Chapter 7 Intersex Ageing and (Sexual) Rights (original) (raw)
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This text is based on, and has evolved from a communication given by Janik Bastien Charlebois on the panel «Sanctioned sexualities» at the ILGA International World Congress that took place in Mexico between October the 27th and 31th, 2014. Entitled «The Medical Treatment of intersex bodies and voices», it introduces the readers to the medical treatment intersex people are subjected to, encompassing not only bodily management of minors and information related to them, but also reaction to adults speaking up and being critical of their protocols. Since many people are unfamiliar with what intersex means and what issues we face, this text slowly spirals up in depth and details. It stands halfway between academic text and essay so as to be in line with conversations that are taking place on political levels. It sheds light on power dynamics between the medical institution and intersex people, thus helping LGBTQ activists better frame solidarity work. Intersex has frequently been instrumentalized if not colonized by various activists and academics, which has contributed to isolation and oppression of intersex people. Better understanding the structural and institutional mechanisms actively producing oppression and human rights violations of intersex people constitutes a stepping stone on which successful strategies for change can be built. It can also help potential allies grasp, respect, and honor many intersex activists’ great reluctance in adopting negotiation strategies with the medical establishment, preferring instead to adopt the human rights and legislative routes. This text also is the product of a dedicated effort to make intersex scholars and activist’s voices more visible, many sources quoted throughout being their works and reflections. Moreover, it opens a breach in English-speaking domination of academia and international activism, which increasingly ignores sources produced in other languages. It thus includes Spanish, French and German sources, although English remains over-represented and much that has been produced in other languages remain to be valued. Intersex activism is international, and knowledge sharing between linguistic spheres and nations can only deepen our reflections and hone our critical and political tools. http://ilga.org/an-introduction-to-sanctioned-sexualities-the-medical-treatment-of-intersex-bodies-and-voices/
Intersex: A Challenge for Human Rights and Citizenship Rights
2008
Intersex-A Challenge for Human Rights and Citizenship Rights Author: Annette Brömdal The purpose with this dissertation is to study the Intersex phenomenon in South Africa, meaning the interplay between the dual sex and gender norms in society. Hence, the treatment by some medical institutions and the view of some non-medical institutions upon this 'treatment', have been studied in relation to the Intersex infant's human rights and citizenship rights. The thesis has moreover also investigated how young Intersex children are included/excluded and mentioned/not mentioned within South Africa's legal system and within UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child. Furthermore, because Intersex children are viewed as 'different' on two accounts-their status as infants and born with an atypical congenital physical sexual differentiation, the thesis' theoretical framework looks at the phenomenon from three perspectives-'the politics of difference', human rights, and citizenship rights directed towards infants. The theoretical frameworks have been used to ask questions in relation to the empirical data, i.e. look at how the Intersex infants are 'treated' in relation to their status as 'different'; and also in relation to the concept of being recognized, respected and allowed to partake in deciding whether to impose surgery or not. Moreover, what 'treatment' serves the best interest of the Intersex child? This has been done through semi structured interviews. In conclusion, some of the dissertation's most important features are that since the South African society, like many other societies, strongly live by the belief that there are only two sexes and genders, this implies that Intersex infants do not fit in and become walking pathologies who must be 'fixed' to become 'normal'. Moreover, since most genital corrective surgeries are imposed without being medically or surgically necessary, and are generally imposed before the age of consent (18), the children concerned, are generally not asked for their opinion regarding the surgery. Lastly because early corrective surgery can have devastating life lasting consequences, this ultimately means that the child's human rights and citizenship rights are of a concern. These conclusions do however not ignore the consequences one has to endure for the price of being 'different'.
"As we age": An evidence-based guide to intersex inclusive aged care services
2015
This resource was developed as part of a research project partnership by Val’s Café at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University and Organisation Intersex International (OII) Australia. The aim of the project was to document intersex people’s experiences of ageing and their needs, and to develop a resource that privileged the voices of intersex people. This guide is based on interviews conducted in 2014 with intersex people over 55 and is aimed at service providers (in ageing, health, and other human and social services). This resource contains some information on intersex, as well as: 1. Key issues in intersex ageing 2. A guide to intersex inclusive aged care services 3. Further information and resources 4. Stories and discussion questions.
