Cheryl Chase and the Intersex Movement
The Medical Production of Sex
Since our presentation is an introduction to intersex people and the intersex movement, it may be helpful to start with a brief history of the medical production of sex as a binary category. To organize this part of the presentation, this naturally splits into three sections: âpastâ, âpresentâ and âoh-my-god-the-medical-community-actually-does-that?â.
It seems that many people today are largely unaware or at least unversed in the realities of intersex people. However, much of the language used today has roots in time periods where intersex knowledge was generated very openly, even if it were problematically. Many people are aware of the term hermaphrodite. Many people are also unaware that the word has origins in Victorian England. According to the contemporary medical community, the necessary criteria for âtrue hermaphroditismâ were both ovarian and testicular gonads. What complicates this definition, however, was the medical technology available at the time: it did not allow confirmation of the presence of both gonadal tissues until after death. As such, any case of so-called sexual ambiguity was labeled pseudohermaphroditism, under the presumption that a true sex existed as either male or female, albeit hidden from proper determination.
The idea that hidden sexes are waiting to be uncovered through material determination continues its reign even today. The epistemology foundation of sex, though, has been more precisely constructed. Chase lists the way that the popular medical gaze projects biological sexes onto binaristic axes: âkaryotype (organization of sex chromosomes), gonadal differentiation (e.g., ovarian or testicular), genital morphology, configuration of internal reproductive organs, and pubertal sex characteristics such as breasts and facial hairâ (p 301). There is also the tacit presumption that an individual who possess either a male or female sex (i.e., a sexed individual), falls exactly on one side of all of these binaries; whereby one male or female sex characteristic necessarily begs each and only all of the others. Top medical organizations, such as the Mayo Clinic describe, for example, ambiguous genitalia as something that âgoes wrong during pregnancy to interrupt or disturb the fetusâs developing sex organsâ (Mayo Clinic Staff). This carries the implicit understanding that the only correct or even existing, healthy sexual development is the one that carries to a full term one of the two possible sexed characteristic sets.
This system of strict rhetoric and implication has disturbing consequences. A long tradition was started, primarily at the Johns Hopkins University at Baltimore, whereby the recognition of sexual ambiguity, sparks a violent correction through a highly rhetorized system of medical objectification and deceit. This response is justified by framing ambiguity as âso incompatible with emotional health that misrepresentations, concealment of facts and outright lying (both to parents and later to the intersex person) are unabashedly advocated in professional medical literatureâ (p 302). Most often the âfixâ is a clitorectomy: the process whereby most or all of a clitoris is removed in order to adjoin the genitalia to a less extensive, phallic appearance. Clitorectomies are preferred to building penile tissue (or implicitly, to doing nothing) because (and I emphasize that this is a quote from an actual, real doctor), ââYou can make a hole, but you canât build a poleââ (302). For those patients who are assigned male, as many as twenty-one surgeries are thrust upon the infant and adolescent, ending only once the child gains the ability to physically resist. The gross incredulity of this rhetoric is clearest when Milton Edgerton claims that, ânot one has complained of loss of sensation, even when the entire clitoris was removedâ (p 302).
Within Cheryl Chaseâs work titled Hermaphrodites with Attitude:Mapping the Emergence of Intersex Political Activism, Chase discusses in depth the phenomenon of intersex individuals. For instance, Chase illustrates how being born intersex may leave emotional, mental, and physical scars for certain individuals. Chase is one of those particular individuals who dealt with the hardships of being born with ambiguous genitalia. However, Chase made it through such hardships, found her true self, and later became an American intersex activist. Within her work, Chase incorporates her own personal narrative, which offers much insight in the life of an intersex individual. Cheryl Chase was born in 1956 in New Jersey with ambiguous genitalia. An intersex specialist took three days to tell the parents that their baby was a male with a micro penis, full hypospadias, undescended testes, and also an unfamiliar opening behind the urethra. Thus, Chase was raised as a boy for the first year and a half of their life. Chaseâs parents then decided to seek a set of doctors.According to Chaseâs work, she was admitted to the hospital for âsex determinationâ (303). Chaseâs genitalia was  later classified as an insufficient penis due to the fact that it wasnât long enough for penetration. Consequently, Chaseâs genitalia was relabeled as a vagina with a urethra, outsized clitoris, and labia after her oversized clitoris was removed. After the procedure, Chaseâs birth name no longer existed, any evidence of her as a boy were erased, her family moved to a different town, Chaseâs parents informed their extended family to not tell anyone, and not refer to her as a boy anymore. Within her work, Chase later discusses that when she was 8 years old she returned to the hospital for the removal of the testicular part of her gonads. Every time Chase went to visit the doctor, she was never informed exactly what was being done to her on that particular