Intersex people and military service

In the late 1800s, military medical examinations became a driving force in increased detection and diagnosis of intersex individuals.

[2] In 2007 the US-based Palm Center released a report that found that most of the militaries beliefs about transgender and intersex medical requirements were myths and posed no barrier to effective service.

[3] Acceptance of intersex people in the United States Armed Forces appears to vary depending on the nature of the individual's condition.

Noah Riseman, Shirleene Robinson and Graham Willett acknowledged the lack of perspective and representation from intersex people in their work.

They account for this gap by explaining that the Australian Defence Force never had official policies regarding intersex people and that it was purely considered a medical condition, and the nature of the specific condition would determine if someone was allowed to serve as either a man or a woman, and the fact that the one intersex person they were able to interview provided them with content which they felt was too sensitive to share.

[18][19] Intersex service people of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces are subject to supplemental urological examinations.

One noted case was in 1954 with the soldier Xie Jianshun who was assigned as a male at birth but was later discovered in the military to have many female characteristics.

Xie had a penis, a very slim vaginal opening, and internal gonads which contained both testicular and ovarian tissue.

[29] During the Taishō period (30 July 1912 to 25 December 1926) an intersex man who was initially assigned female at birth underwent sex reassignment surgery to masculinize his genitals and was allowed to be assessed for military service.

These restrictions include those that may be manifestations of intersex traits, such as vaginal atresia, absence of the penis, cryptorchidism, and amenorrhea.