The psychology of people with variable sex characteristics/intersex

Hegarty, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101539

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 48 publications

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“…In addition, there is no evidence that surgeries are capable of addressing risks of stigmatisation (Lee et al 2016;Australian Human Rights Commission 2021;Liao 2022). Medical examinations and experiences, ignorance, and shame exacerbate experiences of stigmatisation, with an impact on mental health (Liao 2022;Hegarty 2023;Hart and Shakespeare-Finch 2021;Schützmann et al 2009) as well as sexual function and sensation.…”

Section: Health Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Harmful Practices and Instrumentalisation, towards Legislative Protections and Community-Owned Healthcare Services: The Context and Goals of the Intersex Movement in Australia

Carpenter

2024

Social Sciences

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People with innate variations of sex characteristics (also known as intersex traits or disorders or differences of sex development) have any of a wide range of innate physical traits that differ from medical and social norms for female and male bodies. Responses to these physical differences create experiences and risks of stigmatisation, discrimination, violence, and harmful medical practices intended to promote social and familial integration and conformity with gender stereotypes. As is evident globally, the Australian policy response to the existence and needs of people with innate variations of sex characteristics has been largely incoherent, variously framing the population as having disordered sex development in need of “fixing”, and a third sex/gender identity group in need of recognition, with only recent engagement by intersex community-controlled civil society organisations. This paper presents an overview of the context and goals of the intersex human rights movement in Australia. Australian intersex community organisations have sought to apply human rights norms and develop new infrastructure to address key health and human rights issues, and necessitating new ways of resolving policy incoherence. Together with human rights, mental health, and public health institutions, they have called for significant changes to medical models of care and reform to research and classification systems. Intersex community organising and resourcing have made a tangible difference. The Australian Capital Territory is the first jurisdiction in the country to move ahead with reforms to clinical practice, including a legislative prohibition of certain practices without personal informed consent, oversight of clinical decision-making, and investment in psychosocial support. A national community-controlled psychosocial support service has also commenced.

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Section: Health Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Harmful Practices and Instrumentalisation, towards Legislative Protections and Community-Owned Healthcare Services: The Context and Goals of the Intersex Movement in Australia

Carpenter

2024

Social Sciences

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Intersex in the USA’s Best-Selling Undergraduate Psychology Textbooks: Uneven Critique in an Ongoing Scientific and Ethical Crisis

Hegarty,

Vaughan

2024

Sex Roles

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The field of intersex studies is advancing and requires scholars to update their knowledge and representation of people with intersex variations. To examine how psychology students are taught about people with intersex variations, we reviewed best-selling USA psychology textbooks in introductory psychology (n = 8), psychology of women and gender (n = 5), human sexuality (n = 4), and biological psychology (n = 3). All textbooks indexed intersex or cognate terms, with alternative terms (e.g., disorders of sex development) indexed less frequently. Intersex variations were described as emerging during the stages of sex development, and as challenging binary categories for sex. Several specific variations were commonly described as syndromes with little reference to psychological research or lived experiences. Women and girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) were most clearly framed as “natural experiments” about how nature and nurture intersect. Diverse sex development involving 46 XY genotypes tended to be described as difference from norms for male endosex development. However, two textbooks included lengthy narratives of people’s lived experiences as intersex, and photographs of intersex-identified individuals were common. Photo images of the South African athlete Caster Semenya depicted more of her body than did the photo images of other intersex-identified individuals. The textbooks generally included critical reflection on the assumptions of a gender binary, and on the attribution of ambiguity to others’ bodies, genetic determinism, the medical gaze, and the sex testing of athletes. We consider how information in these textbooks can shape the representation of intersex among psychology students, and how it may be used to develop more humanizing representations of intersex across all psychology textbooks.

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