Abstract
Intersexuality and the Law is a groundbreaking book that makes a substantial contribution to the field of gender studies. It is the first book to examine how law could be used to improve the lives of people with an intersex condition.
Doctors commonly treat the birth of an intersex child, or a child with atypical genitalia, as a medical emergency and regularly excise healthy tissue through cosmetic surgeries meant to “normalize” markers of sex as clearly female or male. In Intersexuality and the Law, Greenberg explores how legal challenges could help accomplish the intersex movement’s goal of preventing cosmetic surgeries on intersex infants and children. She also makes a compelling case for intersex activists to build deeper alliances with the more well-resourced and experienced disability rights, human rights, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements.
Greenberg argues that homophobia and sexism are at the root of both the surgical “clarification” of bodies that have intersex features and the oppression of people who are LGBT. In linking these issues, Greenberg provides a comprehensive review of law pertaining to sex/gender categories and the ways they are articulated in marriage, identity documents, housing regulations, and the gendered use of public restrooms.
To increase the rights of people who have intersexed anatomies, Greenberg recommends developing a number of legal strategies, including enhancing the informed consent procedures for parents when providing consent on behalf of their children; delaying cosmetic surgeries until children are able to provide their own consent; requiring an ethics committee or court of law to issue consent for surgery on a child; or requiring that both an ethics committee and a court of law provide consent for surgery on an intersex child, thereby protecting the child’s right to bodily autonomy.
The timing of this book’s publication is prescient for both intersex and LGBT rights. Within just a year of the book’s publication, the very first federal and state lawsuits were filed on behalf of a child born with atypical genitalia. According to Advocates for Informed Choice, these lawsuits claim that cosmetic surgery on intersex infants and children violates basic human rights. Moreover, at the time of this writing, same sex marriage is legal in 14 states and the District of Columbia (as opposed to five states and D.C. at the time of the book’s publication) and the U.S. Supreme Court repealed certain provisions of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, two pieces of legislation that limited the institution of marriage to one woman and one man without clearly defining what makes one a “woman” or a “man.” Furthermore, the United Nations denounced cosmetic surgery on intersex infants and children in its 2013 Special Rapporteur on Torture.
While Greenberg’s argument is well structured and timely, there are some minor weaknesses in the book with regard to how she presents the history of the intersex movement and her assessment of feminists’ work in this area. Greenberg is inconsistent in how she defines the movement’s history and its scope. For example, she attributes the beginning of the intersex movement to the founding of the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) in 1993, while there were already intersex support groups in existence several years before ISNA formed. Moreover, at times, Greenberg seems to equate the intersex movement with ISNA itself, discounting the tensions within the movement, while in other areas of the book she notes the movement’s diversity and struggle to frame itself in a way that mobilizes the most and alienates the fewest resources. Greenberg also refers to the movement as being in its infancy, despite providing a comprehensive review of the history of the movement which spans more than 25 years. Given the depth of her work on LGBT and intersex issues, Greenberg surprisingly conveys a relatively narrow conception of feminist scholarship on intersex. She overlooks the work of a variety of feminist organizations and scholars, claiming that feminists have historically ignored intersex issues and the intersex movement. For example, she fails to mention the National Organization for Women’s 2001 resolution condemning unnecessary surgery on intersex infants and feminist medical sociologist Monica Casper’s temporary leadership of the Intersex Society of North America in 2003 and her role in establishing its Medical Advisory Board.
With the exception of these minor limitations, Greenberg ably meets her goal of assessing how the law and collaboration with other social justice movements could be used to protect the rights of people with intersex conditions. I highly recommend Intersexuality and the Law. It is a well-written, accessible, and significant book that proves to be auspicious in its timing and scope.