Intersex Initiative: Intersex Medical Treatment and Sexual Trauma

Intersex Medical Treatment and Sexual Trauma

by Emi Koyama, Intersex Initiative

The notion "genital mutilation" evokes an image of the traditional, ritualistic cutting of young women's bodies in Africa, but its equally ritualistic high-tech version is widely practiced in the U.S. and other Western countries in relative secrecy. Since 1950s, children born with intersex conditions, or physiological anomalies of the reproductive and sexual organs, have been "treated" with "normalizing" surgeries that many adults with the condition feel have been damaging to their sexual and emotional well-being.

Contrary to the popular mythology, intersex people do not have "both sets of genitals"; they simply have body parts that are different from what is considered "normal"--large clitoris, penis with a urethra on its underside, missing vagina, mixed gonads, etc. Even though the procedure has been practiced for many decades, there is little evidence that shows that "corrective" surgery is safe, effective, nor necessary.

One of the biggest problems with this "treatment" is that it sets in motion a lifelong pattern of secrecy, isolation, shame, and confusion. Adult intersex people's stories often resemble that of those who survived childhood sexual abuse: trust violation, lack of honest communication, punishment for asking questions or telling the truth, etc. In some cases, intersex people's experiences are exactly like those of child sexual abuse survivors: when they surgically "create" a vagina on a child, the parent--usually the mother--is required to "dilate" the vagina with hard instruments every day for months in order to ensure that the vagina won't close off again.

Even so, many intersex adults report that it was not necessarily the surgery that was most devastating for their self-esteem: for many, it is the repeated exposure to what we call "medical display," or the rampant practice where a child is stripped down to nude and placed on the bed while many doctors, nurses, medical students, and others come in and out of the room, touching and prodding and laughing to each other. Children who experience this get the distinct sense that there is something terribly wrong with who they are and are deeply traumatized.

This is not to suggest that doctors and parents who participate in this "treatment" wish harm on the child. They are doing what they genuinely think is in the best interest of the child, but the evidence is simply absent.

In the past decade, the movement to challenge these traumatic medical treatment of intersex children grew from complete obscurity into an international network of intersex individuals, scholars, supporters, and some sympathetic medical professionals. Still, it is estimated that five children per day continue to undergo the medically unnecessary and irreversible surgeries in the United States. Parents, healthcare professionals, activists, and others need to work closely with the intersex movement in order to end the ritualistic sexual traumatization of children in our own society, not just in other continents.

This material is provided to you by:

Intersex Initiative
PO Box 40570, Portland OR 97240
Email: info@ipdx.org

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