intersex
further resources
readings
Further Reading
The following are some resources that may be of relevance in digging deeper in your knowledge of intersex bodies, culture, and human rights.
Intersex Differences
Sex redefined: The idea of two sexes is simplistic. Biologists now think there is a wider spectrum than that. By Claire Ainsworth, Nature, February 18, 2015. http://www.nature.com/news/sex-redefined-1.16943
Nature and sex redefined – we have never been binary, by Vanessa Heggie, The Guardian, February 19, 2015. https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2015/feb/19/nature-sex-redefined-we-have-never-been-binary
Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the myth of two sexes, by Gerald N. Callahan, Chicago Review Press, 2009. See description at: https://www.amazon.com/Between-XX-XY-Intersexuality-Sexes/dp/1556527853
Challenging Gender Identity: Biologists Say Gender Expands Across A Spectrum, Rather Than Simply Boy And Girl, by Samantha Olson, Medical Daily, March 1, 2015. http://www.medicaldaily.com/challenging-gender-identity-biologists-say-gender-expands-across-spectrum-rather-323956
The Medical Construction of Gender: Case Management of Intersexed Infants, by Suzanne Kessler, Signs, the Journal of Women in Culture and Society, University of Chicago Press, Autumn 1990, from the footnotes.) .pdf available at: http://www.aissg.org/pdfs/kessler-medical-construction-1990.pdf
Embryogenesis of chimeras, twins and anterior midline asymmetries. Boklage, Charles E. 2006. Human Reproduction Vol.21, No.3 pp. 579–591
Chimeras: Double the DNA – Double the Fun for Crime Scene Investigators, Prosecutors, and Defense Attorneys? by Catherine Arcabascio, Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center, 2007. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2734747 , pdf at: http://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=law_facarticles
Genome Mosaicism—One Human, Multiple Genomes, by James R. Lupski, Science, July 26, 2013: Vol. 341 no. 6144 pp. 358-359. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6144/358.full
One Human, Multiple Genomes, by Daniel Bastian, Waiving Entropy, September 30, 2013. http://www.waivingentropy.com/2013/09/30/one-human-multiple-genomes/
DNA Double Take, by Carl Zimmer, New York Times, September 16, 2013. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/science/dna-double-take.html?ref=science
The Truth About Chimeras, by Vivienne Lam, The Science Creative Quarterly, November 20, 2007. http://www.scq.ubc.ca/the-truth-about-chimeras/
Man, 66, goes to doctor and finds he’s a woman, by staff reporter, South China Morning Post, June 4, 2013. http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1252857/man-66-goes-doctor-and-finds-hes-woman
Hysterectomy in a male? A rare case report, by Afak Yusuf Sherwani et al, Elsevier International Journal of Surgery Case Reports, published online October 30, 2014.
Father of Six Admitted to Hospital for Kidney Stone Told He’s Actually a Woman, by Christine Hsu, Medical Daily, May 25, 2012, http://www.medicaldaily.com/father-six-admitted-hospital-kidney-stone-told-hes-actually-woman-240587
44-Year-Old Man With Blood In Urine Discovers He’s A Female With Period Pain: What Is Intersex? By Lizette Borreli, Medical Daily, July 28, 2014. http://www.medicaldaily.com/44-year-old-man-blood-urine-discovers-hes-female-period-pain-what-intersex-295296
Disputed maternity leading to identification of tetragametic chimerism. Yu N, KrushallMS, Yunis JJ et al (2002) N Engl J Med 346:1545–1552
Pregnancy No Proof of Motherhood; Woman Was Her Own Twin-and the Twin Was the Mother of Her Children, Graham Noble, Guardian Liberty Voice, January 26, 2014. http://guardianlv.com/2014/01/pregnancy-no-proof-of-motherhood-woman-was-her-own-twin-and-the-twin-was-the-mother-of-her-children/
She’s Her Own Twin. ABC News, (date of airing not disclosed) Available at: http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/shes-twin/story?id=2315693.
Tetragametic chimerism detected in a healthy woman with mixed-field agglutination reactions in ABO blood grouping, by Drexler C, Glock B, Vadon M, Staudacher E, Dauber EM, Ulrich S, et al. Transfusion 2005;45:703.
Disputed maternity leading to identification of tetragametic chimerism. Yu N, KrushallMS, Yunis JJ et al (2002) N Engl J Med 346:1551.
