Georgetown Law Journal
November, 2003
Westlaw ©2003 cite as 92 GEO L.J. 129 reprinted with permission of the author

Note

*129 WHO DECIDES? GENITAL-NORMALIZING SURGERY ON INTERSEXED INFANTS
Alyssa Connell Lareau [FNa1]

page 15

[FN54]. See John Colapinto, The True Story of John/Joan, ROLLING STONE, Dec. 11, 1997, at 54, 66 (relaying John/Joan's brother's account of the social rejection and cruel treatment Joan received at school, which included daily teasing for acting like a "tomboy").

[FN55]. See lain Morland, Correspondence: Management of Intersex, 358 LANCET 2085, 2085 (2001) (noting that intersex "[v]ictims of bullying are not at fault, just as the physically impaired person is not inherently disabled; rather, their environment is disabling"); cf. Chai Feldblum, Rectifying the Tilt: Equality Lessons from Religion, Disability, Sexual Orientation and Transgender, 54 ME. L. REV. 159, 181-82 (2002) (noting that society has created "norms [that] have arisen out of the cumulative set of actions and decisions taken by our society over time--with any disadvantages resulting to other members of society largely ignored and unacknowledged during that time" and that for those who do not fit the norm, "the ground is on a tilt--because there is something about the reality of their lives that is different from the societal norm").

[FN56]. See, e.g., Minto et al., supra note 52, at 2085.

[FN57]. Dreger, supra note 53, at F4.

[FN58]. Dreger, supra note 6, at 31-32 (noting the detrimental psychological effects of intersexuals' memories of being treated with pity, being "normalized," and not being told the truth about their condition, which was kept as a family secret); Colapinto, supra note 54, at 68 (John recalled dreading and resisting follow-up visits to Johns Hopkins because of the "the idea that something happened to you ... but you don't know what" and because he was forced to stand naked in front of researchers, which made him shake with anxiety).

[FN59]. Riki Wilchins, A Girl's Right To Choose: Intersex Children and Parents Challenge Narrow Standards of Gender, NAT'L NOW TIMES, Summer 2002, available at http://www.now.org/nnt/summer-2002/intersex.html (last visited Nov. 10, 2003).

[FN60]. See Blizzard, supra note 12, at 617 (noting that recent studies found that "either male or female sex of rearing can lead to successful long- term outcome for the majority of cases of severe genital ambiguity"). Blizzard seems to suggest that data from a recent Johns Hopkins study reaffirms Money's position: "The data ... can be interpreted to indicate that establishing one's gender identity is usually malleable ... [and that] infants with ambiguous genitalia can or could adapt to being assigned to either sex." Id; see also Jurgensen, supra note 7 (citing Johns Hopkins study of thirty-nine adults who were born with ambiguous genitalia in which 76% of the men and 78% of the women were satisfied with the sex assigned at birth).

[FN61]. See William Reiner, MD, To Be Male or Female--That Is the Question, 151 ARCHIVES PEDIATRIC & ADOLESCENT MED. 224, 224-25 (1997) (recounting studies that document the experiences of several adults who were assigned as females at birth due to inadequate or destroyed penises and who ultimately rejected their female gender assignments).

[FN62]. See Daaboul & Frader, supra note 39, at 1579 ("Neither Money nor other practitioners made systematic attempts to collect data necessary to confirm or refute the validity of their approach. The few studies include small groups of patients and do not use comparative designs, resulting in confusing, somewhat contradictory conclusions.").

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