Intersex People Research Articles

LGBTIQ+ Homelessness: A Review of the Literature

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, and Queer (LGBTIQ+) people’s experiences of homelessness is an under-explored area of housing and homelessness studies, despite this group making up 20–40% of homeless populations. Despite this, much of the existing literature focuses on specific elements of LGBTIQ+ homelessness, and often does not consider the intersections of these elements, instead placing them into individual siloes. Our approach is an intersectional one; this paper identifies the key themes in the existing research, and analyses how these themes interact to reinforce the discrimination and stigma faced by LGBTIQ+ people who experience homelessness. This intersectional-systems thinking approach to LGBTIQ+ homelessness can be used to develop well-informed, culturally sensitive support programmes.

Co-producing knowledge of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) health-care inequalities via rapid reviews of grey literature in 27 EU Member States.

BackgroundThe health inequalities experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) people are well documented with several reviews of global research summarizing key inequalities. These reviews also show how the health‐care needs of LGBTI people are often poorly understood whilst suggesting that targeted initiatives to reduce inequalities should involve LGBTI people.ObjectivesTo determine what is known about the health‐care inequalities faced by LGBTI people? What are the barriers faced by LGBTI people whilst accessing health care, and health professionals when providing care? What examples of promising practice exist?DesignRapid reviews of grey literature were co‐produced with LGBTI people in 27 countries followed by a thematic analysis and synthesis across all data sets. The review included grey literature from each country that might not otherwise be accessible due to language barriers.Main resultsRapid reviews showed that LGBTI people faced various inequalities and barriers whilst accessing health care. Where heterosexuality, binary gender and assumed male/female sex characteristics were upheld as the norm, and where LGBTI people differed from these norms, discrimination could result. In consultations where LGBTI people feared discrimination and did not disclose their LGBTI status, health professionals lacked the information required for appropriate assessments.ConclusionWith greater understanding of sexual orientation (LGB people), gender identity (trans people) and sex characteristics (intersex people), combined with access to contemporary knowledge and training, health professionals can work in collaboration with researchers, policymakers and LGBTI people to develop systems that are better attuned to the needs of all service users.

Developing cultural competence in caring for LGBTQI+ patients.

Evidence demonstrates that subconscious and intentional discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI+) people continues to exist in the UK healthcare system. Surveys have indicated significant health inequalities in LGBTQI+ populations, including high rates of mental health issues and suboptimal healthcare experiences. This article explores these issues and encourages nurses to reflect on their unique and privileged position to champion the rights of vulnerable people, as well as their role in improving the healthcare experience of LGBTQI+ patients in the future. It also discusses safety issues and special considerations for LGBTQI+ patients, including those related to sexual health, mental health and intellectual disabilities.

The Costs of Pride: Survey Results from LGBTQI Activists in the United States, United Kingdom, South Africa, and Australia

AbstractA comparative analysis of emotional taxation was conducted to investigate the affective cost of entering the political process among 1,019 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) activists in the United States (n = 355), the United Kingdom (n = 230), South Africa (n = 228), and Australia (n = 206). Four consistent trends were identified across these four contexts, with important implications for the study of social movements, youth activism, gender, sexuality, and race. First, levels of emotional taxation resulting from LGBTQI activist work were consistently very high. Second, emotional burdens were systematically greater for young, nonwhite, and transgender activists. Third, emotional taxation was compounded for activists whose identities crossed multiple marginalized groups. This finding supports the validity and importance of intersectional approaches to LGBTQI issues. Fourth, the sources of emotional taxation varied greatly among activists, and transgender activists were particularly stressed by public engagements such as major events and marches. Transgender nonwhite activists also indicated relatively high levels of emotional stress related to online forms of engagement, such as posting on Twitter and Facebook. These findings could help identify the kinds of activists who participate, the kinds of issues advocated for, and why certain tactics are used.

