim, which contains a list of the ways in which the androgne sometimes resembles a man, and sometimes a woman:

ביכורים פרק ד

כֵּיצַד שָׁוֶה לַאֲנָשִׁים: מְטַמֵּא בְּלֹבֶן כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וְזוֹקֵק לְיִבּוּם כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וּמִתְעַטֵּף וּמִסְתַּפֵּר כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וְנוֹשֵׂא אֲבָל לֹא נִשָּׂא כַּאֲנָשִׁים, וְחַיָּב בְּכָל מִצְוֹת הָאֲמוּרוֹת בַּתּוֹרָה כַּאֲנָשִׁים:

In what ways is the andogyne like men?…He dresses like men; He can take a wife but not be taken as a wife, like men. [When he is born] his mother counts the blood of purification, like men; He may not be secluded with women, like men. He is not maintained with the daughters, like men…And he must perform all the commandments of the Torah, like men.

כֵּיצַד שָׁוֶה לַנָּשִׁים: מְטַמֵּא בְּאֹדֶם כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ מִתְיַחֵד עִם הָאֲנָשִׁים כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ עוֹבֵר עַל "בַּל תַּקִּיף" וְלֹא עַל "בַּל תַּשְׁחִית" וְלֹא עַל "בַּל תְּטַמֵּא לַמֵּתִים" כַּנָּשִׁים, וּפָסוּל מִן הָעֵדוּת כַּנָּשִׁים, וְאֵינוֹ נִבְעַל בַּעֲבֵירָה כַּנָּשִׁים, וְנִפְסַל מִן הַכְּהֻנָּה כַּנָּשִׁים:

And in what ways is he like women?… he must not be secluded with men, like women; And he doesn’t make his brother’s wife liable for yibbum (levirate marriage); And he does not share [in the inheritance] with the sons, like women; And he cannot eat most holy sacrifices, like women…. he is disqualified from being a witness, like women…

The Androgyne & Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

Ambiguous genitalia in neonates. From here.

Ambiguous genitalia in neonates. From here.

One of the most common causes of androgyny is congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), caused by a mutation in the CYP21 gene. The adrenal glands, which sits atop the kidneys, are where the action takes place. They produce androgens, which are then converted into the potent sex hormone testosterone. In most (95%) cases of CAH, there is a deficiency of the enzyme 21-hydroxylase. As a result, the adrenal glands produce excessive amounts of the virilizing hormone androgen. (It also causes severe salt wasting, which can be very dangerous, but we are not getting into that now. And there are different severities of the syndrome, but you’ve got a limited attention span, so we will keep it simple.) This excessive androgen production does very little in (XY) males; their genitalia look normal. But in genetic (XX) baby girls the androgens affect the external genitalia and they may become ambiguous: the clitoris becomes enlarged, sometimes to the degree that it resembles a penis. In very severe cases the baby girl has what appears to be an empty scrotum, and may be raised as a boy, all the while being an XX girl with CAH.

Today all newborns are screened for 21-hydroxylase. The deficiency can be treated with hormone replacement, and the genital ambiguity may be corrected, although this latter intervention has, over the last decades, become very controversial.

Anecdotally, in the Western world most [intersex] babies were raised as female because the genitalia were easier to reconstruct... clinical experience suggests that cultural factors are very influential. This may be no bad thing as there is no ‘right’ medical answer and the child will have to grow up in the community into which it is born.
— Woodhouse, C.R.J. Intersex Surgery in the Adult. BJU International 2004. 93 (3): 57-65

The androgyne and the hermaphrodite

The Soncino Talmud identifies the androgyne as a hermaphrodite, that is, a person with both male and female genitalia. So does Goldschmidt’s German translation (“der zwitter”). Cases of true hermaphroditism are extremely rare, and there are only a few scattered case reports in the medical literature. (You can read one reported from Sheba Hospital in Tel Aviv here.) Rather than there being two sets, in these cases the genitalia are ambiguous, and although they have both ovarian and testicular tissue the scrotum does not always contain testes.

Alice Dreger, formerly a Professor of Medical Humanities and Bioethics at Northwestern University, (it’s complicated) wrote a terrific (and controversial) book that tackles some of the issues facing intersex people - those who were once called hermaphrodites. In the past, when faced these difficult cases of intersex or ambiguous genders, clinicians focused on what she calls a “gonadal division.” (Since biopsies and genetic sequencing were not available to the rabbis of the Talmud, they, like clinicians, focused on this gonadal division, for what else could they do?) But, she notes,

a system that emphasizes gonadal anatomy above all else suffers from two major deficits. First, it is scientifically questionable, because it relies on the anatomy of the gonads (functioning or not) more than any other considerations. Second, it provides little clinical help, often confusing and harming the patient, and sometimes also the physician.

Instead, she advocates for a description based on etiology and the patient’s needs. “Such an approach would have the salutary effects of improving patient and physician understanding and reducing the biases that are inherent in the use of the current language of 'hermaphroditism'.”

