Articles by Leslie J

Toeing the Party Line

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  “Lies, damn lies and statistics” ~ attrib. Benjamin Disraeli “My point, however, is that intersexuals are not as rare as people may think” ~ Anne Fausto-Sterling Who is privileged enough to hold forth on who is, and is not, intersex, and what even intersex means, if it is understood at all, was long ago…
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Say my Name: politicisation of the body and the legitimisation of institutionalised violence toward intersex children

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There is no surprise that clinical psychologists hold conferences, nor that they write up their conclusions of the meetings and debates they attend. Except that something at a conference in 2000 held by the Tavistock/Portman clinic caught one of the attendees askance: a conference on gender identity entitled “Atypical Gender Identity Development: Therapeutic Models, Philosophical…
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Intersex Activism – Aims and Goals

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Current Intersex Activism strives toward achieving complete personal autonomy and bodily integrity for everyone born Intersex At present intersex activism engages with human rights NGO’s using two statements as the basis for securing intersex legal protections.  These statements were compiled at two international meetings of intersex advocates: one meeting was the 3rd International Intersex Forum,…
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Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on torture

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Juan E. Méndez, the Special Rapporteur assesses the applicability of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in international law to the unique experiences of women, girls, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons. Building on the Special Rapporteur’s ground-breaking report of 2013, that called for the end…
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Intersex Shaming in the Media

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How Intersex is understood and percieved by wider society is inexorably influenced by how it is presented in the media, in print, and even more so via electronic media. It is vanishingly rare for intersex advocates to be given a platform to voice the concerns surrounding intersex human rights.  More often than not it is…
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How to be a Great Intersex Ally

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How to be a Great Intersex Ally

A new booklet authored by Dan Ghattas, and published by ILGA Europe and OII Europe outlines the case for intersex rights, and protections.   Written in a very accessible style, it is highly readable, and very clearly laid out.   The booklet begins with an outline of what intersex means, the booklet moves on to illustrate…
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