Law-Making by and for the People: A Case for Pre-legislative Processes in India

Abstract Recent legislative trends in India reflect the need for a mandatory pre-legislative process. Pre-legislative consultation affords the benefit of legitimacy to laws arrived at through citizen participation. Furthermore, it informs decision-makers of the lived experiences of those most likely impacted by the legislation. Laws that receive pre-legislative consultation are attuned to realities, which increases the likelihood of their effectiveness. This article explores how several of India’s recent laws that received pre-legislative consultation have been rendered more robust and effective than others. As exemplified by current protests by transgender, intersex and gender non-conforming people in India, the Government’s most recent Transgender Bill, which neglected pre-legislative deliberation process, fails the people it purports to protect. As explored in this article, the Bill fails to uphold constitutionally protected principles, as recognized in the recent Supreme Court case that upheld transgender persons’ fundamental rights. As such, the Transgender Bill reflects a need to engage with the intrinsic and instrumental value of pre-legislative consultation and deliberation in India. In locating transnational trends towards employing such a process, this article argues that India would greatly benefit from mandatory pre-legislative consultation and deliberation. By creating a process that allows for citizen participation in law-making, particularly when such laws impact marginalized communities, legislation would reflect societal needs and eschew a top-down, majoritarian approach.

What does inclusive sexual and reproductive healthcare look like for bisexual, pansexual and queer women? Findings from an exploratory study from Tasmania, Australia

Increased awareness of the health disparities faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people has driven the need for LGBTIQ-inclusive medical practices internationally. However, despite bisexual, pansexual and queer women’s increased sexual health risks and reduced engagement with health services, there is little qualitative research examining their healthcare experiences. In addition, healthcare practitioners continue to report lack of awareness and competence in inclusive practice, particularly regarding these groups. To address these gaps in the literature and practice, this study draws on 21 qualitative interviews with women and general practitioners, comparing and contrasting their understandings and experiences of inclusive sexual and reproductive healthcare. Findings reveal that women value practitioners who take a non-judgemental approach, use inclusive language and are knowledgeable or willing to self-educate about LGBTIQ issues. Practitioners describe prioritising visual indicators of inclusivity, using inclusive language and embracing professional development. However, women and doctors both identify knowledge gaps among healthcare providers and the need for additional training opportunities to support effective inclusive practice.

Intersexualidad: un análisis crítico de las representaciones socioculturales hegemónicas de los cuerpos y las identidades

The purpose of this work is to introduce a critical analysis on intersexuality in order to discuss the hegemonic sociocultural representations of bodies and identities and their impact on the lives of intersex people. To achieve our aim, we have adopted a theoretical-analytical perspective; and, to approach the subject, we have also carried out a research which includes a conceptual study of intersexuality and its biomedical regulation. Then, we have considered some accounts with the intention of showing the consequences of standard practices. Finally, we have observed certain demonstrations of intersex activism in order to evidence the political force embodied by personal narratives and to analyze their impact. In the final considerations, we have returned to some concepts considered before advocating for the recognition and respect of the different forms of subjectivity and bodily diversity. The questions which guide this inquiry are: Considering the social level, what happens with the corporealities and the identities which are non-reducible to the binary sex-gender scheme? What is the relationship between body, gender and violence in the framework of biomedical regulation of intersexuality? What is the relevance of intersex activism in the struggle for the depathologization of the subject?

'So isolation comes in, discrimination and you find many people dying quietly without any family support': Accessing palliative care for key populations - an in-depth qualitative study.

Background:Ensuring palliative care for all under a new global health policy must include key populations, that is, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, and sex workers. Accessibility and quality of care have not been investigated in lower and middle-income countries where civil rights are the weakest.Aim:To examine the accessibility to, and experiences of, palliative care for key populations in Zimbabwe.Design:Qualitative study using thematic analysis of in-depth interviews and focus groups.Setting/participants:A total of 60 key population adults and 12 healthcare providers and representatives of palliative care and key population support organisations were interviewed in four sites (Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare and Masvingo/Beitbridge).Results:Participants described unmet needs and barriers to accessing even basic elements of palliative care. Discrimination by healthcare providers was common, exacerbated by the politico-legal-economic environment. Two dominant themes emerged: (a) minimal understanding of, and negligible access to, palliative care significantly increased the risk of painful, undignified deaths and (b) discriminatory beliefs and practices from healthcare providers, family members and the community negatively affected those living with life-limiting illness, and their wishes at the end of life. Enacted stigma from healthcare providers was a potent obstacle to quality care.Conclusion:Discrimination from healthcare providers and lack of referrals to palliative care services increase the risk of morbidity, mortality and transmission of infectious diseases. Untreated conditions, exclusion from services, and minimal family and social support create unnecessary suffering. Public health programmes addressing other sexually taboo subjects may provide guidance.

