hey Sho Nuff i'm working on a response for you don't think i've forgotten.
raeanna -
I really can't give you a complete answer because I don't know your friend's niece's case, but what probably occurred was that her clitoris was larger than "normal", and they performed a clitorodectomy, the whole or partial removal of her clitoris, which was deemed 'abnormal'. Unfortunately the decision to have reconstructive surgery directly after birth is very controversial. This is because the surgery is performed on genitals that will function normally and only 'look' unusual. Most commonly people who have experienced this wish that their parents had not chosen the surgery because often they are left traumatized and without sensation. Their enlarged clitorises would function as clitorises, not as penises because internally they have female sex organs.
I did a little reseach, and apparently 1 in every 2,000 people is born intersexed or has reproductive organs which make their gender indeterminate. (source:
http://scarleteen.com)
These statistics are from the Intersexed Society of America(
http://www.isna.org/frequency.html
Not XX and not XY - one in 1,666 births
Klinefelter (XXY) - one in 1,000 births
Androgen insensitivity syndrome - one in 13,000 births
Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome - one in 130,000 births
Classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia - one in 13,000 births
Late onset adrenal hyperplasia - one in 66 individuals
Vaginal agenesis (i.e. no or incomplete vagina) - one in 6,000 births
Ovotestes - one in 83,000 births
Idiopathic (no discernable medical cause) - one in 110,000 births
Hypospadias (urethral opening in perineum or along penile shaft) - one in 2,000 births
Hypospadias (urethral opening between corona and tip of glans penis) - one in 770 births
Total number of people whose bodies differ from standard male or female - one in 100 births
Total number of people receiving surgery to "normalize" genital appearance - one or two in 1,000 births