Milwaukee Parents Write Of Raising an Intersex Child

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What exactly does intersex mean? What causes a baby to be born intersex? As a parent, would you raise an intersex child any differently? An estimated one in 2,000 births result in an intersex child, a term that describes individuals who are born with any of several variations in female or male sex characteristics. For parents of these offspring, a series of difficult decisions often cloud the miracle of childbirth. In effect, intersex is a socially constructed term that reflects real biological variation, and as such, intersex is still a condition that is largely misunderstood; consequently, many parents of intersex children experience intense pressure to force an infant into a gender identity that may not be a good fit later in life.

Close to home, Milwaukee parents Eric and Stephani Lohman, like many parents of intersex children, were unprepared to receive news that the sex of their baby wasn’t as straightforward as they anticipated. After deciding to raise their daughter Rosie as a girl, the couple still felt pressured to agree to gender normalizing surgery early in Rosie’s life, something they ultimately refused. The Lohman’s have collected their child-raising stories in a touching memoir called Raising Rosie: Our Story of Parenting an Intersex Child. Part guidebook, this narrative provides an intimate and powerful emotional tale of one family’s struggle to understand identity and its natural development, while at the same time navigating a confusing and overwhelming medical minefield of recommended surgeries, procedures and quick decisions.

The couple will share their heartfelt journey at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 27, at Boswell Book Co. in support of their book, Raising Rosie.