Bio
Background:
Zora Khyber is intersex - a hermaphrodite, in the terminology of the 1970s. She has a Y chromosome, but also Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, which makes her appear female - indeed, as the feminine ideal. She is 6’2’’ and thin, but shapely, and classically beautiful. She is working on a book titled The Sacred Hermaphrodite, exploring cultures in which hermaphroditism is celebrated, not shunned. Again and again she finds not two genders, but three: and the third is always revered. While she could get by easily in society without anyone knowing she is a hermaphrodite/intersexed, she prefers to tell people. Within the dichotomy of society, she lives life as a woman, but is a lesbian. Her beauty more than once attracted exactly the wrong sort of guy, and because of this she has a very low opinion of men. Although she not only accepts but embraces her hermaphroditism/intersexuality, she is not whole. She worked for a while at a strip club called Sixty-Niners in San Francisco as the exotic “Melanie the Mermaid”, and spent most of it stoned, drunk, or a combination of the two, to escape.
Personality:
Zora is given to analytical thinking, and is very intellectual, despite not having an advanced degree. She embraces eastern philosophies, especially zen buddhism. Towards friends and fellow crusaders she is kind, comforting, and relaxed, but she has a darker side, too. At times she is teeming with violence, raging against men’s views of women, the oppression of women, and the oppression of anything outside the norm. She believes that hermaphrodites are the future - more evolved, endowed with special gifts. This belief comes from what she has read from the discourses of other cultures, while researching for her book. The book is, for her, a form of therapy. She didn't find out she wasn't entirely female until she was 20 - 6 years ago. [NOTE: I know the term used now is “intersex”, but for the time period (1970s) hermaphrodite was still the leading term]
Physical Description: Zora is nearly six feet tall, thin but curvy, with curly blonde hair and sea-blue eyes.
Nope.
Zora Khyber is intersex - a hermaphrodite, in the terminology of the 1970s. She has a Y chromosome, but also Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, which makes her appear female - indeed, as the feminine ideal. She is 6’2’’ and thin, but shapely, and classically beautiful. She is working on a book titled The Sacred Hermaphrodite, exploring cultures in which hermaphroditism is celebrated, not shunned. Again and again she finds not two genders, but three: and the third is always revered. While she could get by easily in society without anyone knowing she is a hermaphrodite/intersexed, she prefers to tell people. Within the dichotomy of society, she lives life as a woman, but is a lesbian. Her beauty more than once attracted exactly the wrong sort of guy, and because of this she has a very low opinion of men. Although she not only accepts but embraces her hermaphroditism/intersexuality, she is not whole. She worked for a while at a strip club called Sixty-Niners in San Francisco as the exotic “Melanie the Mermaid”, and spent most of it stoned, drunk, or a combination of the two, to escape.
Personality:
Zora is given to analytical thinking, and is very intellectual, despite not having an advanced degree. She embraces eastern philosophies, especially zen buddhism. Towards friends and fellow crusaders she is kind, comforting, and relaxed, but she has a darker side, too. At times she is teeming with violence, raging against men’s views of women, the oppression of women, and the oppression of anything outside the norm. She believes that hermaphrodites are the future - more evolved, endowed with special gifts. This belief comes from what she has read from the discourses of other cultures, while researching for her book. The book is, for her, a form of therapy. She didn't find out she wasn't entirely female until she was 20 - 6 years ago. [NOTE: I know the term used now is “intersex”, but for the time period (1970s) hermaphrodite was still the leading term]
Physical Description: Zora is nearly six feet tall, thin but curvy, with curly blonde hair and sea-blue eyes.
Nope.