Legislating intersex equality: building the resilience of intersex people through law
Legal Studies, 2018
This paper presents the findings from the first qualitative study to consider the relationship between intersex experience and law, representing a significant contribution to a currently under-researched area of law. Since 2013 there has been a global move towards the legal recognition of intersex, with Australia, Germany and Malta all using different techniques to construct and regulate intersex embodiment. This paper is the first to compare and problematise these differing legal approaches in the legal literature. In doing so it demonstrates that many of these approaches are grounded in ideas of formal equality that lead to the entrenchment of vulnerability and fail to build resilience for the intersex community. Through engagement with the intersex community a more contextual account of substantive equality is enabled, encouraging new approaches to law and social justice. Our qualitative study revealed that prevention of non-therapeutic medical interventions on the bodies of chil...
"'Intersex' is the condition whereby an individual is born with biological features that are simultaneously perceived as male and female. Ranging from the ambiguous genitalia of the true 'hermaphrodite' to the 'mildly or internally intersexed', the condition may be as common as cleft palate. Like cleft palate, it is hidden and surgically altered, but for very different reasons. This important book draws heavily on the personal testimony of intersexed individuals, their loved ones, and medical carers. The impact of early sex-assignment surgery on an individual's later life is examined within the context of ethical and clinical questions. Harper challenges the conventional and radical 'treatment' of intersexuality through non-consensual infant sex-assignment surgery. In doing so she exposes powerful myths, taboos, and constructions of gender - the perfect phallus, a bi-polar model of gender and the infallibility of medical decisions. Handling sensitive material with care, this book deepens our understanding of a condition that has itself only been medically understood in recent years."
Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience
2008
This is the back copy from Duke: What happens when a baby is born with “ambiguous” genitalia or a combination of “male” and “female” body parts? Clinicians and parents in these situations are confronted with complicated questions such as whether a girl can have XY chromosomes, or whether some penises are “too small” for a male sex assignment. Since the 1950s, standard treatment has involved determining a sex for these infants and performing surgery to normalize the infant’s genitalia. Over the past decade intersex advocates have mounted unprecedented challenges to treatment, offering alternative perspectives about the meaning and appropriate medical response to intersexuality and driving the field of those who treat intersex conditions into a deep crisis. Katrina Karkazis offers a nuanced, compassionate picture of these charged issues in Fixing Sex, the first book to examine contemporary controversies over the medical management of intersexuality in the United States from the multiple perspectives of those most intimately involved. Drawing extensively on interviews with adults with intersex conditions, parents, and physicians, Karkazis moves beyond the heated rhetoric to reveal the complex reality of how intersexuality is understood, treated, and experienced today. As she unravels the historical, technological, social, and political forces that have culminated in debates surrounding intersexuality, Karkazis exposes the contentious disagreements among theorists, physicians, intersex adults, activists, and parents—and all that those debates imply about gender and the changing landscape of intersex management. She argues that by viewing intersexuality exclusively through a narrow medical lens we avoid much more difficult questions. Do gender atypical bodies require treatment? Should physicians intervene to control the “sex” of the body? As this illuminating book reveals, debates over treatment for intersexuality force reassessment of the seemingly natural connections between gender, biology, and the body.
INTERSEX: Prioritising Potential Autonomy
A flux of increasing liberalism permits significant developments in personal expression, and broadens the boundaries of acceptability and compatibility. This liberal view, and a further 'cultural enlightenment', have allowed previously repressed minorities to become more accepted and enjoy greater personal freedom. Moreover, our understanding of the intrinsic rights afforded to minorities and subgroups has morphed so considerably that we are now often unsure as to how previous conduct was ever mediated in the way that it was. However, growth is a continuous and temporal event and philosophy asks ‘what can be better'. With this notion in mind, and by paying some attention to the concept of autonomy, this paper attempts to investigate the medical management of disorders of sex development (DSD) in childhood; and attempts to formulate a framework which may be helpful to anyone who may, or will become significantly involved with a DSD individual.
Progress and Politics in the Intersex Rights Movement
GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, 2009
Since 1990, when Suzanne Kessler published her foundational feminist critique of the modern-day medical treatment of children with intersex, much has changed in intersex politics, practice, and theory. This essay traces some key points of progress and considers in particular the relationship of academic feminism and intersex advocacy; proof of and reasons for success in intersex medical advocacy; and intersex identity politics, especially with regard to the nature-nurture debate and terminology (intersex versus hermaphroditism versus disorders of sex development). The authors are university-based academic feminists who have worked intensively as volunteers and as paid directors at the Intersex Society of North America, the longest-running and best-known intersex advocacy and policy organization. In this work, they draw on the published literature as well as their own activist and academic experiences. They argue that, in the last fifteen years, much progress has been made in terms o...