True hermaphrodites: defined as presenting at least one ovary and at least one testis, or at least one ovotestis...The scientific understanding of sexual development has progressed tremendously in the last 125 years, but the existing taxonomy does not reflect that progress. Scientists and clinicians now recognize that the structure of the gonads does not correlate simply with genotype, phenotype, physiology, diagnosis, or gender identity. The anatomy of testicular tissue in women with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is quite similar to the anatomy of testicular tissue in non- intersex males, yet their physiologies, phenotypes and gender identities differ markedly.
— Dreger, A, et al. Changing the Nomenclature/Taxonomy for Intersex. Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism 2005. 18, 729-733

The many Shades of Gender

We are used to think that when an egg carrying an X chromosome meets a sperm carrying an X or Y chromosome, one of two things will happen: a genetic female (46XX) or a genetic male (46XY) with genitalia to match. But in fact it is way more complicated than that. We know that there are at least 14 genes involved in the process of sexual differentiation, and many more will likely be discovered. A mutation or malfunction of any of these has a dramatic effect on the process of gender differentiation. For example if there is a defect in the enzymes involved in producing testosterone, there may be ambiguous external genitalia; deficiency of the enzyme 5α-reductase results in variable degrees of under-masculinized external genitalia and genital ambiguity; individuals with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome may also have ambiguous genitalia, and there is no consensus regarding an optimal sex of rearing them; and newborns with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, may have male appearing genitalia while all the time being 46XX.

We have previously noted the strange effects of yet gene discovered in the 1980s. This sex-determining gene on a tiny bit of the male Y chromosome is called the sry gene. That gene tells the body to develop into a male or female appearing body. Sometimes the sry gene sneaks off of the Y gene and makes its way into the DNA of an XX female. As a result, she will develop male anatomy while genetically remaining an XX female. (Please read that sentence again, just to be sure you have understood it.) And sometimes the sry gene on an XY genetic male can mutate and not work. In that case, the genetic male appears to have the organs of a female, which is what occurs in Swyer syndrome. (You can hear more about the amazing sex-changing effects of sry in this fascinating podcast.)

And then there is the small community in the Dominican Republic where there have been a number of cases in which little girls grow a penis and turn into little boys. These observations were first reported to the scientific community in 1974, and are caused by a deficiency of the steroid 5α-reductase. Here is how the BBC explained what is going on when they reported about it in 2015.

When you are conceived you normally have a pair of X chromosomes if you are to become a girl and a set of XY chromosomes if you are destined to be male. For the first weeks of life in womb you are neither…Then, around eight weeks after conception, the sex hormones kick in. If you're genetically male the Y chromosome instructs your gonads to become testicles and sends testosterone to a structure called the tubercle, where it is converted into a more potent hormone called dihydro-testosterone. This in turn transforms the tubercle into a penis. If you're female and you don't make dihydro-testosterone then your tubercle becomes a clitoris…the reason [some genetic males] don't have male genitalia when they are born is because they are deficient in an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone.

So the boys, despite having an XY chromosome, appear female when they are born. At puberty, like other boys, they get a second surge of testosterone. This time the body does respond and they sprout muscles, testes and a penis.

So gender identity is very complicated. James Parsons, that physician who wrote the book on hermaphrodites in 1797 tackled some of the difficult questions that were addressed in Mishnah Bikkurim: can a hermaphrodite get married? (yes, but to which gender varies by case); can they be a witness? (only if the “predominating sex” is male); can they be ordained as a minister? (no); The rabbis were puzzled as to the “true” gender of the androgyne, and so classified them as sometimes male, and sometimes female. It was the best they could do at the time, and Parsons, writing 1,500 years later did the same. Thanks to modern medicine we have learned why these intersex cases occur, but as a society we have still a long way to go to help make their lives easier.

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Zevachim 85b ~ The Tumtum and the Androgyne. In Birds.

In tomorrow's discussion of the blemishes that render a sacrifice unusable, we read the following:

זבחים פה, ב

 הנרבע והמוקצה והנעבד ואתנן ומחיר וטומטום ואנדרוגינוס כולן מטמאין בגדים אבית הבליעה 

A bird that was the object of bestiality, or that was set aside for idol worship, or that was worshipped as a deity, or that was given as payment to a prostitute or as the price of a dog, or that was a tumtum or a hermaphrodite, in all of those cases, if its nape was pinched, it renders the garments of one who swallows an olive-bulk from the carcass ritually impure when it is in the throat, as is the halakha with regard to all unslaughtered carcasses of birds. 

Only two kinds of birds - doves and pigeons - were offered as sacrifices, and there were only two kinds of sacrifice for which there were used: The bird chatat (sin offering) in fulfillment of an obligation, and the bird olah (burnt offering) brought either voluntarily, or at the fulfillment of an obligation.

There was an unusual practice of slaughtering these birds in the Temple called melikah, in which the fingernail of the Cohen pierced the nape of the neck. In tomorrow's daf yomi,  the Talmud (citing a Baraita) lists the blemishes that would render a bird sacrificed in this way as unusable. Since it is no-longer able to be sacrificed, its carcass now transmits ritual impurity.   Among these blemishes are a bird that was a tumtum (טומטום) or one that was  andogyneous (אנדרוגינוס).  There are a couple of different conditions associated with these words so let's first try and sort them out. 

