Human rights violations in normalizing procedures on intersex children

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5166160
AutoresPaulo Gilberto Cogo Leivas (0000-0003-2705-0078, Ministério Público Federal, Brasil; Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Brazil), Amanda De Almeida Schiavon (0000-0001-6286-7548, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul), Alice Hertzog Resadori (0000-0003-3198-1959, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre), Aline Aver Vanin (0000-0002-9984-6043, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Brazil; Universidade de Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil), Alexandre Do Nascimento Almeida (0000-0003-4485-9944, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre), Paula Sandrine Machado (0000-0002-2375-9461, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul)
Ano2023
Volume39
Fascículo1
Data de publicação2023-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCadernos de Saude Publica (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0102-311X • E-ISSN: 1678-4464
EditoraFapUNIFESP (SciELO) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1590/0102-311xen066322
OpenAlexW4319296383
SCIELO_PIDS0102-311X2023000103001
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas15

Intersex children in Brazil are still subjected to "normalizing" surgical procedures and subsequent bodily interventions to make their bodies conform to binary views of sex. Resolution n. 1,664/2003 of the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine legitimizes interventions upon intersex bodies, being the only national normative instrument that address the subject. However, the demands of international intersex political activism have denounced how early childhood interventions for sex designation mutilate children's bodies and violate a number of human rights. This research discusses how early, irreversible, and normalizing procedures performed without the intersex person's consent are human rights violations. Based on the concept of epistemic (in)justice, we first look at the disputes surrounding the evidence that underpin medical practices. We demonstrate how such procedures violate human rights to health, body integrity, autonomy, and sexual and reproductive rights, analyzing which strategies were put into place to prevent them. We propose that intersex people be at the center of decisions regarding their bodies, that non-surgical paths be discussed with patients and their family members, and that early, invasive, mutilating, harmful, cosmetic, and unconsented surgical interventions on intersex children be prohibited. Guiding tools must introduce changes into its regulatory bias to, from an interdisciplinary perspective, include bioethical and human rights bodies, as well as intersex activists

Bioethics · Bodily integrity · Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Sexual Differentiation and Disorders