Woodcut of a "hermaphrodite man-woman" from Des Monstres et prodiges by Ambroise Par矇, 1573. Des Monstres is filled with unsubstantiated accounts of sea devils, marine sows, and monstrous animals with human faces. With its extensive discussion of reproduction and illustrations of birth defects, the book invited accusations of pornography. In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes. Historically, the term hermaphrodite has also been used to describe ambiguous genitalia and gonadal mosaicism in individuals of gonochoristic species, especially human beings. The word intersex has come into preferred usage for humans, since the word hermaphrodite is considered to be misleading and stigmatizing.