From misrecognition to autonomy
Advancing human rights for intersex adolescents
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21696800 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sophy Baird (0000-0002-8352-8366, University of Pretoria, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-23 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The International Journal of Human Rights (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1364-2987 • E-ISSN: 1744-053X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13642987.2026.2691749 |
| OpenAlex | W7165637304 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 40 |
Intersex adolescents occupy a critical yet neglected position in international human rights law. While global advocacy has increasingly condemned non-essential surgeries on intersex infants, the unique rights of adolescents, whose evolving autonomy requires direct participation in healthcare decisions, remain under-theorised. This article argues that the Convention on the Rights of the Child, read through Articles 5, 12 and 24 together with General Comment No. 20 (2016), requires a presumption of deferral for all non-urgent, irreversible procedures until informed adolescent consent is possible – whether that consent ultimately affirms or declines intervention. It further advances a recognition-theoretical framework, drawing on Honneth, to demonstrate that respectful adolescent participation is not solely a matter of cognitive capacity but of social and institutional affirmation. Surgical interventions performed without adolescent consent constitute institutionalised misrecognition and violate the rights to bodily integrity, identity and an open future. By integrating doctrinal analysis with recognition theory, the article proposes a transformative legal model for adolescent decision-making that centres dignity and relational autonomy as foundational. It concludes with practical recommendations for States to prohibit non-consensual surgeries, embed participatory rights in intersex healthcare and ensure that intersex adolescents are recognised as full rights-holders capable of shaping their own embodied futures
Autonomy · Dignity · Human rights · Human sexuality · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Sexual Differentiation and Disorders
Contesting Intersex
Consensus Statement on Management of Intersex Disorders
Transitional P aternalism
The International Law on the Rights of the Child
Perspectives on conducting “sex-normalising” intersex surgeries conducted in infancy
The Growing Visibility of Intersex Demands at the United Nations
How common is lntersex? A response to Anne Fausto‐Sterling
The principle of child autonomy
Emotionally and cognitively informed consent for clinical care for differences of sex development
Recognition and social freedom
Intersex human rights
The sociology of childhood and children's rights
Shifting syndromes
Bodily Integrity, Embodiment, and the Regulation of Parental Choice
Cultural Awareness of Intersex in Malta
You're basically calling doctors torturers
The human rights of intersex people
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |