Intersexuality and the Law

Winner of the 2013 Bullough Award presented by the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality

The term “intersex” evokes diverse images, typically of people who are both male and female or neither male nor female. Neither vision is accurate. The millions of people with an intersex condition, or DSD (disorder of sex development), are men or women whose sex chromosomes, gonads, or sex anatomy do not fit clearly into the male/female binary norm. Until recently, intersex conditions were shrouded in shame and secrecy: many adults were unaware that they had been born with an intersex condition and those who did know were advised to hide the truth. Current medical protocols and societal treatment of people with an intersex condition are based upon false stereotypes about sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability, which create unique challenges to framing effective legal claims and building a strong cohesive movement.

In Intersexuality and the Law, Julie A. Greenberg examines the role that legal institutions can play in protecting the rights of people with an intersex condition. She also explores the relationship between the intersex movement and other social justice movements that have effectively utilized legal strategies to challenge similar discriminatory practices. She discusses the feasibility of forming effective alliances and developing mutually beneficial legal arguments with feminists, LGBT organizations, and disability rights advocates to eradicate the discrimination suffered by these marginalized groups.

Julie A. Greenberg is Professor of Law and former Associate Dean at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and an internationally recognized expert on the legal issues relating to sex and gender identity.

Shu-Ju (Ada) Cheng:
Greenberg has written a highly accessible book for both the general public and academia. The writing style and her clear explanation of the theory are much needed in the literature on intersexuality.

Ellen Feder,author of Family Bonds: Genealogies of Race and Gender:
A careful, concise, and accessible analysis of legal issues that bear on the lives of those born with atypical sex anatomies, and an essential guide for those who choose gender reassignment as adults. This will be an invaluable source not only for all thosechildren and adults with intersex conditions, transsexuals, and their advocateswho have a stake in these matters, but it will also be essential reading for those in the humanities and social sciences reckoning with the harms experienced by those whose bodies transgress sex and gender norms.