Criticism of normalizing medical interventions for atypical sex anatomies (or “intersex” bodies) has likened these practices to ritual genital cutting in the global south. In reexamining this comparison we may find unexpected insight into the motivation for normalizing genital surgeries in the global north, and encounter, too, troubling questions about the place of ethical deliberation in the care of children with atypical sex anatomies.
Ellen K. Feder works at the intersection of contemporary continental philosophy and feminist and critical race theory, particularly as these relate to matters of social policy. Family Bonds: Genealogies of Race and Gender applies Foucault's method to thinking about the intersecting "production" of race and gender, that is, how these categories are intelligible as categories, together with the way they come to make sense of us. Her current project, tentatively entitled Disturbing Bodies, extends the analysis to contemporary medical management of "intersex" bodies. Dr. Feder's recent work has been published in the Hastings Center Report, GLQ, and The Lancet. Dr. Feder has also participated in a task force charged with making recommendations about the current diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder for the forthcoming edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Feder's newest text, Making Sense of Intersex: Changing Ethical Perspectives in Biomedicine
