James Barry was not a man, but the evidence shows that it is unlikely that (s)he was a woman either, nor an hermaphrodite, but most likely a third sex person of the AIS (Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome) variety. (S)he would have had her testicles start to descend at puberty – often the first sign of this conditions, and usually mistaken for the development of a hernia in what appears to be a woman.
Doctors, scientists and philosophers have always known that the third sex exists. Where societies are enlightened enough to allow these things to be recorded, the stats show that about 1 in every 1000 people is from the third sex. Aristotle thought this a condition of a lack of balance between the male and female in a person, but then Aristotle blamed everything on a lack of balance. Galen disputed Aristotle’s theory, and wrote that such people were a third sex on their own, not male or female.
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