| Some people are born with external sex organs that are not easily distinguishable as female or male. Ambiguous genitalia are sometimes apparent at birth. But sometimes they don't become evident until puberty.
Also, some people have sex chromosomes that are different from the usual xx — female — or xy — male. People whose biological sex is ambiguous in these ways may be called intersex.
Sometimes the ambiguity is never noticed, so some people have intersex conditions for their whole lives and never know.
People with intersex conditions may be considered sexually ambiguous in different ways:
- They may have sex organs that appear to be somewhat female or male or both. They cannot, however, have complete female genitals and complete male genitals.
- They may have a large clitoris — more than two-fifths of an inch.
- They may have a small penis — less than an inch.
About one in 2,000 people born in the U.S. is intersex. Sometimes a female or male gender is assigned through surgery. Up to five infant gender-assignment surgeries occur every day in the U.S. Some people believe surgery should be postponed until intersex people are old enough to decide for themselves whether they would like their genitals to be operated on. Most people agree that babies with intersex conditions should be assigned a gender at birth. Some people believe that assigning a gender means performing surgery on their genitals, while others believe that a baby can be assigned a gender without surgery. | 
