PhD Student looking for intersexual people willing to be interviewed for dissertation

[asia]

Hi everyone, My name is Asia and I am a PhD candidate in Sociology at Rutgers University. I am currently conducting interviews with intersexed people for my dissertation. I am particularly interested in your perceptions of sex and gender and your experiences with others' perceptions of your sex/gender. The study is strictly confidential and has been approved by the Rutgers University Internal Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects and is (I hope!) completely respectful and supportive. If you might be willing to participate or just want to hear more, please contact me at afriedman@<hidden>. Thank you!

[Sunshine1]

I'm dumbfounded as to why someone with an intersex medical condition would warrent being in a paper such as this but we all have our own interest - As a person born with an intersex condition my concerns are directed toward the lack of medical insurance available, poverty, and the homeless. I have a plan that I would like to set up in the future that would help others overcome these issues

Ok, I really don't follow your dissertation and that really doesn't matter but was curious what you know of the different conditions that are under the intersex umbrella? Maybe, the specific subjects you need are those that feel intersex as an identity or don't look a particular gender which could also emcompass those with no intersex conditions and throw out those with intersex conditions that don't meet this criteria?

Why would you think my perceptions of sex or gender would be any different than your own?

[asia]

Maybe, the specific subjects you need are those that feel intersex as an identity or don't look a particular gender which could also emcompass those with no intersex conditions and throw out those with intersex conditions that don't meet this criteria?

Why would you think my perceptions of sex or gender would be any different than your own?

Thank you for the opportunity to clarify myself.

I did not mean to give the impression that I am assuming that an intersexed person will necessarily have different perceptions or sex and/or gender (although I am interested in finding out whether this is true empirically), nor did I intend to imply that I think that intersexed individuals do not identify and/or appear/"read" as male or female. The one assumption I am making - and please feel free to tell me if this is unfair or too much of a generalization - is that intersexed people on the whole have thought more about what it means to be sexed and gendered than the average person. (This is something I believe that the vast majority of us presume to be self-evident and take entirely for granted.)

Also, I agree with you that this is equally true of many people who do not have intersex conditions; my interviews include transgender people and a sample of "average" (if such a thing exists) people as well.

Asia

[Sunshine1]

Ok, say someone lives next to a river - then couldn't one ponder that they might have a higher interest in boating than someone that lives in the desert?
Say one has cancer - then just maybe they might have a higher interest in cancer during treatment than someone that doesn't and their interest although wil always be in the back of their mind but interest in cancer lessens with each year one is a survivior. Two years coming up - Grateful as the day I passed out in a bloody pool but do I think about it as much? nope

11-HYDROXYLASE DIFICIENCY SIMPLE- VIRILIZING CONGENITAL ADRENAL HYPERPLASIA is the medical condition that is respondsible for my external genitals at birth being anyone's guess- because the adrenal gland lacked the ability to make cortisol and the excessive androgens went straight to the external genitals and although cool ..surgery was needed and just a little later and my thoughts on the subjest would of helped but the surgery was necessary for passage of menstraul blood- so surgery was done at five. Did I think about gender or sex as a child - nope - just emotionally tramatized by all the good doctors and students with their hands all over/in my genital area. Ok all the focus in the area would make you think one would wonder but Here IT IS - Gender .....sex ...starts between the ears and not what is between the legs. I've always known who I was and why would you be interested that I would think different? As for CAH? another thing about is that on needs extra cortisol in times of physical stress ...we may die from this condition and that is something that I've always thought about.

See, I asked if you knew anything about the conditions under the Intersex umbrella and you didn't give me a response which saddens me. i thought studies were supposed to require specific measures to them but maybe I'm not getting it. Persons with different intersex conditions would have different responces and also since medicine is forever changing-the response from someone that is say 35 would be drastically different than someone with the same condition that is just 26. That's why I was wondering the parameters of you study? Using "as a whole" when refering to intersex conditions is disrespectful but that is just my view.

I ask again why would you think that I would have views of sex or gender in general that would be any different than your own?

I have more of a focus on my adrenal gland condition ...is that what you mean? and now I have a thyroid condition - ...well always had it but wasn't along enough to treat. Plus that cancer thing ...errr and Celiac Sprue.

It worries me why you would think that I wouldn't take being female for granted? Intersex was a descriptive medical term used to describe what happened to external genitals ...it has no more meaning than hazel eyes. The ambiguous genitals is also a term that I would use and that no different that a hand that wasn't formed like others also the term pseudo- hermaphrodite ....it's just a word and no different than like brown hair.

Now if you specifically want people that with or without an intersex conditions that feel ....fuck this gender/sex crap put upon us by "The Man" then those would be the people that thought a lot about gender and again that is also why I was wondering about specific factors that you were looking for. Also, with respect ...you are chumming internet sites looking for people to study and how are you going to know the validity of their intersex condition?

I am an average person with an adrenal gland condition, thyroid condition, Gastrology condition, and cancer survivior. When you write average person? are you looking for someone without any health issues/conditions ? Why don't you consider me average? Why the need to maginalize?

[asia]

See, I asked if you knew anything about the conditions under the Intersex umbrella and you didn't give me a response which saddens me. i thought studies were supposed to require specific measures to them but maybe I'm not getting it. Persons with different intersex conditions would have different responces and also since medicine is forever changing-the response from someone that is say 35 would be drastically different than someone with the same condition that is just 26. That's why I was wondering the parameters of you study? Using "as a whole" when refering to intersex conditions is disrespectful but that is just my view.

I ask again why would you think that I would have views of sex or gender in general that would be any different than your own?

I am very sorry if my question felt disrespectful to you. That is the last thing I wanted.

As for your question about people with different intersex conditions having different experiences of and opinions about sex/gender, that is something I would have to learn as I spoke to them.

As I tried to explain before, I am exploring the question of whether the "taken for grantedness" of sex/gender characterizes the experiences of people with intersex conditions (again, not assuming that those experiences are all the same, but trying to learn about the similarities and differences). I am also not assuming the answer to this question one way or the other. I am equally interested in either outcome. From what you have said, I gather you don't think that your experience of sex and/or gender has much to do with your intersex condition.

I also wanted to say that I can understand why you would be more interested in other kinds of research - research that addresses the issues that matter most to you. If anyone reading this is interested and willing to talk to me, though, either over email, by phone or in person, I would be grateful.

Thanks,

Asia
afriedman@<hidden>

[Sunshine1]

If you understood the basic concepts about each intersex condition then you would already have the answer to your question.

I took a measurement class for my social work degree and was wondering what qualifications/characteristics you were asking for from your subjects.


I have been willing to talk with you ...given you insight and this is how I'm blown off?

I'm not doing research but rather have an idea that I would like to put in to action to help others with results. My interest in this is based on experience. Since intersex is just a medical term to me like finger nail ...nope no interest there but since I have CAH ...yep I am interested in medical professionals learning about it so that NOT another child or adult with CAH has to die in an ER.


How do you check the validity of doing studies like yours?