Abstract
The 2006 ‘Consensus statement on management of intersex disorders’ recommended moving to a new classification of intersex variations, framed in terms of ‘disorders of sex development’ or DSD. Part of the rationale for this change was to move away from associations with gender, and to increase clarity by grounding the classification system in genetics. While the medical community has largely accepted the move, some individuals from intersex activist communities have condemned it. In addition, people both inside and outside the medical community have disagreed about what should be covered by the classification system, in particular whether sex chromosome variations and the related diagnoses of Turner and Klinefelter’s syndromes should be included. This article explores initial descriptions of Turner and Klinefelter’s syndromes and their subsequent inclusion in intersex classifications, which were increasingly grounded in scientific understandings of sex chromosomes that emerged in the 1950s. The article questions the current drive to stabilize and ‘sort out’ intersex classifications through a grounding in genetics. Alternative social and historical definitions of intersex – such as those proposed by the intersex activists – have the potential to do more justice to the lived experience of those affected by such classifications and their consequences.
Highlights
The classification of bodily variations is a complex, messy process
Can individuals affected by these diagnoses or classifications expect such improvements through this disorders of sex development’ (DSD) framework and the promise of a clear genetics of intersex to come?
XYY would seem to fit the current DSD classification definition of ‘congenital conditions in which development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex is atypical’ (Hughes et al, 2006: 554); XYY is not considered to be an intersex variation or a DSD. At this particular historical moment, XYY would fit the ‘post-medicine’ definition of intersex offered by Miriam van der Have, as those individuals studied for their sex chromosome variation and their criminality could certainly have been described as experiencing ‘the sociocultural consequences of being born with a body that does not fit with normative social constructions of male and female’ (Van der Have, 2016)
Summary
The classification of bodily variations is a complex, messy process. Classifications of variations of sex characteristics, or intersex traits, have changed significantly throughout history. DSD, intersex, Klinefelter’s syndrome, sex chromosomes, turner syndrome
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