So what is a tumtum?

A tumtum is a a creature (bird, human, whatever) born with ambiguous genitalia. Here is one place  from several found in the Talmud in Bava Basrah (126b) where this meaning is made explicit. It is discussing the question of a tumtum in humans, but the lesson is applicable to other species too.

בבא בתרא קכו, ב 

אמר ר' אמי טומטום שנקרע ונמצא זכר אינו נוטל פי שנים דאמר קרא  והיה הבן הבכור לשניאה עד שיהא בן משעת הויה

Rabbi Ami says: In the case of one whose sexual organs are indeterminate [tumtum]  and  whose skin became perforated so that his genitals were exposed and he was found to be a male, he does not take a double portion of his father’s estate.

A skin covering made it impossible to see the genitals of a person. Once the covering was removed, it became clear that it was a male. This is also the explanation offered by the Rashbam (Samuel ben Meir c.1085 – c. 1158):

בכור הנולד טומטום שאין ניכר בו לא זכרות ולא נקבות ולאחר זמן נקרע ונמצא זכר שהיה גיד שלו וביציו טמונין בגוף

And what about an Androgyne?

 Today, androgyny generally means "possessing both male and female characteristics."  It comes from the Greek:  ἀνδρ- (andr-, meaning man) and γυνή (gyné, meaning woman).  

A hermaphrodite has both both male and female genitalia, and the word is generally used to denote a subset of androgynes.  So, for example, Earthworms are hemaphrodites because they possess both male and female genitalia, and make both male and female gametes (sperm and eggs).

What sex is your dove? 

Either a male or female bird may be brought as a sacrifice.  There is is no need to check your bird's gender.  Which is just as well since determining the sex of a pigeon is a very difficult thing to do. In a 1955 paper on the subject titled Sexing Mature Columbiformes by Cloacal Characters, the authors note that there was no known "simple and reliable method for sexing living individuals" of the order columbiformes, which contains both pigeons and doves.  But should you find some urgent need to do so, grab a modified nasal speculum and follow these simple steps:

How to sex a pigeon I.jpg
[the] bird is held under a light, head downward and feet toward the operator. [The plate] demonstrates this pictorially, although in order to show the insertion of the instrument, the bird is held more horizontally in the picture than it would be in practice. A few small feathers around the vent are plucked. The observer's left forefinger holds back the rectrices and under-tail coverts while the thumb restrains the feathers ventral and anterior to the vent. The head of the instrument is inserted gently to a depth of about one centimeter and directed to the left (to ten o'clock considering the cloaca as a horizontal clock face). The jaws are expanded and at the same time a slight forward and upward pressure (dorsal and posterior to the bird) is applied. This has the simultaneous effects of spreading the lips of the vent, pushing forward (dorsad) the left and slightly posterior wall of the cloaca, and erecting the papilla if the bird is a male. To view the opposite side (not necessary for the sexing process), the instrument is turned in the opposite direction and handled in the same manner.
 
Sexing pigeons up close.jpg
 

Yes. That's all there is to it. Which raises the following question: what exactly is a tumtum bird  - that is, a bird with ambiguous genitalia? How on earth would a person know his bird had ambiguous genitalia, when it is practically impossible to distinguish a male from a female bird?  It also raises the following only slightly more uncomfortable question: how is it possible for a human to sodomize a pigeon or a dove? Owing to the challenges of anatomy, the ruling of the ּBaraita that a sodomized bird cannot be brought as a sacrifice must have been theoretical in the extreme. Even so, Maimonides took the time to include it in his list of disqualified birds:

רמב’ם הל׳ פסולי המקדשין ז,  ג

אֲבָל הַנִּרְבָּע וְהַמֻּקְצֶה וְהַנֶּעֱבָד וְהָאֶתְנָן וְהַמְּחִיר וְהַטֻּמְטוּם וְהָאַנְדְּרוֹגִינוּס שֶׁנִּמְלְקוּ. הֲרֵי אֵלּוּ נְבֵלָה לְכָל דָּבָר וּמְטַמְּאִין בְּגָדִים בְּבֵית הַבְּלִיעָה. שֶׁאֵין הַקְּדֻשָּׁה חָלָה עֲלֵיהֶן וַהֲרֵי אֵין פְּסוּלָן בְּקֹדֶשׁ:

But never say "Never"

From Peer and Motz, here. 

From Peer and Motz, here

Just when you think this whole hermaphrodite bird thing is a figment of the talmudic imagination, nature reminds you that there is no end to her cunning. Writing in 2014 in The Wilson Journal of Ornithologytwo biologists described a Northern Cardinal (the bird, not the Church official) that was a bilateral gynandomorph. (Bilateral gynandromorphy is a condition in which one half of a bird’s body appears as a female and the opposite half appears as a male.) "The bird" they reported, "exhibited the typical bright red color of a male cardinal on the left half of its body, and the dull brownish-gray appearance of a female cardinal on the right half." The plumage of our sacrificial birds does not differ between males and females, but even so, this paper reminds us that the notion of androgynous birds might not only be of theoretical importance after all.

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