Intersex

Intersex draws heavily on the personal testimony of intersexed individuals, their loved ones and medical carers. The impact of early sex-asignment surgery on an individual´s later life is examined within the context of ethical and clinical questions. Harper challenges the conventional and radical ´treatment´ of intersexuality through non-consensual infant sex-assignment surgery. In doing so, she exposes powerful myths, tabooks and constructions of gender - the perfect phallus, a bi-polar model of gender and the infalibility of medical decisions. Handling sensitive material with care, this book deepens our understanding of a condition that has itself only been medically understood in recent years.