An unusual observation of tetragametic chimerism: forensic aspects. Verdiani S, Bonsignore A, Casarino L et al (2009) Int J Legal Med (2009) 123:p 434-5.
True hermaphroditism: An analytic review with a report of 3 new cases. van Niekerk WA, Am J Ohstet Gynecol 1976; 126:890-905.
Chimerism 46,XX/46,XY in a phenotypic female. Gencik A, Gencikova A, Hrubisko M, Mergancova O. 1980. Hum Genet 55:407–408.
Origin of 46,XX/46,XY chimerism in a human true hermaphrodite. DeWald G, Haymond MW, Spurbeck JL, et al. Science 1980;207:321–3
46, XX/46, XY chimerism in a phenotypically normal man. Schoenle E, Schmid W, Schinzel A, Mahler M, Ritter M, Schenker T, et al. Hum Genet 1983;64:86–9.
Unilateral true hermaphrodite with 46,XX/46,XY dispermic chimerism. Farag TI, Al-Awadi SA, Tippett P, et al. J Med Genet 1987;24:784–6.
XX/XY chimerism encountered during prenatal diagnosis. Freiberg AS, Blumberg B, Lawce H, et al. Prenat Diagn1988;8:423–6.
True hermaphroditism and normal male external genitalia: a rare presentation. Montero M, Mendez R, Valverde D, Fernandez JL, Gomez M, Ruiz C. Acta Paediatr 1999;88:909–14.
Discrepant results of samples taken from different tissues of single individual. Dauber EM, Dorner G,MitterbauerMet al (2004) International Congress Series 1261. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 48–49
Tetragametic chimerism detected in a healthy woman with mixed-field agglutination reactions in AB0 blood grouping. Drexler C, Glock B, Vadon M et al (2005) Transfusion 45:698–703
Dispermic chimerism identified during blood group determination and HLA typing. Transfusion, v. 46, p.1978, 2006, Mosebach, M., et al.
Tetragametic chimerism identified during routine histocompatibility testing. Rampim, Gisele F., et al. Immunogenetics Division, Federal University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. 2007.
Prenatal diagnosis and normal outcome of a 46,XX/46,XY chimera: A case report. Malan V, Gesny R, Morichon-Delvallez N, Aubry MC, Benachi A, Sanlaville D, Turleau C, Bonnefont JP, Fekete-Nihoul C, Vekemans M. 2007. Hum Reprod 22:1037–1041.
True hermaphroditism in a phenotypic male without ambiguous genitalia: an unusual presentation at puberty. Alonso G, Pasqualini T, Busaniche J, Ruiz E, Chemes H. Horm Res 2007;68(5):261–4 [Epub 2007 May 15].
Which Half is Mommy? Tetragametic Chimerism and Trans-Subjectivity, Norton, Aaron T; Zehner, Ozzie. Women’s Studies Quarterly; Fall, 2008, 36:106-125.
Dispermic chimerism identified during HLA typing for stem cell transplantation. Draper NL, Conley C, Smith C, Benson K. Transfusion 2008;48:1398–402.
Pregnancy in a hermaphrodite with a male-predominant mosaic karyotype. Schoenhaus SA, Lentz SE, Saber P, Munro MG, Kivnick S. 2008. Fertil Steril 90:2016e7-e10.
One person with two DNA profiles: a(nother) case of mosaicism or chimerism. Castella V, del Mar Lesta M, Mangin P (2009) Int J Legal Med In press
A healthy, female chimera with 46,XX/46,XY karyotype. Binkhorst M, de Leeuw N, Otten BJ. 2009. J Pediatr Endocrinol Metab 22:97–102.
An unusual observation of tetragametic chimerism: forensic aspects. Verdiani S, Bonsignore A, Casarino L et al (2009) Int J Legal Med 123:p 431-435.
Pregnancy in true hermaphrodites and all male offspring to date. Schultz BA, Roberts S, Rodgers A, Ataya K. 2009., Obstet Gynecol 113:534–536.
Congenital tetragametic blood chimerism explains a case of questionable paternity. Yu Q, Li Q, Gao S, Su Y, Deng Z., J Forensic Sci 2011;56:1346–8.
High-level 46XX/46XY chimerism without clinical effect in a healthy multiparous female. James PA, Rose K, Francis D, Norris F. 2011. , Am J Med Genet Part A 155:2484–2488.