Queer/ing museological technologies of display

Recent research has shown that the stories and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people are largely absent in museums internationally. At the same time, there is a growing awareness in the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector that public-facing cultural institutions have a duty to reflect diversity in all its forms, to take an active approach to inclusion and to promote understanding between different groups, communities and cultures. What, then, might such an undertaking entail? Moving beyond assimilationist approaches to inclusion this article elaborates a ‘queering’ of contemporary museum practices, the often invisiblized assumptions that inform them and the ethico-political effects that they produce. The article will draw on examples from our own practice as museum curators in South Australia inspired by international and Australian artists and curators including Matt Smith (UK) and Jo Derbyshire (Australia).

Gender Identity: The Human Right of Depathologization.

Background: Transgender people have a gender identity different from the one allocated to them at birth. In many countries, transsexualism and transgenderism are considered mental illnesses under the diagnosis of gender dysphoria. This pathologization impacts on human rights. Main content: The United Nations (UN) has denounced violations against trans-people, including attacks, forced medical treatments, lack of legal gender recognition, and discrimination in the areas of education, employment, access to healthcare, and justice. The UN has linked these violations directly with discriminatory diagnostic classifications that pathologize gender diversity. Trans-people have been pathologized by psycho-medical classification and laws all around the world, with a different impact depending on countries. This paper argues that pathologization infringes infringes upon a wide range of human rights such as; civil, economic, social cultural and also the access to medical care. Conclusions: The current situation for trans-people with respect to legal healthcare matters, depends on the country. Human rights are universal, not a question for cultural interpretation. They are the minimum that every human being must have assured only by the fact of being human. Countries must protect these rights by regulating trans-pathologization with special attention dedicated to intersex people and their specific needs.

A mutação como metáfora para o discurso da diferença: representações das práticas de racismo e de homofobia no universo literário dos X-men

Este artigo propõe uma leitura crítico-sociológica de questões histórico-sociais abordadas nas american graphic novel´s X-Men. Publicada inicialmente em 1963, nos Estados Unidos, essa História em Quadrinhos (HQs) tem apresentado diferentes personagens, histórias e temáticas bastante pertinentes aos atuais problemas da contemporaneidade, tais como: os conflitos étnicos, a violência urbana e a desigualdade social. Para além dessas temáticas, as HQs dos X-Men, em um discurso metafórico, possibilitam-nos também pensar em outras questões sociais – como as práticas de racismo e de homofobia. Desse modo, analisando trechos de revistas e filmes, em paralelo à realidade social de negros e de pessoas lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, trans e intersexos (LGBTI) no Brasil e no mundo, propomos estabelecer uma relação entre o discurso da mutação dos quadrinhos com o discurso da diferença, isto é, de respeito à alteridade. Como recurso teórico para empreender tal análise, estão articuladas, nesse texto, as reflexões do filósofo Giles Deleuze, quanto à “reversão ao simulacro”, bem como à lógica da diférrance do filósofo Jacques Derrida. Assim, a partir disso, verificamos que essa literatura nos possibilita flagrar intersecções entre as práticas discriminatórias sofridas pelos mutantes nas HQs e as práticas racistas e homofóbicas sofridas pelos negros e pelas pessoas LGBTI.

