Hermaphrodite humans are the people that have reproductive organs from both genders. The term hermaphrodite also applies to any kind of organism from biology which has the same distribution of female and male reproductive organs.

There are two kinds of hermaphrodite humans. One of them is considered pseudo hermaphroditism and in its case, the person in question has both kinds of chromosomes, with ovarian and testicular tissue present at the same time, and with genitalia that looks ambiguous. The reasons why it appears are not fully understood. The other kind is considered true hermaphroditism. Both situations will be analyzed in this article.

True Hermaphrodite Humans

The true hermaphrodite humans are the ones that have both testicular and ovarian tissue present when they’re born. The way these manifests can vary. Sometimes the gonads will contain both kinds of tissues, while in other cases there is a clear external separation.

It is rarely the case when both tissue types will function in the same individual. True hermaphrodite humans can sometimes be fertile (though the known cases are only about a dozen in the whole world), but there is no known situation where it will work with both tissue types, so despite what some people think, hermaphrodites are not capable of self-impregnation

Pseudo hermaphrodites

The pseudo hermaphrodite humans are the ones that have regular organs for reproduction, but their external manifestation is atypical. The same term is used for humans that have both external reproductive organs present.

Many of these people that have this intersex problem will pick one of the sexes and will live as a male or female. Some use hormone replacement therapies and genital surgery to make it as close as possible to the gender they prefer to be. There are quite a few cases of people that look completely male or female and which can’t be distinguished easily. In many other cases this condition is apparent as soon as the birth occurs.

Possible causes for the appearance of hermaphrodite humans

This is no common condition. Actually it’s quite rare, and the reasons why it appear can vary, including the ones mentioned below:

• One possible cause is an ovum’s division, the results being then fertilized, after which they fuse with two zygotes.
• Another possibility is the fertilization of the ovum by two different sperm, after which a trisomic rescue is involved, in the daughter cells.
• When there are two ovas that are fertilized, there is sometimes a fusion involved which forms the tetragametic chimera. When there is a female and a male zygote fusion, the result can be a hermaphrodite human.
• Finally, one other possibility is a SRY gene mutation.