First Review: My Shocking Story
It was with some trepidation I approached the UK documentary series, My Shocking Story.
It’s featured medical episodes called Half Man Half Tree and The Man With No Face. Roll up, roll up for the freakshow!
Thankfully, the episode Which Sex Am I? is not entirely tabloid.
Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) is the state in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the typical definitions of female or male. Three such individuals are profiled here. One is Angel, an eight year old Brazilian child raised as female by parents, but discovered to have Y chromosomes at the age of four. Another is 24 year old Italian, Tiziana, who confronts her mother about what she thought was an operation on her uterus at 15.
The principal subject is 16 month-old infant Jacob from the Philippines. Born with a penis and a uterus, Jacob and his mother travel to the US via the charity Mending Kids International. Consulting American specialists, his mother has the agonizing task of deciding what sex Jacob should be.
Poor little Jacob is the most darling of kids, wide-eyed, and full of zest belying his tiny frame. Despite their best medical tests, doctors can’t be 100% sure whether he has concealed testes until surgery; but little Jacob contracts a lung infection and his health is too fragile for the operation. His is a story that tugs at your heartstrings.
Ethical questions are raised here about the ways societies view ‘the third gender’ and parents conform to norms. Some tell their children about their early upbringing, while others shield them from the truth. Thankfully, there is a fleeting acknowledgment that being born intersex should never be considered shameful.
By the end of this episode it is the spirit of little Jacob that will shine through any anatomical debates. Despite its title, the only real ‘shock’ in this documentary is the fact that television is giving over sixty minutes to talk about intersex in the first place.
My Shocking Story: Which Sex Am I? airs 10:30pm Tuesday on Seven.
- Previous post: Airdate: I’m a Celebrity get me out of here!
- Next post: Auditions: Football Superstar
Comments
Got something to say?