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The march has started — participants are changing “what do we want? Bodily autonomy. When do we want it? Now!” Follow the live stream on Instagram here: https://instagram.com/fedupcollective?utm_medium=copy_link …pic.twitter.com/6hzuW640pz
For context, the bodily autonomy intersex people have been demanding for three decades means freedom from medically unnecessary "normalizing" surgeries -- including the three types of operations explained in this @HRW video:pic.twitter.com/aUAumAoEjR
Today's demonstration targets Weill-Cornell Hospital in New York City, where a prominent surgeon came to fame for not just performing "clitoral reduction" surgeries on children, but also using sensory devices on those kids' genitals post-op. More here: https://www.thehastingscenter.org/bad-vibrations/ pic.twitter.com/CegdSBOVEh
To be clear: this surgery is what it sounds like -- an operation to alter the size of a baby's clitoris because the appearance makes some adults uncomfortable.
As the inimitable @Pidgejen explained, it's a "clit job" -- and it robs the individual of choices about their body.pic.twitter.com/uHgq0Het8q
The #endintersexsurgery crowd has reached Weill Cornell and speakers are addressing the audience — https://instagram.com/fedupcollective?utm_medium=copy_link …pic.twitter.com/X9FgV2TBCS
During our research on the persistence of medically unnecessary "normalizing" surgeries on intersex children in the United States, @HRW met with the surgeon at Cornell in May 2017 -- our follow-up correspondence to that meeting can be seen here: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/lgbtintersex0717_web_0.pdf#page=175 …
Dr. Poppas replied -- you can see his response, in which he declined to answer the majority of our questions, here: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/lgbtintersex0717_web_0.pdf#page=180 …
Our full report on this serious human rights issue -- which was echoed by our partners at @LambdaLegal, @P4HR, and the @ACLU is available here: https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/07/25/i-want-be-nature-made-me/medically-unnecessary-surgeries-intersex-children-us …pic.twitter.com/mn5Nq6sjFc
Now the crowd is chanting: “autonomy, not surgery; keep your scalpels off of me.”
This was the same message former NYC health commissioner and pediatrician @DrOBarbot delivered in an oped on the issue: https://www.ozy.com/news-and-politics/scalpels-down-let-intersex-children-choose/95202/ …pic.twitter.com/MICiaVe1OQ
What's important to know about today's protest is that Dr. Poppas and his enabling institution are becoming outliers as more and more physicians, surgeons, and medical professional organizations speak out against these human rights violations. #endintersexsurgery
For example, see this paper by three former US Surgeons-General: https://www.palmcenter.org/publication/re-thinking-genital-surgeries-intersex-infants/ …pic.twitter.com/vBaNmWrLUg
Or this recent paper in the @JournalofEthics by three docs @DrBarbaraChubak @cjstreed @NatMulkey -- https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/call-update-standard-care-children-differences-sex-development/2021-07 …pic.twitter.com/VQk3OgJGsS
Or the paper "Conscientious Objection, Intersex Surgeries, and a Call for Perioperative Justice" by Dr. Nwadiogo Ijeoma Ejiogu -- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33079887/ pic.twitter.com/PZntPByLSz
Or the numerous pieces @IWGregorio has written as an allied surgeon who supports intersex bodily autonomy: https://www.newsweek.com/should-surgeons-perform-irreversible-genital-surgery-children-589353 …pic.twitter.com/3YcrWYyz7A
Or this piece by Dr. Scott Nass (@scottnassmd), president of @GLMA_LGBTHealth:
"Transgender and Intersex Kids Must Have a Voice in Health Care Decisions"
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/transgender-intersex-health-care-south-dakota/ …pic.twitter.com/pRXnyHbgR1
The dozens of doctors I spoke with for @hrw's research, when granted anonymity, were honest about how deeply uncomfortable they are with the lack of regulation around these surgeries -- we highlighted this in a 2017 report: https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/10/26/changing-paradigm/us-medical-provider-discomfort-intersex-care-practices …pic.twitter.com/nd0voC7U1z
At the United Nations, as 50+ condemnations of these surgeries have been issued, physician-experts have spoken up as well -- like this Danish doctor who chaired the UN Committee Against Torture.pic.twitter.com/GoRii0zWEX
And don't forget Dr. Katie Dalke's powerful piece -- as an intersex woman, a physician, and a parent: "Why Intersex Patients Need the Truth and Doctors Need to Listen" https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/why-intersex-patients-need-the-truth-and-doctors-need-to-listen/ …pic.twitter.com/HXm9xhJoCZ
And medical professional associations that have passed affirmative policies, such as @GLMA_LGBTHealth @aafp and @NASPAG
[https://bit.ly/343PKfT ]
[https://bit.ly/2Otql94 ]
[https://bit.ly/2CYIRAz ]
Or the hospitals in Boston, Chicago, and New York that *have* stopped doing these surgeries in the past year or so -- a process that started with listening to intersex communities: https://19thnews.org/2020/10/boston-childrens-hospital-will-no-longer-perform-two-types-of-intersex-surgery-on-children/ … https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/30/first-us-hospital-pledges-end-intersex-surgeries …https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/07/16/new-york-city-hospitals-prohibit-unnecessary-intersex-surgeries …
It's possible that Dr. Poppas and his peers will dig in and defend the human rights violations they commit -- @Karkazis explained this exact dynamic in her book on the issue: https://www.dukeupress.edu/fixing-sex pic.twitter.com/ATwLOxfV51
But justice is making moves - When I met Bo Laurent, one of the first out intersex activists in the US, she told me in the early 90s she thought: “Once doctors realize the harm they’ve done, they’ll change their minds and methods.”https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/global-5 …
It didn't quite happen like that - activists speaking up about the harms the surgeries have cause were met with gaslighting, obfuscation, and bullying from a medical establishment that largely wanted to maintain the "normalizing" status quo.
But tides are turning -- allied doctors, conscientious hospitals, and policymakers are taking action. As one of today's #endintersexsurgery protest organizers @xoxy_alicia wrote:
"One day, maybe soon, they will give up the game of trying to erase us."
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/opinion/trump-transgender-memo-intersex.html …pic.twitter.com/2ipqYZD5hb
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