Intersex and Identity: The Contested Self (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: medical sex assignment, intersex support, intersex medicalization, United States, Intersex Society of North America, John Money (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book is an invaluable resource in the ongoing discourse on the clinical management of intersexuality -- Walter Bockting, assistant professor, Program in Human Sexuality, University of Minnesota Medical School

This work is compassionate, intelligent, and beautifully written, and promises to be well read and highly valued -- Alice Dreger, author of Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex

Product Description

Approximately one in every two thousand infants born in the United States each year is sexually ambiguous in such a way that doctors cannot immediately determine the child’s sex. Some children’s chromosomal sexuality contradicts their sexual characteristics. Others have the physical traits of both sexes, or of neither.

Drawing upon life history interviews with adults who were treated for intersexuality as children, Sharon E. Preves explores how such individuals experience and cope with being labeled sexual deviants in a society that demands sexual conformity. By demonstrating how intersexed people manage and create their own identities, often in conflict with their medical diagnosis, Preves argues that medical intervention into intersexuality often creates, rather than mitigates, the stigma these people suffer.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (April 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813532299
• ISBN-13: 978-0813532295
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #396,535 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow - what an eye opener, August 12, 2007

By	J. Giambrocco "howardroarklover" (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting to learn what intersex means and what it means to be intersexed. The stories are heart breaking and heart warming all at the same time. I found myself experiencing a wide range of emotions from the deepest sense of compassion to outright rage at the medical community and the closed-minded behaviors of parents and families. There is so little known about this subject that the behavior of physicians and families isn't really all that surprising but it is still maddening! This book helped demystify the topic and make it a very real "condition" that needs much more than a biological definition and diagnosis. It pleases me to know someone is out there studying, learning and educating people on this topic. It is extremely complex and I look forward to seeing more mainstream literature on the subject.