TY - JOUR
T1 - Gender by Dasein? A Heideggerian critique of Suzanne Kessler and the medical management of infants born with disorders of sexual development
AU - Baker, Lauren L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - This article explores the relationship between gender, technology, language, and how infants and children born with disorders of sexual development are shaped into intelligible members of the community. The contemporary medical model maintains that children ought to be both socially and surgically assigned and reared as one particular gender. Gender scholar Suzanne Kessler rejects this position and argues for the acceptance of greater genital variability through the use of language. Using a Heideggerian lens, the main question I seek to answer in this article is: does Kessler’s approach succeed in its aim to better treat individuals born with disorders of sexual development? I argue that Kessler is successful in offering practical solutions for persons with intersexed conditions to exist and flourish as intelligible members of the community, but that her project ultimately relies on power to “challenge forth” greater acceptance of genital variance. Building on the work of Kessler and Heidegger, I argue that a better approach to making intelligible the existence of an infant born with a disorder of sexual development is not to rely on the manipulation of language, but to instead reinvigorate a sense of the sacred in response to having an intersex condition.
AB - This article explores the relationship between gender, technology, language, and how infants and children born with disorders of sexual development are shaped into intelligible members of the community. The contemporary medical model maintains that children ought to be both socially and surgically assigned and reared as one particular gender. Gender scholar Suzanne Kessler rejects this position and argues for the acceptance of greater genital variability through the use of language. Using a Heideggerian lens, the main question I seek to answer in this article is: does Kessler’s approach succeed in its aim to better treat individuals born with disorders of sexual development? I argue that Kessler is successful in offering practical solutions for persons with intersexed conditions to exist and flourish as intelligible members of the community, but that her project ultimately relies on power to “challenge forth” greater acceptance of genital variance. Building on the work of Kessler and Heidegger, I argue that a better approach to making intelligible the existence of an infant born with a disorder of sexual development is not to rely on the manipulation of language, but to instead reinvigorate a sense of the sacred in response to having an intersex condition.
KW - Disorders of sexual development
KW - Gender development
KW - Infants and children
KW - Intersex
KW - Martin Heidegger
KW - Suzanne Kessler
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029810260&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11017-017-9424-x
DO - 10.1007/s11017-017-9424-x
M3 - Article
C2 - 28948447
AN - SCOPUS:85029810260
SN - 1386-7415
VL - 38
SP - 447
EP - 463
JO - Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics
JF - Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics
IS - 6
ER -