Intersex Surgeries, Circumcision, and the Making of “Normal”

Abstract

So-called “normalizing” surgeries for babies born with various intersex conditions (atypical sex development) as well as infant male circumcision have come under scrutiny in recent years by philosophers, ethicists, and medical professionals. This chapter draws from my recent book, Bodies in Doubt: An American History of Intersex (Reis 2009) and argues that, historically, doctors have performed surgeries on infants and children for non-medical reasons. In the case of intersex, surgery was performed so that the baby’s external genitalia would align with the gender in which the baby would be reared, supposing (but without substantive evidence) that the child would develop more normally if its gender and physical appearance cohered. Social factors, such as the potential for marriage and the fear of homosexuality, in particular, have motivated these surgeries since the early nineteenth century. Similarly, male circumcision has been motivated by social rather than medical concerns, the incidence increasing and coinciding with the fear of masturbation in nineteenth-century America. As one contemporary doctor has noted, perceptively, circumcision has been a “surgery in search of a disease.” My chapter will look at both kinds of genital surgeries, suggesting that irreparable procedures should not be done on infants, with of course the exception of life-saving operations. As intersex children grow older, they can make such decisions for themselves, as can intact boys or men.