This document summarizes a presentation on resisting medical "fixes" for intersex and transgender individuals. It discusses the use of prenatal dexamethasone treatment for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, which some argue normalizes intersex genitals but may have health risks. It also examines disease models of gender identity that have been used to pathologize transgender people, and options for gender transition, noting that being transgender is not considered a mental disorder. The document advocates for policies of nonsurgical intervention for intersex infants and limitations on parental consent for cosmetic genital surgeries on infants.

1. Presented by: Adrian Van Ravesteyn, Diana Slade, Ruby Brown, Morgan
Slauter, Sandra Alvarado, Maria Meave
Resisting Medical “Fixes”

2. Film: XXY (2007)

3. It starts in the womb….
● Dexamethasone (Dex) is being prescribed to pregnant women whose
kids are at greater risk of being born with CAH (congenital adrenal
hyperplasia)
● CAH comes in several forms, affects the adrenal glands
● In girls, CAH can cause the clitoris to resemble a small penis, or the
vagina to become partly closed like a scrotum
● Prenatal Dex does not cure CAH, however researchers believe it
reduces the chance of girls’ genitals looking “different”

4. Concerns
● Testing done on pregnant lab animals shows that taking Dex can
cause the child to have severe health conditions.
● At the recommended stage, to begin taking Dex they don’t even know
if the embryo is a male or female or if they have CAH or not
● The FDA has not even approved the drug
● Despite the given doubts, this drug has still gained widespread
acceptance

5. Psychological Side of GID (Gender Identity Disorder)
History
● A salient issue in 1952
● Pervasive ‘mental’ disorder in the mid-
twentieth century
Arguments for and against the Mental Disorder Classification
● Is it a mental disorder?
● Physicians Vs. Social constructionists
● Genetics
● “A tool of social control that serves to pathologize ordinary human
diversity”

6. Why Does Luis Dress Like a Woman?
Frequently Asked Questions You Didn't Have The Courage To Ask Him Directly, So You Asked
His Closest Friends and Family.
Is he gay?
No. Due to mainstream portrayal of transgender folks, and mental health “professionals” ignorant in sexual biology,
the myth that gay men present as women to attract straight men was born – better yet, that deceitful gay men
stealthily present as women to attract unfortunate, well-intended straight men. Ask several gay men if they like to
dress like women and see how many say yes. She is transgender and her name is Khala.
How is she certain she’s transgender?
The same way you’re certain you’re cissexual
Why doesn’t she get psychological help?
If she were to see a competent mental health professional (which she has, by the way), the therapist would agree that
she is indeed a transgender woman (to keep it simple). There is no “cure” for being transgender because (despite
what the conservative right tries to argue) being trans is not a mental disorder. The outdated belief that it’s a mental
disorder stems from the notorious assumption that there exist only male and female, and that they are mutually
exclusive (hence they are not really “opposite” sexes….

7. Examining Disease Models of Gender Identity
● Psychosexual pathology (Bailey-Blanchard-lawrence (BBL) model
*The least scientific and most stigmatizing with roots in the eugenics movement of the 19th century.
● Psychopathology (GID model)
○ Considered legitimate within psychological literature
○ Requires diagnosis to receive access to trans health service
● Pathology (birth defect model)
○ More of a physical disorder rather than a mental.
○ Reinforces the social belief that the “purpose” or “function” of sex and sexuality is procreation

8. Identifying and Assesing Gender Dysphoria
Diagnosing Gender Dysphoria:
1. A strong and persistent cross-gender identification”
2. Persistent discomfort with his or her sex or sense of inappropriateness in the
gender role of that sex
3. Clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other
important areas of functioning
* In children, the desire to be of the other gender must be present and verbalized
* Gender dysphoria in DSM-V is separated from Sexual Dysfunctions and Paraphilic
Disorders.

9. Options
● Counseling
○ psychologist or psychiatrist
● Cross-sex hormones
○ provided by specialized clinics in Gender Dysphoria,
internists, endocrinologists
● Gender reassignment surgery
● Social and legal transition to the desired gender

10. Medicalization of Intersex & Transgenderism
● Erasing sexual ambiguity
● Gender binary ideology in medicine
● Keeping intersex reality secret from child to mold
them into given sex assignment
● Transgenderism in medicine
○ compliance to obtain health insurance
coverage

11. Article: Drop The Knife! Instituting Policies Of
Nonsurgical Intervention For Intersex Infants
Current state
● Parental legal consent
○ Heavy influences by medical professionals
○ Medically necessary surgery
● Difficulties of early genital cosmetic surgery
○ Medical intervention with less that favorable results
○ Possibility of transition later in life to gender opposite of that
assigned

12. Article: Drop The Knife! Instituting Policies Of
Nonsurgical Intervention For Intersex Infants
Cause For Action:
● Limiting parental legal capacity for consent to medical surgeries
● Allowing “X” marker on birth certificates
● International advocacy for Intersexed Human Rights
○ Columbia - consent restrictions (1999)
○ Germany - birth certificate (2013)

13. Questions?

14. References
Barnes, Whitney. (2001), The Medicalization of Transgenderism. TransHealth. Accessed: http://www.trans-health.
com/2001/medicalization-of-transgenderism/
Thorn, E. D. (2014), Drop the Knife! Instituting policies of Nonsurgical Intervention for Intersex Infants. Family Court Review, 52:
610–621.
(2015). Retrieved from http://www.slate.
com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/08/intersex_babies_should_you_treat_their_condition_with_prenatal_drugs_.html
XXY (Wanda Visión S.A., Pyramide Films, Fonds Sud, Ministerio de Cultura, Cinefondation, Historias Cinematograficas
Cinemania 2007).
Gender Dysphoria. (2013). Retrieved November 1, 2015, from http://www.dsm5.org/documents/gender dysphoria fact sheet.pdf
A defining moment in our history. (2004). Retrieved November 1, 2015, from http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/gender-identity.html
Khala Andrea (2015), Why Does Luis Dress Like a Woman? Frequently asked questions you didn’t have the courage to ask him
directly, so you ask his closest friends and family.