day. Chaseâs doctor visits always became mystery. Chase attended regular visits where the doctors photographed her genitals and âinserted a finger and instruments into vagina and anusâ (303). These visits eventually subsided once Chase began to menstruate. When Chase was an adolescent, she soon began to realize that something wasnât quite right about her anatomy. Chase describes this point of her life as the âbeginning of a nightmareâ (304). Chase became aware of the fact that she had no clitoris and no inner labia. Chaseâs discovery not only took a toll on her both mentally and emotionally, but also put a strain on her sex life. Due to Chaseâs surgical procedures as a child, she was unable to orgasm during any sexual encounter. Chase then began to take matters into her own hands and researched what could have happened to her. Within Chaseâs work, she discusses her attempt in obtaining her medical records. After three strenuous years, Chase finally gained access to her personal medical records. Once Chase obtained her medical records, the question to one of her many problem was finally answered. Chase finally learned that she was born as a âtrue hermaphroditeâ. She also learned that she lived the first year of her life as a boy. After Chase was exposed to the truth behind all her past doctor visits and hospital procedures, Chase began to spiral downward. Prior to Chaseâs discovery,  she identified herself as a lesbian. Thus, she felt as though she couldnât tell anyone and stated that she was âNo longer a woman in my own eyes but rather a monstrous and mythical creatureâ (304). Chase was traumatized and wasnât able to inform anyone about what she was going through. Unfortunately, this is the harsh reality of numerous individuals whom were born intersex. Due to Chaseâs hidden medical history, Chase began to question her true identity. For instance, Chase referred to herself as a âfreakâ that was incapable of loving or being loved. Chase then decided to seek mental help and began to visit a psychotherapist. However, these visits were proven to be ineffective. According to Chase, she would discuss issues concerning her true identity. Chaseâs identity was compromised because she felt as though she was no longer a woman.  Chase even contemplated suicide during a certain point. Instead of self-destroying her career, her success, and ultimately herself, Chase turned what happened to her from a negative and attempted to create something positive. In order to do so, Chase began searching for a community and ended up moving to San Francisco in 1992. There she became a part of the Transgender Nation (TN) and was thus invited to a New Woman Conference retreat which then gave her the idea of creating the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA). When Chase first started ISNA she knew that she wanted to change her legal name but did not know what name she wanted, she ended up changing this in 1995 but as her pseudonym âCheryl Chaseâ began to be known she continued to use this in her work on intersex issues until 2008 (ISNA). Then in 1997 Chase created Hermaphrodites Speak!, which was the first documentary in which intersex people were able to speak honestly about their personal experiences (ISNA). Chase has received the 2000 Felipa de Souza Human Rights Award for continuing efforts to improve the medical and social treatment of intersex people (ISNA). Chase has also appeared in many television and radio programs like Newsweek, the New York Times, NPR, NBC Dateline etc., (ISNA).  Chase moved on from ISNA to Accord Alliance as a member of the Advisory Committee, which was established in 2008 to âpromote comprehensive and integrated approach to care that enhance the health and well-being of people and families affected by disorders of sex developmentâ (ISNA). Chaseâs story is a prime example of some negative side effects that are linked to infants who are hormonally and surgically altered to create a more acceptable member of society. However, Chase didnât allow what occurred to her to define her entire life but rather used it as a way to help others and advocate for intersex rights.
Cheryl Chase is the founder of an organization called ISNA, Intersex Society of North America created in 1993. Chase began this organization with a couple of goals. First, she wanted to appeal to people who had significant experiences within the intersex community. Secondly, Chase wanted to change the fundamental approaches within the medical field towards babies and children born with âsexual abnormalitiesâ. Giving parents the information and tools in which to make informed decisions go against the current medical establishment. Chase has tried to expand this organization and redefine the norm medical establishmentâs definitions. Â
Chase used many authors and real life experiences as inspiration to create this organization. Authors such as Kate Bronstein, Lou Sullivan (FTM activist), Morgan Holmes, Susan Stryker, and Sandy Stone pioneered the field for Cheryl Chase. Anne Ogborn invited Chase to a weekend retreat called New Woman Conference, where transgendered women could bond over their similar experiences. This experience gave a glimpse into the opportunity to create a more inclusive and safe community to help with the troubles and share the joys. This glimpse was the beginning of ISNA.
The ISNA has helped politicize the issues that affect newborns born with an ambiguous sex. The information and support system that the ISNA brings to parents, that are completely uneducated about such conditions, is making progress towards a liberation from previous medical concepts. There have been other organizations that have sprouted such as HELP (Hermaphrodite Education and Listening Post), Ambiguous Genitalia Support Network, and the Genital Mutilation Survivorsâ Support Network.
