Intersexuality (khunthā): The Third Gender in Islamic and German Legal Conceptions

Intersexuality becomes more and more important for the world population. People born with both biological sexes – male and female – need more attention in their daily life. Some of them decide to undergo a sexual reassignment surgery, others decide to live in their body with both genders. There are many obstacles preventing them from being fully accepted by the society they live in. On the one hand the social difficulties are crucial, on the other hand the medical side of this problem is also very problematic, because the probability of choosing the ‘wrong’ gender is very high. The consequences are often irreversible. Many countries, like Germany, have started to regulate intersexuality in their laws. Even in religious debates, like in the Islamic law, intersexuality is widely discussed. In this paper intersexuality is explained from the medical side, the religious Islamic side and lastly from the legal side as far as German law is concerned