During the last decade, the study of behavioural endocrinology has gone through a very exciting phase. New technologies have appeared which have allowed us to answer new questions; the present book is a reflection of this progress. In the eariy1970's, the advent of steroid radioimmunoassays (RIA) for the first time permitted measurement of gonadal and adrenal steroids in small aliquots of plasma. It thus became possible to measure these hormones repeatedly in the same animals (Le., to undertake longitudinal studies) and also to assay them in small-sized animals such as the rat or the ring dove which had traditionally been favourite subjects for behavioural endocrinologists. With the RIA's, two major goals have been achieved. On one hand, it has been possible to ascertain that those hormones, whose action on behaviour had been postulated on the basis of gonadectomy and hor- mone therapy experiments, were actually present in adequate amounts in the intact animals at the time they were supposed to exert their ac- tion. On another hand, it has become feasible to measure the circulat- ing levels of steroids induced by treatments with exogenous hormones. This revealed that in a number of the early experiments the hormonal conditions which had been tested were completely outside the physi- ological range (plasma levels of steroids being several order of magni- tude above physiological levels after the injections) and a reinterpre- tation of the results was thus needed.

"With sensitivity and solid critical analysis, Intersex and Identity brings to the fore the long-ignored voices of people with intersex conditions. This is an important and accessible book for all, including 'patients, ' parents, clinicians, activists, scholars, and novice students."-Cheryl Chase, Founder of the Intersex Society of North America "In Intersex and Identity Preves has produced the most up-to-date, comprehensive account available of what it is like to grow up and live with a body that isn't simply male or female. This work is compassionate, intelligent, and beautifully written, and promises to be well read and highly valued."-Alice Dreger, author of Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex "Sharon Preves's analysis of her interviews with adult intersexuals illuminates the power of the coming out process in transforming stigma into pride. This book is an invaluable resource in the ongoing discourse on the clinical management of intersexuality."-Walter Bockting, assistant professor, Program in Human Sexuality, University of Minnesota Medical School Approximately one in every two thousand infants born in the United States each year is sexually ambiguous in such a way that doctors cannot immediately determine the child's sex. Some children's chromosomal sexuality contradicts their sexual characteristics. Others have the physical traits of both sexes, or of neither. Drawing upon life history interviews with adults who were treated for intersexuality as children, Sharon E. Preves explores how such individuals experience and cope with being labeled sexual deviants in a society that demands sexual conformity. By demonstrating how intersexed people manage and create their own identities, often in conflict with their medical diagnosis, Preves argues that medical intervention into intersexuality often creates, rather than mitigates, the stigma these people suffer. Sharon E. Preves is an associate professor of sociology at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota.