10 Things You Didn't Know About Hermaphrodites

Like National Geographic Explorer says, "the gender of a newborn child is not always clearly male or female." Hermaphrodites, or more properly intersex people, aren't as rare as you'd think. Here are some facts to put in your Know Basket!

• 1. Jabba the Hutt was a hermaphrodite

  

  Actually, all the Hutts are hermaphrodites.

• 2. Cartman's mom is a hermaphrodite

• 3. You could have both male and female genitalia and not know it

  Sometimes, it takes an MRI.

• 4. The rumor about Jamie Lee Curtis being a hermaphrodite is (probably) not true

  

  But people love to speculate! Just ask Lady Gaga (who, btw, is definitely a woman).

• 5. About 1 in 1500 people are born intersex

  But about 1 percent of live births -- 1 out of every hundred -- exhibit some degree of sexual ambiguity.

• 6. Hermaphrodite papayas are the best

  

  Male papayas don't reproduce and female papayas need the males in order to do so, but hemraphrodite papayas can germinate themselves, making them awesome. (via)

• 7. Sexual characteristics do not equal gender

  

  For instance: The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) still hasn't decided what Caster Semenya's gender status is for competition. (via)

• 8. Hermaphrodite comes from the Greek

  

  The boring story is that the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, cleverly named Hermaphroditus, was fused with a female nymph who'd fallen in love with him, and they became one intersex being. (via)

• 9. Did you know that connectors can be hermaphrodites?

  

  Now you do!

• 10. Ambiguous Genitalia would be a great name for a band

  Just sayin'.