Intersexuality and the Ethics of Infant Genital Surgery
Document Type
Oral Presentation
Campus where you would like to present
SURC Room 271
Start Date
15-5-2014
End Date
15-5-2014
Keywords
ethics, surgery, intersex
Abstract
It is the primary focus of this paper to argue that the surgical response to intersexuality in infants and children, outside of evident threats to the child’s health and without regard to the child’s own agency, ought to be criminalized under the same justification as the Criminalization of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1996. Through a philosophical examination of the surgical response to intersexuality and the reasons that this practice has become prominent, it is revealed that this treatment is based solely on the incorrect cultural assumption of sex as strictly binary. Furthermore, many of the negative physical side effects of genital-normalizing surgeries performed on intersexed children are parallel to the effects of female genital mutilation. Included in this paper will be an explanation intersexuality and intersexed conditions; a discussion on the history of the medical treatment of intersexuality; an analysis of the goals of surgical intervention weighed with common or unavoidable side effects of such procedures; a discussion of each person’s fundamental rights to autonomy, bodily integrity, and reproduction; as well as the implications of the 1996 Act protecting female children and an explanation as to why those protections should extend to all infants and children, regardless of anatomy. (Editor’s Note: This presentation may contain adult themes, content, or imagery.)
Recommended Citation
Dozier, Zachariah, "Intersexuality and the Ethics of Infant Genital Surgery" (2014). Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). 104.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2014/oralpresentations/104
Additional Mentoring Department
Philosophy and Religious Studies
Intersexuality and the Ethics of Infant Genital Surgery
SURC Room 271
It is the primary focus of this paper to argue that the surgical response to intersexuality in infants and children, outside of evident threats to the child’s health and without regard to the child’s own agency, ought to be criminalized under the same justification as the Criminalization of Female Genital Mutilation Act of 1996. Through a philosophical examination of the surgical response to intersexuality and the reasons that this practice has become prominent, it is revealed that this treatment is based solely on the incorrect cultural assumption of sex as strictly binary. Furthermore, many of the negative physical side effects of genital-normalizing surgeries performed on intersexed children are parallel to the effects of female genital mutilation. Included in this paper will be an explanation intersexuality and intersexed conditions; a discussion on the history of the medical treatment of intersexuality; an analysis of the goals of surgical intervention weighed with common or unavoidable side effects of such procedures; a discussion of each person’s fundamental rights to autonomy, bodily integrity, and reproduction; as well as the implications of the 1996 Act protecting female children and an explanation as to why those protections should extend to all infants and children, regardless of anatomy. (Editor’s Note: This presentation may contain adult themes, content, or imagery.)
Faculty Mentor(s)
Coe, Cynthia