Thread by @knightktm

**BREAKING**

Join me tomorrow with @SeanSaifaWall @Pidgejen @interACT_adv @IndyaMoore + others to discuss the first US hospital to apologize for medically unnecessary surgeries on #intersex children and pledge to stop them.

Register for the Zoom event: hrworg.zoom.us/webinar/regist…

3 years ago @HRW published our first ever report investigating and exposing the human rights violations against children born with #intersex traits -- we spoke with intersex kids and adults, their parents, and doctors in charge of their care: hrw.org/report/2017/07…

A few months later we published a second report, this time foregrounding physician voices -- doctors who were terrified by the lack of regulation around these operations, despite the intersex community engaging an asking for it for decades: hrw.org/report/2017/10…

"Intersex" refers to bodies that differ from what is understood as classically male or female. This can be a variation in chromosomes, genitals, or hormones - or more than one of those traits. Here's an animated explainer:

In the 1960s, based on unproven recommendations of a psychologist, medical norms in the US and around the world changed dramatically. Doctors began recommending surgical solutions to the supposed intersex “problem.” @Karkazis documented this in her 2008 book.

When the generation of intersex people who underwent these unnecessary surgeries came of age, they started asking questions about their treatment, and demanding doctors stop the practice: hrw.org/world-report/2…

Today, the intersex human rights movement has blossomed into a global network of people fighting for bodily autonomy rights. See the Darlington Statement to understand their demands and priorities: ihra.org.au/darlington-sta…

Read @HRW's @Flip_Stewart's interview with @XOXYKZ about her work as an intersex activist pushing back against the harmful notion that intersex children need to be "fixed" -- hrw.org/news/2017/07/2…

Intl human rights bodies have called these surgeries rights violations. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child condemned medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children in reviews of #NewZealand, #SouthAfrica, #Switzerland, #Chile, #France, #Ireland, the #UK, and #Nepal

The UN Committee has demanded governments guarantee “the rights of children to bodily integrity, autonomy and self-determination, and provide families with intersex children with adequate counselling and support.”

In 2014 the Committee also said that govts should: “ensure that no one is subjected to unnecessary medical or surgical treatment during infancy or childhood, guarantee bodily integrity, autonomy and self-determination to children concerned.”

The United States is the only country in the world that has not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and also home of Dr. John Money, the architect of this paradigm of harmful "normalizing" interventions on #intersex children.

Other UN committees, such as the Committee Against Torture, have also condemned the surgeries - here's the chair, a physician, explaining his logic --

The @AmerAcadPeds has endorsed and supported US ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (cirp.org/library/ethics…) and made supportive statements for Intersex Awareness Day: aap.org/en-us/about-th…

But @AmerAcadPeds is still failing to protect intersex children from harm, despite evidence- and rights-based policies from peers at @GLMA_LGBTHealth @aafp and @NASPAG

[bit.ly/343PKfT]
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The doctors I interviewed overwhelmingly agreed the current system was not working, that #intersex people deserved better -- meaning they deserved to make their own decisions about their bodies and not have choices foreclosed because of parent or physician discomfort.

Despite this, many surgeons continue to push back and attempt to preserve the anti-autonomy paradigm. But intersex informed consent allies in medical community, like @IWGregorio and @SuperKnovaMusic are increasingly speaking out and being heard: chicagotribune.com/living/health/…

Check out this piece in @washingtonpost from 2017 by @NCaplanBricker:

After generations in the shadows, the intersex rights movement has a message for the world: "We aren’t disordered and we aren’t ashamed."

washingtonpost.com/sf/style/2017/…

So what has happened at @LurieChildrens this week is an important step -- acknowledging harm, pledging to put an end to it, and committing resources to community engagement. It's a model other hospitals should follow: cnn.com/2020/07/29/hea…