Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Harper, Catherine

Title Intersex
Published Oxford : Berg Publishers, 2007

Copies

Description 1 online resource (224 pages)
Contents Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction -- 2. 'Mythological Hermaphrodite' -- 3. Louise's Story and Others -- 4. David's Story and Diamond's Recommendations -- 5. Oluyemi's Story -- 6. Sarah-Jane's Story and Others -- 7. Changes in Standards of Care? -- 8. Lorna, Jessie, Sal and Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia -- 9. Joanne, Ellen, Peggy and Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome -- 10. Severe Undervirilization in Genetic Males -- 11. 'Hermaphroditism' and Gonadal Dysgenesis -- 12. Sex Chromosome Variations: Klinefelter's Syndrome -- 13. Sex Chromosome Variations: Turner Syndrome -- 14. Conclusion -- App. 1 Correspondence and Interviews
Summary "Intersex is the condition whereby an individual is born with biological features that are simultaneously perceived as male and female. Ranging from the ambiguous genitalia of the true 'hermaphrodite' to the 'mildly or internally intersexed', the condition may be as common as cleft palate. Like cleft palate, it is hidden and surgically altered, but for very different reasons." "Intersex draws heavily on the personal testimony of intersexed individuals, their loved ones and medical carers. The impact of early sex-assignment surgery on an individual's later life is examined within the context of ethical and clinical questions. Harper challenges the conventional and radical 'treatment' of intersexuality through non-consensual infant sex-assignment surgery. In doing so, she exposes powerful myths, taboos and constructions of gender - the perfect phallus, a bi-polar model of gender and the infallibility of medical decisions. Handling sensitive material with care, this book deepens our understanding of a condition that has itself only been medically understood in recent years."--Jacket
Notes Print version record
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781847883391
1847883397