The question of consent for intersex people
[Music]
hello everyone
so essentially intersex people are
individuals whose
hormones chromosomes and body types
don’t fit a typical what we may call
male or female body
and these people aren’t rare per se they
make up
up to 150 people in the uk which is
higher than the number of ginger people
and people with green eyes
and ultimately these individuals are
subjected to what i may call
a very specific type of abuse
essentially whilst other people in the
lgbt community we might even say
uh have sort of the freedom to express
that or choose their preferred gender
ultimately intersex people are stripped
of the
uh stripped of this right through
through medically unnecessary corrective
corrective surgeries these surgeries
ultimately
aim to change the body types of intersex
people to conform to a male or female
body
and this is done to children as young as
as young as infants against their will
and these surgeries have even been
likened by the un and the world health
organizations to
other abusive practices such as female
genital mutilation
and ultimately this leaves intersex
people the silent majority of the queer
community
because whilst other queer people are
able to
as i mentioned relish in their true
gender intersex people
um don’t have the opportunity to choose
theirs instead that
and instead theirs is chosen to them by
essentially by essentially a surgical
scalpel
and essentially theirs is chosen to them
by
by a surgical scalpel and
many many walk through life completely
unaware of their intersex identity
with many with many surgeons having
deprived them of this knowledge
telling the pet telling the parents to
sort of conceal this what they call
a shape this shameful secret and many
intersex people only finding out about
this until well into adulthood
and the sheer number of intersex people
that exist
in the uk makes us wonder how many are
still hiding in the shadows
now ultimately what’s important to
acknowledge when we talk about this
issue
is that these surgeries aren’t actually
predominantly performed in developing
what we may call like culturally behind
countries in the global south
in fact the countries that are most
likely to pursue them
are people most likely to pursue them
are living in the west right now
so take for example in 2015 zimbabwe
created a task force to attempt to sort
of
eliminate these surgeries a practice
which only one western country malta has
successfully banned
and ultimately western nations try their
best to sort of
justify their complicity in what many
may call these human rights abuses
by arguing that these surgeries are a
way to sort of save intersex people from
leading a lonely life
of insecurity and discrimination many
people in the west
sort of condemn the marginalization and
the violence that a lot of intersex
people are subjected to in the global
self for example but
simultaneously uphold these medical
practices
because they see removing the
unconventional nature of intersex
people’s bodies as a sort of humane
gesture
to help them assimilate michaela rabb
for example was a german intersex woman
who when she sued her doctors for
performing surgery on her without a
consent the doctor said in court
that they’ve as a defense that they were
merely trying to save her
from the social discrimination that she
would have faced had she kept her sort
of
convention her unconventional intersex
body as they described
and this all highlights how a lot of
people or suggest how a lot of people in
the west view
the loss of intersex people’s identity
as sort of
a small price to pay for a lifetime of
what they
see as integration and not being
ostracized and seen as freakish or other
however assimilation is not acceptance
and
nor is it nor has it ever been been the
solution
so take so if we take for example
firstly the assimilation that does come
about from these surgeries
does not guarantee the great quality of
life that a lot of
these western nations are say are
claiming it does for example a lot of
intersex people who do undergo surgery
they a lot of them still face routine
discrimination
as well as the additional trauma of
potentially
developing a gender that doesn’t align
with the sex they were assigned during
surgery
but even disregarding this and assuming
that these surgeries are able to give
intersex people the wonderful good
quality of life
that they that they dream of ultimately
they still
they still at the end of the day place
society
parents and ultimately societies
discomforted feelings and
concerns and prejudices about intersex
people
above the child’s welfare take for
example
a lot of anti-lgbt people try to
disguise their prejudice and opposition
to the queer community
as a sort of preservation attempt to
uphold science and what they call
facts over felix a very common time
that’s been used but ultimately
i would i would incredibly question that
because surely forcing an intersex child
with an other otherwise natural body to
conform to an otherwise
unnatural and artificial idea of what
the normal or standard body should look
like
isn’t that the epitome of prioritizing
feelings in this case society’s feelings
regarding
intersex people above facts or in the
facts as as well as most importantly the
child’s welfare
when has assimilation ever been the
answer to oppression
do we demand to this extent that
therefore
gay people should try to hide their
sexuality to avoid discrimination
and if you say no then i question why we
should subject
intersex people to the same type of can
of conform conforming for conforming for
example
um conforming for example um
for example for for a society that for a
society that frankly
for a society that frankly places
society’s feelings above the child’s
welfare needs to critically think
rethink its concern for children now
that being said
you people watching this right now might
question well what can i do
in my everyday life to try to prevent
this um like i’m a small individual
compared to a big government that has
the power to actually
reform these laws and change them and
get rid of these
get rid of these non-consensual
surgeries but i believe that you as an
individual can do a lot
and i urge you as an individual to
question the ideas that
you have about consent because i i say
this because i believe
that the way we talk and look at consent
with regards to children
is incredibly important to trying to
tackle this issue of these surgeries
and the reason and the reason being is
that
um the reason being is that the way we
talk about consent
especially in schools is predominantly
limited
to consent in sex for example in sex ed
and that means that what’s left a lot
out of these discussions
is ultimately how consent relates to
children’s
children and their personal boundaries
for example
there were a bunch of studs a bunch of
stuff a variety of studies have
have shown that a lot of parents have
never asked
or like asked their children if they
were comfortable with physical contact
and this spurred the uk government 2018
to introduce
um consent classes in schools for
children to teach children as young as
four about personal boundaries
and ultimately these in classes spurred
black backlash amongst
a lot of parents who saw them as an
attempt by the government
by the government to try to police what
they say police the way they were
raising their children
and all raising their children
ultimately
this does suggest that a lot of parents
sort of don’t see or understand the
importance of
children learning about personal
boundaries and personal boundaries and
consent
and the reason why that is incredibly
important when we’re talking about
surgeries on
intersex minors is that children who
grow up to think that
ultimately consent is non-essential that
take for example if a parent or a
relative
cooks for them brings them a gift that
they’re entitled to a hug or physical
contact that the child would otherwise
not want
or that the child isn’t entitled to
their own personal boundaries however
young
will go these children will go on to
become adults who condone these
surgeries lawmakers who uphold them and
surgeons who
who perform them insurgents who perform
them
this issue of these surgeries is
inextricably linked
to a culture that sort of trivializes
the idea of consent in children
erases children’s agency over their body
and assumes parents the government and
doctors complete complete control and
doctors complete control
control over it and
complete control over it that being that
being said i urge everyone watching this
right now
to question their ideas about consent
maybe potentially potentially try to
change old patterns
um with how you interact with your ch
with children
how you teach them about personal
boundaries that before you would have
seen as harmless but
now you understand may send the wrong
message because i believe
i believe that whilst the government
sure has loads of power to reform these
surgeries i believe that it’s only
through us as individuals to create
small patterns and actions in our
everyday lives that we can truly tackle
this
this large issue thank you so much for
[Music]
listening
you