I know I’m late to the game here, but I just saw the film XXY. I was reluctant to see it because I’ve seen way too many TV programs etc on intersex that just make me cringe and I tend to be nervous about most films that center on issues of gender or sexual variance for fear they’ll be either exploitative or strident. But when Ellen Feder told me to see it, I decided [...] Continue Reading…
I am a medical anthropologist and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Biomedical Ethics at Stanford. For more information about my work, see the other sections of the website. News is posted below. (The tag line above is shamelessly adapted from Hendrik Hertzberg's blog.)
When to Stop Cancer Treatment
Jane Brody, of the New York Times, has a nice piece about the difficulty of determining when to stop treating cancer and instead turn toward palliative care. Much of what she writes in the piece applies to other conditions. You can find it here.
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Doctors Can’t Discriminate (at least in California)
On Monday the California Supreme Court rule unanimously ruled that doctors cannot refuse to medical care for gays and lesbians based on the physicians’ religious beliefs. The constitutional right to exercise free religion does not allow businesses to skirt California state law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The case that led to this ruling began in 1999 when Guadalupe Benitez, a lesbian, went to two doctors for fertility treatments. Both doctors refused [...] Continue Reading…
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More on the Olympics and "Gender" Testing
The Chinese media today had a story on a visit to the Beijing Olympics Gender Testing Lab. The article makes it sound as though male athletes masquerading as women is a persistent problem. But, really, it’s one that has been made problematic anew for the Beijing Olympics.
The issue first came up decades ago when it was alleged that male athletes were trying to complete as women in international sports competitions. So-called sex testing—basically chromosomal [...] Continue Reading…
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Good Morning America, Medical Mysteries, and AIS
Today, Good Morning America profiled Eden Atwood, a singer and actress with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. In general, it’s a sensitive portrait (aside from the screen caption “She’s a girl…or a boy?”) in which she discusses some of the pain that resulted from how her clinicians and parents responded to her condition. A priceless moment is when the interviewer is talking to physician Charmian Quigley. As she is describing the typical anatomy of a woman [...] Continue Reading…
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"Gender" Testing at the Olympics
You knew this had to be coming. The AP has a story saying that China’s state media has reported that organizers of the Beijing Olympics have set up a “gender determination lab” to test female athletes suspected of being males. How, you might be wondering, will they decide whom to test? Well, it’s said experts will initially evaluate individuals based on their external appearance. (I would love to know what kind of experience qualifies [...] Continue Reading…
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International Intersex Activism
Last month, activists from Intersexuelle Menschen e.V., an international organization representing several intersex advocacy groups, protested outside of the Children’s Hospital in Zurich. It looks a lot like the protests ISNA organized in 1996 outside the annual meeting of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Protestors in Zurich carried signs that read ”Human rights for zwitters too.” Apparently “zwitter” is pejorative term for hermaphrodite that activists have reclaimed. (They also held a protest in Cologne in [...] Continue Reading…
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The Cancer that Haunts
In October 2006 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I spent the next ten months undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, the last session of which was July 17, 2007. That day marks the end of treatment though I still take drugs every day to keep the cancer at bay. Last week marked the end of my first year out of treatment. What has struck me about my cancer treatment experience is that when I [...] Continue Reading…
Prenatal Dexamethasone: A Call for Caution
Dexamethasone, or DEX as it is called, is a powerful steroid that has been administered to pregnant women who have previously given birth to a child with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). The aim is to minimize (or altogether prevent) the virilization of the female fetus’s genitals that happens in utero. It’s a practice that has been going on for over two decades.
Genital development occurs early in pregnancy, so DEX is typically given as soon as the [...] Continue Reading…
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Vagina Spa?
It’s hard to believe, but the New York Times has a piece on spas for the genitals. It’s called phit, which stands for pelvic health integrated techniques. The spa will offer standard gynecological services, but, as you can imagine, it’s also got plenty to make women feel their genitals are unsightly and inadequate as is. Indeed, women who aren’t into keeping their pelvis fit may well suffer from a vagina that is “almost scrotal, [...] Continue Reading…
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