Topic > To Dexamethasone or Challenging the Gender Binary

As a pediatrician and urologist who focuses specifically on disorders of sexual development (DSD) – “congenital conditions in which chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex development is atypical” (Arnold / Saguy, Lesson 11)- every now and then, a pregnant woman, whose first child was born with congenital androgen hyperplasia (CAH), comes to my office asking for a point of view medicine on biological, psychological and ethical methods of treating her second child. As recent advances in ambiguous genitalia research have uncovered several treatments that attempt to prevent certain disorders of sexual development in children, the woman comes to inquire about a specific steroid treatment to prevent her second child from developing ambiguous genitalia. As a doctor, you simply cannot allow a pregnant patient to begin treatment, which in this case would be prenatal dexamethasone treatment, without properly educating her about the benefits versus risks. Although dexamethasone treatment can help prevent ambiguous genitalia, there is little chance and several factors that contribute to the treatment therapy being successful, there are ethical questions posed that require thorough analysis to achieve an ideal life with less medical concerns for the parents of children with disorders of sexual development and of children with disorders of sexual development, there are concerns from the sociological point of view, which lead to the final decision to go in a direction other than prenatal treatment with dexamethasone, and there are the complexities of a sexual treatment developmental disorders such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Because the mother came to request specific steroid treatment... in the center of the paper... with ambiguous genitalia (Vilain, Lesson 12).”If in the end, neither prenatal treatment with dexamethasone nor the choice to challenge the binary gender turn out to be a stronger choice than the other to provide a stable life for parents of children with disorders of sexual development and children with disorders of sexual development, then I would, as both a pediatrician and a sociologist, recommend that the mother and The her partner seriously consider adoption to ensure stability in the life and future of a less fortunate child, since the mother cannot bear the thought of having another extraordinary child - which others often consider unconventional, would be a blessing, a 'disorder' of sexual development or not. The most important aspect of this case is that the child is raised to live a fulfilling life, emotionally, despite physical variations.