The bio-medicalisation of intersex variations in Italy and the international context (original) (raw)

Intersex is an umbrella term used to refer to a wide range of natural sex variations. People with intersex traits are born with sex characteristics (such as chromosome patterns, hormones and gonadal structure, and/or sexual anatomy) which do not fit the typical binary notions of female and male bodies. Many intersex variations are not visible at birth. For those visible, the usual practice in Western countries, since the second half of the last century, has been early cosmetic surgical intervention and pharmacological treatments starting in childhood. Intersex adults have testified about the painful and irreversible consequences of those unnecessary and non consensual surgeries and treatments since the 90s. The negotiations between intersex organizations and activists (supported by some scholars who are not intersex themselves and a very few medical professionals) and the medical class, have provoked some changes in the medical guidelines, but those unnecessary aesthetic treatments are still practiced. In this paper I will investigate the bio-medicalisation in the Italian context, where the intersex variations are still considered as a psycho-social emergency, and, consequently, surgeries continue to be practiced routinely. I’ll base my investigation on the analysis of the few medical protocols and guide-lines available, on medical conferences, and on my in-depth interviews with Italian clinicians. I will also consider the international developments in the human rights space, where, instead, some organizations (such as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 2013, the Fundamental Rights Agency, 2015, and the United Nation, 2015) in the recent years have considered those procedures as human rights violations and even torture.