A dispermic chimera was identified in a healthy man with mixed field agglutination reaction in ABO blood grouping and mosaic 46,XY/46, XX karyotype. Xiaozhen, H et al, Transfusion and Apheresis Science, April 2013, 48(2) p223-228. (25 yr old healthy, morphologically normal male, testing whole blood, buccal swab and hair shafts samples.
Inclusion
Macho Man, Little Princess: How Gender Norms Can Harm Kids Everywhere, by Maanvi Singh, NPR, Sept. 21, 2017. http://www.opb.org/news/article/npr-macho-man-little-princess-how-gender-norms-can-harm-kids-everywhere/
The Future is Not Female – It is Two-Spirit, Trans and Non-Binary, by Deidre Olsen, argotmagazine.com, June 05, 2017 http://www.argotmagazine.com/first-person-and-perspectives/the-future-is-not-female-it-is-two-spirit-trans-and-non-binary
Why I’m Still a Butch Lesbian, by Evan Urquhart , Outward. com, July 25 2014. http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/07/25/a_butch_lesbian_rejects_a_non_binary_identity.html
“End state-assigned gender: The State has no business in the undies of the nation.” http://gender-freeidcoalition.ca/
These schools want to wipe away gender stereotypes from an early age, by Katy Scott, CNN, September 28, 2017 http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/28/health/sweden-gender-neutral-preschool/index.html?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=3141ab01-1407-4de7-934b-bc8c167d6f38
Saying goodbye to binary gender, by Pani Farvid, TEDxAuckland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW5YctpK7pM
Beyond ‘he’ and ‘she’: The rise of non-binary pronouns, by Avinash Chak, BBC News, December 7, 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34901704
Michigan Schools To Let Students Choose Gender, Name And Bathroom, by Peter Hasson, Daily Caller, March 21, 2016. http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/21/michigan-schools-to-let-students-choose-gender-name-and-bathroom/#ixzz44WoPJKaR
Bem Sex Role Inventory, “Developed in 1971 by Dr. Sandra Lipsitz Bem. It characterizes one’s personality as masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated. The BSRI is based on gender stereotypes, so what it’s actually measuring is alignment to traditional sex roles.” http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/bsri.html
What Does It Mean To Be Intersex? Free & Equal United Nations Campaign For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Equality, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commission. https://unfe.org/en/actions/intersex Factsheet: https://unfe.org/system/unfe-65-Intersex_Factsheet_ENGLISH.pdf.
XXXY, Stanford University, Department of Art & Art History, 2000. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dZ1cUk6-vk
Secret Intersex: Born Genderless (Medical Documentary) – Real Stories, produced by Wag TV, UK. Watch Part 1 here: https://youtu.be/QVHq8wb19jo
Watch Part 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reilipcN4_Y Content licensed from Digital Rights Group (DRG).. Any queries, please contact us at: realstories@littledotstudios.com
Intersex People and the Physics of Judgement, Tedx Talks, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKEGaSJi3bk An 11-minute TED talk exploring what it means to be intersex and how intersex people are treated around the world (esp. USA).
This Girl Has Balls, by Georgiann Davis, TEDx Talks, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtjVqsIME2A
Why Being Intersex is More Than a Diagnosis, by Catherine Graffam, Everyday Feminism, September 23, 2016. https://everydayfeminism.com/2016/09/intersex%E2%80%8A-%E2%80%8Amore-than-a-diagnosis/ Originally published here: .https://medium.com/@catherinegraffam/being-intersex-more-than-a-diagnosis-ef99cea8272a
Why Intersex Patients Need the Truth and Doctors Need to Listen, by Katharine B. Dalke, The Nation, September 12, 2017. https://www.thenation.com/article/why-intersex-patients-need-the-truth-and-doctors-need-to-listen/
Intersexion: A documentary about being intersex, a film by Grant Lahood, New Zealand, 2012. http://www.intersexionfilm.com/
An untitled film about intersex issues, interACT and Human Rights Watch, Facebook version:
https://www.facebook.com/interactadvocates/videos/vb.266159729604/10155588568404605/?type=2&theater
Performing Surgeries to ‘Correct’ Intersex Children Is Inhumane and Wrong, by Diana Tourjée, Broadly.Vice.com, July 27, 2017. https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/bjxqbv/performing-surgeries-to-correct-intersex-children-is-inhumane-and-wrong
Why Intersex Genital Mutilation Needs to Stop, by Vera Papisova and Evaan Kheraj, Teen Vogue, JUN 29, 2017. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/intersex-genital-mutilation
Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience. Karkazis, Katrina Alicia. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.
