Women's Studies 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Pseudohermaphroditism, Lifesaving, Human Sexuality
4 Oct 2018
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“Because this is something no-one ever talks about,” director Grant Lahood explains. “Every new parent
of an intersex child is faced with a situation which they believe is a rare medical emergency. As one of our
interviewees says: ‘intersex isn’t uncommon, it’s just unheard of’…I hope this documentary will show
everyone that the ‘shame and secrecy’ model hasn’t worked – and that intersex children can grow up to
make informed choices about their own bodies”
“Platonic dimorphic mold” vs Intersex
“the two-sex system embedded in our society is not adequate to encompass the full spectrum of
human sexuality” (Fausto- Sterling 14)
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“those born outside of the Platonic dimorphic mold are called intersexual” (the more appropriate
term than the previously used ‘hermaphrodite’) (14)
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Covers “genital ambiguity”, a mixture of both “male” and “female” anatomy, or genitals that
appear to differ from an individual’s chromosomal sex
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Intersex
Intersexuality is normal and common variation (15)
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“Because sex phenotype…and gender presentation…are highly variable…the various forms of
intersexuality should be defined as normal”
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“Treatment” of Genital Ambiguity
“Surgery and shame”: “near-universal practice of performing immediate, ‘corrective’ surgery” (13)
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Some intersex conditions require surgery as a life-saving intervention (eg urinary tract blockage),
but most is cosmetic
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Physicians have a lot of power to define children as intersex and to intervene medically (15)
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Often, response is about appearances or managing parental or cultural anxieties about the necessity
of matching sex/gender
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The John Money approach: belief that “gender identity is completely malleable for about 18
months after birth” (15)
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With this assumption, gender assignment can be determined by what makes the best surgical sense
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But, there are limits to socialization! Many (most?) of us do not “fit” strictly within a gender role
binary
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Some “success” for a short time, mostly rejection as children age – but, no comprehensive patient
follow-up has been done following early (infant) surgery
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Re-Thinking Genital Surgeries on Intersex Infants
Elders et al responding to assumption that early surgery is less distressing than growing up with
atypical genitalia
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But: no evidence of this
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Evidence that surgery causes emotional and physical distress
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Surgeries violate individual’s autonomy
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What do Elders et al recommend instead?
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INSA: Intersex Society of North America
Devoted to systemic change to end shame, stigma and unwanted genital surgeries for people born
with an anatomy that someone decided is not standard for male or female
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Intersexuality is primarily a problem of stigma and trauma, not gender.
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Parents’ distress must not be treated by surgery on the child.
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Professional mental health care is essential.
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Honest, complete disclosure is good medicine.
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All children should be assigned as boy or girl, without early surgery.
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“All children should be assigned as boy or girl, without early surgery”
“We’re often asked why ISNA doesn’t forcefully advocate for a genderless society…At ISNA,
we’ve learned that many intersex people are perfectly comfortable adopting either a male or female
gender identity…intersex people don’t tell us that the very concept of gender is oppressive to them.
Instead, it’s the childhood surgeries performed on them and the accompanying lies and shame that
are problematic”
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This does not preclude INSA’s acknowledgement that some people with intersex conditions (and
some without) do identify as a third gender or as gender queer
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Critiques of “The Five Sexes”
Fausto-Sterling suggested a five-sex system to replace our two-sex binary: female, male, plus
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Herms (“true hermaphrodites”, with both testes and ovaries)
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Merms (male “pseudohermaphrodites”, with both testes and some aspect of female genitalia)
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Ferms (female (pseudohermaphrodites”, with ovaries and some aspect of male genitalia)
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Fausto-Sterling intended to be provocative AND tongue-in-cheek, but we (and she) can still
question these terms!
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The Five Sexes, Revisited
Issues with the five sexes (17)
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Maintains focus on genitalia (ie, vs “cultural genitals”!)
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Supports a conception of sex as a binary (ie the additional three sexes appear “between” male and
female, which act as “anchors”)
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W11L$Intersex
Friday,)December) 15,)2017
12:07)AM
Document Summary
Because this is something no-one ever talks about, director grant lahood explains. Every new parent of an intersex child is faced with a situation which they believe is a rare medical emergency. The two-sex system embedded in our society is not adequate to encompass the full spectrum of human sexuality (fausto- sterling 14) Those born outside of the platonic dimorphic mold are called intersexual (the more appropriate term than the previously used hermaphrodite") (14) Covers genital ambiguity , a mixture of both male and female anatomy, or genitals that appear to differ from an individual"s chromosomal sex. Because sex phenotype and gender presentation are highly variable the various forms of intersexuality should be defined as normal . Surgery and shame : near-universal practice of performing immediate, corrective" surgery (13) Some intersex conditions require surgery as a life-saving intervention (eg urinary tract blockage), but most is cosmetic.