How non-binary gender definitions confound (already complex) thinking about gender and public policy

ABSTRACT A course on gender and public policy can introduce students to methods of policy analysis in the context of social-justice problems. Using a combination of empirical studies and analytic tools, students learn how social conditions and policies differentially affect women and men, and they can identify implications for gender equity. But our world includes non-binary gender types—transgender, genderqueer, and intersex people (some of whom are our students). How can an analysis built on strictly binary comparisons be reconfigured to include more gender diversity? The answers depend in part on how gender is conceptualized (is it a fixed, measurable dimension of identity or something socially constructed?). Exploring three conceptual approaches to gender, this article identifies three more inclusive teaching and research strategies: the expansion of gender types in quantitative analysis, the consideration of non-binary gender social roles, and the interrogation of binary inequalities assumed to be natural and inevitable.

Stigma as framed onYouTube: Effects of personal experiences videos on students’ beliefs about medicalizing intersex

AbstractPeople with physical intersex characteristics can be subject to medical interventions that risk human rights to bodily integrity and self‐determination. Proponents and opponents of medicalization use personal narrative videos on YouTube to frame intersex as a stigma best understood through amedicalorsocial identityframe. Ninety‐nine psychology students watched one of twoYouTubevideos with either a medical or social identity frame, or participated in a comparison group who watched no video. Participants extracted the videos’ medical or social identity framing in their own words. The social identity video increased participants’ sense that medicine was more harmful and less beneficial, and the medical video decreased participants’ sense that medicine was harmful. Although the videos aimed at bringing about social understanding of intersex people, neither video impacted stigmatizing beliefs about intersex people as a group. Rather, effects of the videos on beliefs about harms of medicalization were moderated by two stigma measures; social distance and gender binary beliefs. Medical intervention on intersex has been justified, in part, on grounds that stigma is inevitable. While intersex stigma has rarely been empirically examined, the present study shows that people with less propensity to stigmatize see less benefit from medicalizing intersex traits and are more open to learning few framings from personal experience videos.

Bloody Unfair: Inequality Related to Menstruation — Considering the Role of Discrimination Law

Drawing on growing social awareness, activism and scholarship, this article examines menstruation as an equality issue and the implications for discrimination law in Australia. It discusses the complex nature of inequality that arises in relation to menstruation. It also considers intersectional discrimination (when a combination of attributes generates a new form of discrimination) that occurs in relation to menstruation facing different groups: women and girls with disabilities, incarcerated women, and transgender, gender-diverse and intersex people. The article considers how some forms of inequality related to menstruation might be addressed through discrimination law (workplace adjustments and provision of menstrual products in carceral settings) and points to limitations of discrimination law or its application, such as in relation to sterilisation of women and girls with disabilities and strip searching of incarcerated women. It concludes that Australian discrimination law can only have a limited impact in addressing menstrual inequality. This is because: (a) the structure of the law is attribute-based and thus cannot address the complex intersections of sex and other attributes; (b) it cannot address structural inequality; and (c) it cannot adequately contend with embodied and abjected legal subjects. These conclusions have radical implications beyond menstruation inequality in contributing to broader discussions of how law can re-imagine gender difference and advance equality.

Securing Cisgendered Futures: Intersex Management under the “Disorders of Sex Development” Treatment Model

In this critical, feminist account of the management of intersex conditions under 2006's controversial “Disorders of Sex Development” (DSD) treatment model, I argue that like the “Optimal Gender of Rearing” (OGR) treatment model it replaced, DSD aims at securing a cisgendered future for the intersex patient, referring to a normalized trajectory of development across the lifespan in which multiple sexed, gendered, and sexual characteristics remain in “coherent” alignment. I argue this by critically analyzing two ways that intersex management has changed between OGR and DSD: 1) regarding sex‐assignment recommendations for three patient populations and, 2) with the prenatal treatment of pregnant individuals at risk of conceiving a fetus with congenital adrenal hyperplasia with the steroid hormone dexamethasone. I conclude that like OGR before it, DSD also unjustifiably presumes that typical genitalia are necessary for cisgendered development. However, unlike OGR, it appeals to the empirically inadequate, theoretically suspect, and biologically determinist model of gender development known as brain‐organization theory. Given this, I conclude that the treatment of intersex people under DSD continues to be driven by problematically heterosexist and transphobic assumptions regarding the value and normalcy of cisgendered life, while practically and discursively constituting it as such.