Ethics and Intersex, edited by Sytsma, S.E., The Netherlands: Dordrecht, 2006.
Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality. Fausto-Sterling, A. , 2000. New York: Basic Books.
Ambiguous Bodies and Deviant Sexualities: hermaphrodites, homosexuality, and surgery in the United States, 1850-1904, Christina Matta, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Johns Hopkins University Press, Volume 48, Number 1, Winter 2005, pp. 74-83, https://doi.org/10.1353/pbm.2005.0012
Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex. Alice Domurat Dreger. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.
“Impossible Hermaphrodites: Intersex in America, 1620 – 1960,” Elizabeth Reis, Journal of American History 92 (2005), pp. 411 – 41.
Pathologizing Intersex
Why Intersex Patients Need the Truth and Doctors Need to Listen, by Katharine B. Dalke, The Nation, September 12, 2017. https://www.thenation.com/article/why-intersex-patients-need-the-truth-and-doctors-need-to-listen/ (Katherine Dalke is an intersex psychiatrist.)
Why Being Intersex is More Than a Diagnosis, by Catherine Graffam, Everyday Feminism, September 23, 2016. https://everydayfeminism.com/2016/09/intersex%E2%80%8A-%E2%80%8Amore-than-a-diagnosis/ Originally published here: .https://medium.com/@catherinegraffam/being-intersex-more-than-a-diagnosis-ef99cea8272a
Woman discovered she is intersex aged in her 40s, Inside Out,BBC News, February 17, 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-humber-51494730
Why X and Y?, by Gray Babbs, Public Health Post, October 7, 2020. https://www.publichealthpost.org/viewpoints/why-x-and-y/
I was an intersex child who had surgery. Don’t put other kids through this, by Kimberly Mascott Zieselman, USA Today, Aug. 9, 2017. https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/09/intersex-children-no-surgery-without-consent-zieselman-column/539853001/
A short film: XXXY, Stanford University, Department of Art & Art History, 2000. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dZ1cUk6-vk
What It’s Like To Be Intersex, published by Boldly, Mar 28, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUDKEI4QKI
A national study on the physical and mental health of intersex adults in the U.S., by Amy Rosenwohl-Mack , et al, October 9, 2020, PLoS ONE, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240088
Film: The Truth of My Sex Documentary, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), June 6, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWn66TYocOI&t=3s&fbclid=IwAR3hdDvXvsy3MfA4O4nCOI7bPOWUg-FBLrWATtfaSb1Bg2r2iOpjRkBg0Fg
Why Intersex Genital Mutilation Needs to Stop, by Vera Papisova and Evaan Kheraj, Teen Vogue, JUN 29, 2017. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/intersex-genital-mutilation
Impossible Hermaphrodites: Intersex in America, 1620 – 1960, by Elizabeth Reis, Journal of American History 92 ,2005.
Ambiguous Bodies and Deviant Sexualities: Hermaphrodites, Homosexuality, and Surgery in the United States, 1850 – 1904, by Christine Matta, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 48,2005.
Bodies in doubt: an American history of intersex, by Elizabeth Reis, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009
Ambiguous Genitalia in the Newborn: Causes and Psychosocial Issues, by Mary Harsanyi Miller, Sarah Lawrence College, Human Genetics Program thesis, May, 1998. (Ed note: This paper presents a horrific account of current medical reasoning and assumptions behind intersex genital mutilation.)
Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex. Alice Domurat Dreger, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality. Fausto-Sterling, A. , 2000. New York: Basic Books.
Christine Matta, “Ambiguous Bodies and Deviant Sexualities: Hermaphrodites, Homosexuality, and Surgery in the United States, 1850 – 1904,” Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 48 (2005): 74 – 83;
Elizabeth Reis, “Impossible Hermaphrodites: Intersex in America, 1620 – 1960,” Journal of American History 92 (2005): 411 – 41;
Kessler, “Medical Construction of Gender.”: footnote 1: For historical reviews of the intersexed person in ancient; Vern Bullough, “Sexual Variance in society and history (New York: Wiley, 1976); for the Middle Ages and Renaissance, see Michel Foucault, “Herculine Barbin (new York: Pantheon, 1978); early 20th century..Havelock Ellis, “Studies in the Psychology of Sex (New York, Random House, 1942).
