Saturday, April 27, 2013

"UN Condems 'Normalization' Surgeries of Intersex Children"

As we discussed the condition of intersex this week and the corrective surgeries that many individuals go through as children, I was thinking about the current position on things. I wasn't sure what is being enforced currently in hospitals, and wondering has activism contributed to changes regarding these corrective surgeries?

http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2013/02/08/un-condemns-normalization-surgeries-of-intersex-children/
^I found this article "UN Condems "Normalization" Surgeries of Intersex Children" that was just published on February 8, 2013 (so, it's pretty recent). This blog article contains multiple links to click on concerning the issue, including a report from the United Nations that discusses surgeries on intersex individuals as problematic and therefore calls upon the states to, "repeal any law allowing intrusive and irreversible treatments  including forced genital-normalizing surgery, involuntary sterilization, unethical experimentation, medical display, 'reparative therapies, when enforced or administered without the free and informed consent of the person concerned."

Reading this made me realize that this issue is obviously not one of the past, unlike the doctor from the 20/20 special made it seem. It still needs attention and this article calls for attention from each area in the US to avoid situations such as that of Cheryl Chase. But, check the article out if you have time, its short and gets the point across, but has a bunch of links to more useful information on the subject.

1 comment:

  1. Another point to remember is that the clip of the 20/20 interview we watched was from 2002. So it is possible that a lot of the stuff that the doctor mentioned has become less supported. A decade is a very long time as we know it, so there is a possibility in the shift in views. This can be seen in your post with the UN's view on this subject

    ReplyDelete