Of Pregnant Kings and Manly Landladies: Negotiating Intersex in Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness

This essay examines narrative negotiations of intersex in contemporary US science fiction literature. Intersex is understood as a highly contested concept as well as the lived realities of intersex people. The intelligibility of intersex people is constantly negotiated in and through cultural norms and practices, with literature serving as one major cultural playing field of renegotiation. This article seeks to close a perceived gap in the analysis of literary representations of intersex: Discussions so far have focused solely on realist fiction; science fiction has hitherto not been included. I am therefore going to analyze Ursula K. Le Guin’s seminal novel The Left Hand of Darkness in search for instances in which intersex intelligibility is prohibited, interrupted, or challenged in ways distinctive of the novel’s genre. In this contribution, I argue that intersex is a productive, yet previously neglected term of analysis that lays open conceptualizations of sex, gender, and sexuality in Le Guin’s science fiction novel.

Beyond Sexual Binaries? The German Federal Constitutional Court and the Rights of Intersex People

In a recent judgment, the German Federal Constitutional Court held that it was unconstitutional to require every person's sex to be entered on the birth register, without providing for a third option for intersex persons. This article examines the intersex judgment in view of the Court's earlier jurisprudence on the rights of trans persons. It argues that this judgment was enabled, to a significant extent, by the fluid understanding of sex and gender identity shown in those judgments, and by the elaboration in those cases of the relationship between sexual freedom, human dignity and equality. It also comments on the possible relevance of the intersex judgment for South Africa, in view of some of the parallels and differences between German and South African constitutional jurisprudence.
 

MECHANISMS OF REPRESSION OF INTERSEX BODIES IN FILMS XXY AND EL ÚLTIMO VERANO DE LA BOYITA, AND REPRESENTATIONAL STRATEGIES OF RESISTANCE

This paper deals with representation of mechanisms of repression of intersex bodies in film, and representational strategies of resistance to those mechanisms, developed in two films XXY and El último verano de la boyita, by two argentine directors, Lucía Puenco and Julia Solomonoff, respectively. It is a discursive analysis of the narratives and analysis of technical aspects of the two films, which aims to determine in which ways are representational strategies of resistance constructed, how they interpret relations between medical and social norms about sex/gender, medical and social violence against intersex people, and form critiques of medical and scientific discourse.

“Making It Right,” Keeping It White: Race and the Demand for Queer Redress

This article examines the Egale Human Rights Trust’s Just Society Report and, in particular, its call for the federal government to offer an intersectional apology to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirit, intersex people for historical injustices. I am interested in the work that suturing intersectionality to an apology for historical wrongs does. The article argues that, as it is deployed in this report, under the terms of diversity and inclusion, intersectionality is a symbolic declaration that sustains, rather than disrupts, the racial and settler colonial project that is Canada. Compatible with a politics of liberal inclusion, this call for an intersectional apology pre-empts a politics of accountability and anti-subordination long called for by the scholarship of Sherene Razack.

A Recent History of Lesbian and Gay Psychology: From Homophobia to LGBT

This ground-breaking text explores the contemporary history of how psychological research, practice, and theory has engaged with gay and lesbian movements in the United States and beyond, over the last 50 years. Peter Hegarty examines the main strands of research in lesbian and gay psychology that have emerged since the de-pathologizing of homosexuality in the 1970s that followed from the recognition of homophobia and societal prejudice. The author details the expansion of ‘lesbian and gay psychology’ to ‘LGB’ to ‘LGBT psychology’ via its paradigm shifts, legal activism, shifts in policy makers’ and mental health professionals’ goals in regard to sexual and gender minorities. For the first time, the origins of the concepts, debates, and major research programs that have made up the field of LGBT psychology have been drawn together in a single historical narrative, making this a unique resource. A case is made that psychology has only very lately come to consider the needs and issues of transgender and intersex people, and that LGB paradigms need to be critically interrogated to understand how they can be best brokered to bring about social change for such groups. A Recent History of Lesbian and Gay Psychology will serve as an advanced historical introduction to this field’s recent history and current concerns, and will inform both those who have been a part of this history and students who are new to the field.