2, Suzanne J. Kessler and Wendy McKenna, “Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach (1978: reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985)
Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience. Karkazis, Katrina Alicia. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.
Ethics and Intersex, edited by Sytsma, S.E., The Netherlands: Dordrecht, 2006.
Ambiguous Sex”—or Ambivalent Medicine?: Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Intersexuality. Dreger, Alice Domurat. Hastings Center Report. 28:3:24–35, May-June 1998.
“Findings of the 39 individuals enrolled, 28 had been sexually active and all had sexual difficulties. The 18 women who had undergone clitoral surgery had higher rates of non-sensuality (78%) and of inability to achieve orgasm (39%) than did the ten who had not had surgery (20% [p=0·002] and 0% [p=0·03], respectively.”
From: The effect of clitoral surgery on sexual outcome in individuals who have intersex conditions with ambiguous genitalia: a cross-sectional study, by Catherine L Minto, et al, Lancet 2003; 361: 1252–57.
from : The Medical Construction of Gender: Case Management of Intersexed Infant, Suzanne J. Kessler, The University of Chicago Press, Vol. 16, No. 1, (Autumn, 1990), from the footnotes. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3174605
Conservative Evangelicals Embrace Intersex Genital Mutilation, by Cary Gabriel Costello, Intersex Roadshow, September 2, 2017. http://intersexroadshow.blogspot.ca/2017/09/conservative-evangelicals-embrace.html
Divergence or Disorder?: The Politics of Naming Intersex. by Elizabeth Reis, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, Volume 50, Number 4, Autumn, 2007, pp. 535-543 (Article), John Hopkins University Press.
Imperatives of Normality: From ‘Intersex’ to ‘Disorders of Sex Development,’ by Catherine Clune-Taylor, GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 15.2 (2009): 225-47.
What‘s in a Name?: The Controversy over ‘Disorders of Sex Development.’ Feder, E. K. and Karkazis, K. The Hastings Center Report 38.5 (2008): 33-36.
Re:Variations of sex development instead of disorders of sex development. Cameron, D. 2006. http://adc.bmj.com/cgi/eletters/91/7/554#2479
“DSD is a Perfectly Fine Term”: Reasserting Medical Authority through a Shift in Intersex Terminology, by Georgiann Davis, in Sociology of Diagnosis (Advances in Medical Sociology, Volume 12, 2011), Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Online at: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/S1057-6290%282011%290000012012
Online intersex communities; virtual neighborhoods of support and activism. by Brian Still, Cambria Press, 2008.
Position Statement: Respecting Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, The Registered Nurses’Association of Ontario, 2007. http://rnao.ca/policy/position-statements/sexual-orientation-gender-identity
What Does It Mean To Be Intersex? Free & Equal United Nations Campaign For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Equality, United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commission. https://unfe.org/en/actions/intersex Factsheet: https://unfe.org/system/unfe-65-Intersex_Factsheet_ENGLISH.pdf.
For Medical Professionals
9 Doctors Changing the Face of Healthcare for Intersex People, by Hans Lindahl, https://interactadvocates.org/, Oct. 25, 2020, https://interactadvocates.org/doctors-changing-intersex-healthcare/
Affirming Primary Care for Intersex People 2020, National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center, August 6, 2020, https://www.lgbtqiahealtheducation.org/publication/affirming-primary-care-for-intersex-people-2020/?fbclid=IwAR1bxOgqOQRljwVGNDC2_ugexROUty39BbsycdjrmOBzOLbD7wCjus-wOzw
Position Statement: Respecting Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, June 6, 2007. Available at: http://rnao.ca/policy/position-statements/sexual-orientation-gender-identity
The Phalloclitoris: Anatomy and Ideology. Costello, Gabriel, January 31, 2011. http://intersexroadshow.blogspot.ca/2011/01/phalloclitoris-anatomy-and-ideology.html
Intersex Genitalia Illlustrated and Explained, by Cary Gabriel Costello, Intersex Roadshow Blog, April, 2011. http://intersexroadshow.blogspot.ca/2011/04/intersex-genitalia-illustrated-and.html
Hypospadias: Intersexuality and Gender Politics, by Cary Gabriel Costello, Intersex Roadshow Blog, February, 2013. http://intersexroadshow.blogspot.ca/2013/02/hypospadias-intersexuality-and-gender.html
Tip box from the page: “Sex,” on the website Gendered Innovations, genderedinnovations.stanford.edufrom: https://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/terms/sex.html
Teaching Intersex Issues – Intersex Society of North America, http://www.isna.org/files/teaching_packet.pdf
What hospitalists should know about intersex adults, by Elizabeth Reis and Matthew W. McCarthy, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, volume 59, number 3 (summer 2016).
