Intersexuality What Is Intersex Intersexuality What Is Intersex? Contemporary Medical Model Ethical and Activist Critiques Post-Consensus Statement

KEY CONCEPTS What Is Intersex Contemporary Medical Model Reproductive or sexual anatomy different from typically male or female Most common diagnoses Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia – mostly a problem for girls Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome – a problem for boys Klinefelter Syndrome (XXY chromosomes) – a problem for boys Considered both a medical and social emergency Genital ambiguity vs. genital variability Contemporary Medical Model Optimal gender of rearing (Money et al, 1955) Small window of gender malleability (18 mo) The David Reimer “John/Joan” case Medical Teams: Endocrinologist, Urologist, and Psychologist

Descriptions (from medical records) Of Clitorides That Are “Too Big” “. . . . disfiguring and embarrassing phallic structure” “ . . . . anatomic derangements” “Clitoral overgrowth” “Female babies born with an ungainly masculine enlargement of the clitoris . . . . : “The offending shaft of the clitoris . . . . “ “The size of the glans is challenging to a feminine cosmetic result.”

KEY CONCEPTS What Is Intersex Contemporary Medical Model Reproductive or sexual anatomy different from typically male or female Most common diagnoses Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia – mostly a problem for girls Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome – a problem for boys Klinefelter Syndrome (XXY chromosomes) – a problem for boys Considered both a medical and social emergency Genital ambiguity vs. genital variability Contemporary Medical Model Optimal gender of rearing (Money et al, 1955) Small window of gender malleability (18 mo) The David Reimer “John/Joan” case Medical Teams: Endocrinologist, Urologist, and Psychologist

KEY CONCEPTS Ethical and Activist Critiques Post-Consensus Statement Sexist treatment model – mainly about female sexual functioning Heteronormative model – mainly about heterosexual sexual functioning Medically unnecessary interventions Surgery usually presented as the only option No cases to answer “what if surgery isn’t done” questions Surgery is not “irreversible” “Informed” consent Deception and partial truth-telling M.C. vs. Aaronson Post-Consensus Statement No longer referred to as “hermaphrodites” Considered “disorders of sex development” (DSD)