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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!ihuxj!amra
From: amra@ihuxj.UUCP (Steven L. Aldrich)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.social,net.philosophy
Subject: Questions on hermaphroditism  (Probably offensive to somebody )
Message-ID: <532@ihuxj.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 6-Jun-84 12:54:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihuxj.532
Posted: Wed Jun  6 12:54:11 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 7-Jun-84 07:56:50 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 46


   { Blessed are those who are lead not into temptation, but
      still manage to find it on their own! } [ :-) ]

         Here's a topic I haven't seen on the net and thought
        might be of interest to some of you. Namely, the subject
        of hermaphroditism and its social/moral/religious implications.
        Although hermaphrodites makes up only a small percentage of
        the worlds population, their existance seems to raise some
        interesting dilemas to some of our cultural definitions of
        sexuality in general and sociologic norms of interactions
        between individuals in society.

        A few questions pop into my mind when thinking on this subject.
        If anyone would care to comment/answer please do. I enjoy
        hearing other peoples views. 

         1) If a hermaphrodite were to have intercource with themself
            would this be considered incest? masturbation?? something else???

         2) If two hermaphrodites were to have a sexual relationship,
             would they be considered to be homosexual heterosexual or
             androgynous?

         3) IF,and this is pushing the point to extremes, a Fully 
             Functional hermaphrodite ( one who has both male & female
             reproductive organs which function normaly) were to 
             impregnate themselves, would this be a form of cloning?

         4)  What would the social/moral/religious implications of number 3
              be?  { NO, I don't mean 3B's [ :-)]  }

           If anyone would like to comment on any of the above, send EMAIL
           to IHNP4!IHUXJ!AMRA or POST to this news group. Thanks in
           advance for your time and replies. If there is sufficent
           responce to this, I'll post a follow up. It may take a while,
           but I'll make every effort to reply in a timely manner.

                            Be yourself;
                        Let others imitate!

                             Best Regards,
                            Steve Aldrich
                          (ihnp4!ihuxj!amra)

           P.S.  "Have a purpose in life; be a NON-CONFORMIST!" [ :-) ]