ISNA has funding provided by support groups such as Arcus Foundation, Gill Foundation, and individual donors. While there have not been major legislative agendas for ISNA they have made significant strides to bringing the gender assignment of minors to the forefront. They have made it a priority to educate the public on the importance of âchoiceâ being involved. There have been alliances with such groups as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and other lesbian political organizations. These alliances make it possible for broader groups to lobby important intersex agendas. Bill Byne, queer psychiatrist and Mount Sinai Hospital has also endorsed the efforts of ISNA.
ISNA is a work in progress and provides the intersex community with the support group and advocacy that is needed. Cheryl Chase has fulfilled a void in the community by bringing attention to important issues that face these underserved people. Chase claims that anywhere from 1 in 2000 to 1 in 4500 children are born with intersex qualities, which is as common as cystic fibrosis. Thanks to her work families no find it possible to get further help and advice from other sources.
The Exoticization of Female Genital Mutiliation
Cheryl Chaseâs section on female genital mutilation or FGM discusses how in other countries such as Africa, genital cutting or circumcision is seen as FGM while in the United States similar practices such as procedures performed on intersex folks are not seen in the same light. They are accepted through the idea that it is a normalized medical practice. She writes that the identity of being intersex is something that has not been seen commonly due to it being kept in the medical field because it is addressed at birth. This is an identity that one is born with yet is seen as acceptable to control for the individual from the medical perspective. Why has the medical world not taken on the power role of âfixingâ other identities as they do with intersexuality? It could be due to the fact that they cannot physically see those identities at birth but this doesnât give doctors more of a right to dictate the gender of a person who isnât even old enough to understand gender in the first place. Â As stated in this section, some hospitals see the birth of an intersex child as something they must diagnose as if there cannot possibly be a new version of normal. Doctors believe they are preventing feelings of social alienation however, making a choice for somebody before they have made it for themselves can prove to be risky. They are exposing folks to a large amount of surgeries which can be dangerous but also without knowing if that is how the child will identify in the long run. As discussed in the article by Chase, the decisions made by medical professionals seem to be based more so on the assumption about how the child will be accepted according to the structure of their body and genitals. For example, the idea that it is better to choose the gender of female rather than allowing a male to grow up with a smaller penis.
The controversy is not only in regards to decisions within the medical field/discourse. After the linguistic change from female circumcision to female genital mutilation or FGM, the United States Congress passed the Federal Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act in 1996, which used language excluding the âcorrectionâ of intersex bodies. This law was primarily aimed at preventing the practice of FGM and the spread of this practice within immigrant populations coming to the U.S, primarily women from Africa.
The spread of public outrage centers on FGM in Africa, and anti-FGM activism in the US is focused outside of the country (primarily focused on Africa). However, Chase discusses how through multiple and expansive ISNA outreach, to journalists discussing FGM and anti-FGM activists, has been ignored. Anti-FGM activistsâ justification for ignoring ISNAâs overtures was that they were focused on combating âharmful cultural and traditional practicesâ (311).
Chase argues that this separation of discussion is because âtheirsâ is seen as âbarbaric ritualâ whereas âoursâ (in the U.S) is scientific, it is a difference between disfigurement vs normalizing what is considered deviant (311). Even medical texts support this differentiation between disfigurement and deviance. Chase mentions the Life magazine spread where there is a young women in Africa being held down and there were âunseen hands cut[ting] her genitalsâ where the girls face was in full focus and in pain (311). Whereas in medical textbooks describe the process of âcorrectingâ intersex surgery with close-ups of genitals or body shots where the face/eyes are blocked from view. This kind of detachment from the individual creates a barrier between the doctor and the patient, and lacks humanity. Whereas the Life magazine picture, by showing the face of the person experiencing the trauma, is automatically connected to the viewer and there is no question of understanding and empathy.
    Although the author does not argue that these two procedures are identical, the author calls into question the validity of outrage only being directed towards African FGM victims. The author hints that this discussion may be tied to ideas of American exceptionalism, racial factors, and the idea of the âotherâ. But what is very clear is that the author views the lack of discussion on medical procedures in regards to intersex individuals as a failing of first-world feminist discourse, and a necessary conversation on U.S policy and social discussion.
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Chase, Cheryl. âHermaphrodites with Attitude.â The Transgender Studies Reader. Ed. Susan Stryker and Stephen Whittle. London: Routledge, 2006. 300-14. Print.
âDoes ISNA Think Children with Intersex Should Be Raised without a Gender, or in a Third Gender?â Does ISNA Think Children with Intersex Should Be Raised without a Gender, or in a Third Gender? ISNA, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
âFunders.â Funders. ISNA, 21 Feb. 2006. Web. 15 Feb. 2016.
ISNA. âCheryl Chase (Bo Laurent).â Cheryl Chase (Bo Laurent) | Intersex Society of North America. Intersex Society of North America, n.d. Web. 21 Feb. 2016.
Mayo Clinic Staff. âAmbiguous Genitalia.â Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic, n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2016.
