Intersexuality and Discrimination: Silence as Family Violence

Isabel Maria Sampaio Oliveira Lima; Andréa Santana Leone de Souza; Jamile Guimarães; Ana Karina Canguçu-Campinho

Intersexuality and Discrimination: Silence as Family Violence

In: Sexuality, Oppression and Human Rights

Authors:

Isabel Maria Sampaio Oliveira Lima

Isabel Maria Sampaio Oliveira Lima
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Andréa Santana Leone de Souza

Andréa Santana Leone de Souza
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Jamile Guimarães

Jamile Guimarães
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Ana Karina Canguçu-Campinho

Ana Karina Canguçu-Campinho
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 99–112

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848884243_009

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Intersex refers to the condition at birth in which the sexual and/or reproductive organs do not meet society’s expectation of the male or female body. The condition of being intersex challenges the rigid cultural boundaries established between the sexes. In the context of family, silence and secrecy become common strategies upon the birth of the intersex child. The goal of this study is to analyse the processes of stigmatization and discrimination of intersex children from the perspective of their families. A qualitative methodology was used with a literature review and semi-structured interviews with family members. The literature reviewed showed the family as the locus of re-enactment and reinforcement of social representations of the intersex individual as ‘abnormal’. Considering the beliefs related to sexuality and to gender identity, the intersex child is perceived by the family as a challenge, provoking a variety of feelings among the family members. The family develops care practices seeking to hide and/or make invisible the child’s situation. Some of these practices reproduce the stigma associated with the intersex child. Stigmatization and discrimination are understood to be processes of debasement of the subjects. These processes, which create and strengthen social inequalities already present, also reflect levels of violence when committed within the family. The interface between intersexuality and family leads to peculiar stigma characteristics: the potential condition of debasement and/or social exclusion generates feelings of shame, anxiety and fear. The stigma extends to the child’s family circle. These feelings mobilize contradictory forces: strategies of denial and concealment lead to stigmatization, and end up intensifying the social discrimination of intersex children. In order to avoid exposing the children to situations and contexts of possible prejudice, the family imposes daily interdictions.

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Sexuality, Oppression and Human Rights

E-Book ISBN:: 9781848884243

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 01 Jan 2015

Subjects
- Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
  - Human Rights
- Social Sciences
  - Comparative Social Sciences

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Intersexuality and Discrimination: Silence as Family Violence

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Sexuality, Oppression and Human Rights

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