Poster for self-education: https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/
Medical Inclusion
A national study on the physical and mental health of intersex adults in the U.S., Rosenwohl-Mack A, Tamar-Mattis S, Baratz AB, Dalke KB, Ittelson A, Zieselman K, et al., PLOS ONE, October 9, 2020. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0240088&fbclid=IwAR1kD-mUL7a6nN5HZADy6T698grCARrDW-narW2Cnkd6qJvSrWdELjL4MeU
Re-Thinking Genital Surgeries on Intersex Infants, by M. Joycelyn Elders, M.D., M.S. 15th Surgeon General of the United States, David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., FAAFP, FACPM, FACP 16th Surgeon General of the United States, and Richard Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS 17th Surgeon General of the United States, Palm Center Blueprints for Sound Public Policy, June, 2017. http://www.palmcenter.org/publication/re-thinking-genital-surgeries-intersex-infants/
First, do no harm: Ensuring the rights of children born intersex. Amnesty International Campaign, Denmark, 2017. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/05/intersex-rights/
The Right Not To Be Mutilated: Intersex People and The Quest For Justice, by Arvind Narrain, JURIST – Professional Commentary, University of Pittsburgh, Oct. 14, 2015, http://jurist.org/hotline/2015/10/arvind-narrain-intersex-justice.php
Human Rights and Intersex People: Issue Paper, by Silvan Agius, Member of the Bureau of the European Committee for Social Cohesion, Human Dignity and Equality (CDDECS) and former Policy Director at the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGAEurope), May 12, 2015. pdf available at: http://observador.pt/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/issuepaper-on-intersex2015_en.pdf
“I want to be as nature made me”: Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Intersex Children in the US, Human Rights Watch and Interact, July 25, 2017 https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/07/25/i-want-be-nature-made-me/medically-unnecessary-surgeries-intersex-children-us
Intersex Kids Need US Pediatricians’ Support, by Kyle Knight, Human Rights Watch, September 14, 2017. https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/14/intersex-kids-need-us-pediatricians-support
If a Doctor Tells a Parent That Surgery Could Prevent Their Child’s Suicide, It’s Not True: It’s Advice Doctors Are Giving Based Not on Science, But on Fear of Difference, by Kyle Knight, Human Rights Watch, (published simultaneously by Huffington Post), September 9 /10, 2017. https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/09/10/if-doctor-tells-parent-surgery-could-prevent-their-childs-suicide-its-not-true
‘Ambiguous Sex’ — or Ambivalent Medicine?’ Ethical Problems in the Treatment of Intersexuality,” by Alice Domurat Dreger, Hastings Center Report 28, no. 3
Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience. Karkazis, Katrina Alicia. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.
Ethics and Intersex, edited by Sytsma, S.E., The Netherlands: Dordrecht, 2006.
Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality. Fausto-Sterling, A. , 2000. New York: Basic Books.
