Intersex, Variations of Sex Characteristics, DSD

People with variations of sex characteristics (VSC) are born with chromosomal, gonadal, and/or anatomical diversities that do not fit the typical definition of male or female. This book develops a social science of VSC, Intersex, and Disorders of Sex Development (DSD).

Issues of bodily autonomy, sex, gender, and sexuality are highly topical. Yet, little is heard about people with VSCs, or the unique issues they face. This book is a collaborative project between intersex and endosex (nonintersex) authors that gives uninitiated readers a way into the complex debates surrounding IVSC. It breaks new ground theoretically whilst also presenting novel empirical material from a range of international sources. Issues of power, discrimination, identity, and agency are key to understanding the current situation for people with VSCs.

Bridging between intersex studies, medical literatures, and broader social science debates, this text will be of interest to those working in practice and policy positions, as well as students and scholars across a range of disciplines, especially those studying social inequality, embodiment, healthcare, sex and gender, LGBTQ+ issues, disability, globalisation, and political change.

"Stunningly far-reaching and extensively researched, Intersex, Variations of Sex Characteristics, DSD: Critical Approaches demonstrates intersex issues are not merely those of sex and gender, but also race, age, sexuality, location, and colonization. Uniquely intersectional and interdisciplinary, the authors offer novel conceptual approaches to social policy, medicine, sociology of sex, theorizing the body, and activism that can be mobilized by scholars across disciplines. This book is also an urgent invitation to intersectional thinkers and those in social scientific fields to take up interphobia as a serious point of inquiry. It is outstanding!"

Celeste Orr, Wendy J. Robbins Professor in Gender and Women?s Studies at the University of New Brunswick Fredericton Campus, Canada

"Intersex, Variations of Sex Characteristics, DSD: Critical Approaches is an essential read, offering global perspectives on intersex and centering the work of intersex scholars.  Featuring original research into areas that have historically been overlooked in empirical analysis such as intersex aging, it presents a critical contribution to the social sciences and beyond.  It spans an array of fields, incorporating not only scholarly insights but also reports and resources from organizations at the forefront of intersex advocacy. Thoroughly documented and deeply relevant, Intersex, Variations of Sex Characteristics, DSD: Critical Approaches promises to be a landmark resource for researchers and pedagogies."

Dr. Amanda Swarr, Professor, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Washington, USA

"This ambitious, timely, and comprehensive volume reverses a longstanding social erasure of people with variations of sex characteristics. On the one hand, it places their lives in the broadest possible frame, investigating issues of health, power, injustice, activism, embodiment, and human rights, all while resisting reductionist simplifications. On the other hand, it makes an emphatic claim for what a reconceived critical intersex studies?drawing on the legacies of intersectional feminism, queer theory, and disability studies?can offer to social theory generally, as well as to our collective visions of a more just future."

Steven Epstein, Professor of Sociology and John C. Shaffer Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University, USA