Books and selected journal articles on intersex issues, including fiction, peer-reviewed papers, and biographies.
The Journal of Sexual Medicine has published, in 2011, significant research on the subjective nature of “normal” female genitals. The study, by Reitsma, Mourits, Koning, Pascal and van der Lei, is entitled “No (wo)man is an island – the influence of physicians’ personal predisposition to labia minora appearance on their clinical decision making: a cross-sectional…
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The UN Committee against Torture sitting in Germany from October 31 to November 25 2011 has considered a German report on torture and other abuses and has produced a groundbreaking statement on intersex and torture: Intersex people 20. The Committee takes note of the information received during the dialogue that the Ethical Council has undertaken…
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Researchers at a cluster of Melbourne medical institutes, hospitals and universities have acknowledged in a letter to the editor of the International Journal of Andrology, The Official Journal of the European Academy of Andrology, that not all people with the XXY karyotype are male and that some may be female and some may be intersex….
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Critical Intersex by Morgan Holmes is not cheap, but it’s a recommended read. From the publishers’ description: To date, intersex studies has not received the scholarly attention it deserves as research in this area has been centred around certain key questions, scholars and geographical regions. Exploring previously neglected territories, this book broadens the scope of…
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OII Australia supports trans people in their call for human rights, in the same way we support all LGBTI peoples and other marginalized minorities. Sometimes, however, rights called for by one minority group can disadvantage another unless close strategic alliances are maintained so that proposed changes to the law do not accidentally impinge on rights….
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The 2006 Yogyakarta Principles on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity are an important development, primarily furthering the rights of LGBT people, but with a crucial principle of particular interest to intersex people. Principle 1: The Right to the Universal Enjoyment of Human Rights All human…
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Today is Intersex Solidarity Day and Herculine Barbin‘s Birthday. OII Australia and Organisation Intersex International would like to invite others to join us each year by commemorating November 8 as Intersex Solidarity Day. All human rights organizations, feminist allies, academics and gender specialists, as well as other groups and individuals interested in intersex human rights,…
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The rapid progression of intersex medicalization since the mid-1950s has directly influenced the development of intersex support and advocacy groups. These have a significant presence on the internet and many, such as OII also have a physical presence in countries that have set up affiliate organizations. Organisation Intersex International (OII) and other advocacy and support…
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This report, on the ways that intersex is used by educators, was published in June 2001. The analysis and recommendations are as valid today as they were then.
Kathleen Winter’s book is based on a short story originally intended for her collection boYs but rejected because it was too fantastic. Unfortunately, the same can be said of the novel itself. While literary and entertaining for its descriptions of Newfoundland, the lead character shows what happens when a preoccupation with gender dominates at the expense of an understanding of biology.
In 2009 Dr Reis’s book, Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex, examined the cultural contexts that both inform and drive western medicine’s attitudes and responses to intersex bodies. Beginning with the profound homophobia of the 19th through to the 21st centuries, to the taboo topic of neo-vaginal dilation, Reis challenged standard medical practices…
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This report focuses on the cosmetic outcomes of non-consensual cosmetic genital surgery performed on infants. OII Australia regards such surgeries as reprehensible, and wishes to see them cease. From the abstract: Issues of childhood genital surgery in individuals with genital ambiguity remain controversial. Poor results reported in some centres triggered questioning of the appropriateness of…
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