Legal Inclusion
Council bill would encourage parents to delay gender-assignment procedures for intersex infants, Queens Daily Eagle, October 28, 2020, https://queenseagle.com/all/council-bill-would-encourage-parents-to-delay-gender-assignment-procedures-for-intersex-infants?fbclid=IwAR39XeiJQ9bFQ5-Z5SuPIt5VO7Z7gEc4JsFCnkU35FggSUqSWQYCAWS7LWI
The fundamental rights situation of intersex people, by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, April, 2015. fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra-2015-focus-04-intersex.pdf
Intersex Fact Sheet, United Nations Free and Equal Campaign for LGBT Rights, https://www.unfe.org/system/unfe-65-Intersex_Factsheet_ENGLISH.pdf
First, do no harm: Ensuring the rights of children born intersex. Amnesty International Campaign, Denmark, 2017. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/05/intersex-rights/
The Right Not To Be Mutilated: Intersex People and The Quest For Justice, by Arvind Narrain, JURIST – Professional Commentary, Oct. 14, 2015, http://jurist.org/hotline/2015/10/arvind-narrain-intersex-justice.php
Human Rights and Intersex People: Issue Paper, by Silvan Agius, Member of the Bureau of the European Committee for Social Cohesion, Human Dignity and Equality (CDDECS) and former Policy Director at the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGAEurope), May 12, 2015. pdf available at: http://observador.pt/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/issuepaper-on-intersex2015_en.pdf
Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, by Juan E. Méndez, United Nations Human Rights Council, February 1, 2013. .pdf available at http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A.HRC.22.53_English.pdf
International Coalition for Genital Integrity: “Intersex surgery not for parents or doctors to decide” published by Organisation Intersex International Australia Limited, July 31, 2010. https://oii.org.au/10217/international-coalition-genital-integrity-intersex-surgery-parents-doctors-decide/
Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization: An interagency statement. Written jointly by: OHCHR, UN Women, UNAIDS, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO, May 2014. http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/gender_rights/eliminating-forced-sterilization/en/
Public Statement by the Third International Intersex Forum, December 1, 2013,
http://intersexday.org/en/third-international-intersex-forum/
“End state-assigned gender: The State has no business in the undies of the nation.” http://gender-freeidcoalition.ca/
Legal Challenges to the Status Quo Reported in Media
Laws On Intersex Newborn Surgery May Be Another Step Closer To Changing, by Claire Warner, Buzzfeed.com, August, 2017. https://www.bustle.com/p/laws-on-intersex-newborn-surgery-may-be-another-step-closer-to-changing-74334?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=134ea385-eff9-41ac-9ea1-caab8a58c1b7
Non-gendered activist who isn’t male or female takes battle for ‘Gender X’ passport to High Court, by Nick Duffy, PinkNews, October 9, 2017. http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2017/10/09/non-gendered-activist-who-is-neither-male-or-female-takes-battle-for-gender-x-passport-to-high-court/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=7d74c7b8-2b13-4cbe-a2ac-275052bcfb69
Pressure mounts to curtail surgery on intersex children, by David Crary, The Associated Press, July 25, 2017. https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/
Inherent legal challenges posed by the existence of intersex people
The Human Chimera: Legal Problems Arising From Individuals with Multiple Types of DNA, by Robert Russell Granzen, Law School Student Scholarship, Paper 485, May 2, 2014. http://scholarship.shu.edu/student_scholarship/485
Double the DNA – Double the Fun for Crime Scene Investigators, Prosecutors, and Defense Attorneys? By Catherine Arcabascio, Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center, 2007. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2734747 , pdf at: http://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=law_facarticles
Gender Reassignment Surgery: Parents Sue Doctors For Making Their Intersex Child A Girl, Claiming Genital Mutilation, by Kristin Magaldi, Medical Daily, Aug 13, 2015. http://www.medicaldaily.com/gender-reassignment-surgery-parents-sue-doctors-making-their-intersex-child-girl-347804
Media Links
Further Media Links:
A teenager raised as a boy announces pregnancy after the discovery of female reproductive organs, by Martha Cliff, The Sun, news.com.au, November 17, 2020: https://www.news.com.au/
Intersexion, Amnesty International, 2012. Documentary available at: https://www.amnesty.ca/blog/people-are-born-male-or-female-right
XXXY, Stanford University, Department of Art & Art History, 2000. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dZ1cUk6-vk
Secret Intersex: Born Genderless (Medical Documentary) – Real Stories, produced by Wag TV, UK.
Watch Part 1 here: https://youtu.be/QVHq8wb19jo
Watch Part 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reilipcN4_Y
Intersex People and the Physics of Judgement, Tedx Talks, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKEGaSJi3bk An 11-minute TED talk exploring what it means to be intersex and how intersex people are treated around the world (esp. USA).
This Girl Has Balls, by Georgiann Davis, TEDx Talks, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtjVqsIME2A
Untitled film about intersex issues, interACT and Human Rights Watch, Facebook version: https://www.facebook.com/interactadvocates/videos/vb.266159729604/10155588568404605/?type=2&theater