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Knowing bodies : Making sense of Intersex/DSD a decade post-consensus

Lundberg, Tove LU orcid (2017) In Series of dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Social Sciences
Abstract
In this thesis, I address people’s experiences of being born with a body that does not meet the normative definitions of male or female. The situation when sex characteristics develop in ways that do not conform to binary models is referred to as intersex or disorders of sex development (DSD). This research has been done in the context of the 2006 medical consensus statement on intersex/DSD, and in the context of repeated human rights claims aiming to curtail medical interventions. Building on transformative and pragmatic theoretical understandings, I propose that what is conventionally considered to be knowledge, in this topic area, is built on diverse but specific kinds of knowing. I argue that the use of these kinds of knowing creates... (More)
In this thesis, I address people’s experiences of being born with a body that does not meet the normative definitions of male or female. The situation when sex characteristics develop in ways that do not conform to binary models is referred to as intersex or disorders of sex development (DSD). This research has been done in the context of the 2006 medical consensus statement on intersex/DSD, and in the context of repeated human rights claims aiming to curtail medical interventions. Building on transformative and pragmatic theoretical understandings, I propose that what is conventionally considered to be knowledge, in this topic area, is built on diverse but specific kinds of knowing. I argue that the use of these kinds of knowing creates gaps in research and clinical practice that, in turn, has consequences for people’s everyday lives and wellbeing. In this thesis, I empirically explore alternative kinds of knowing that address some of the gaps evident in the current literature.

The conclusions made in this thesis are that the specific experiences of having a certain body can be understood as contributory knowing that goes beyond what is presented in the medical, psychosocial or human rights literature in the topic area. This knowing involves developing language that works in everyday life (paper I), emotional and intellectual work that goes beyond medical information(paper II and III) as well as developing certain kinds of skills to handle everyday life (paper III). Finally, building on the insights from paper IV, I suggest that engaging with underlying understandings that shape lay and expert knowing might be more appropriate than highlighting certain principles in order to promote good care and human rights in the topic area. The pragmatic and flexible knowing of participants should inform future developments in research and health care, where an essential focus should be to continue to develop knowing that could be useful for people in their everyday life. (Less)
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author
supervisor
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
intersex, Disorders of sex development, Human rights, qualitative
in
Series of dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Social Sciences
issue
643
publisher
University of Oslo
project
The SENS project
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
5e8f9d4a-b453-45b3-89e3-6477b103553f
alternative location
https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/55654
date added to LUP
2019-08-19 18:10:15
date last changed
2021-03-22 17:25:57
@phdthesis{5e8f9d4a-b453-45b3-89e3-6477b103553f,
  abstract     = {{In this thesis, I address people’s experiences of being born with a body that does not meet the normative definitions of male or female. The situation when sex characteristics develop in ways that do not conform to binary models is referred to as intersex or disorders of sex development (DSD). This research has been done in the context of the 2006 medical consensus statement on intersex/DSD, and in the context of repeated human rights claims aiming to curtail medical interventions. Building on transformative and pragmatic theoretical understandings, I propose that what is conventionally considered to be knowledge, in this topic area, is built on diverse but specific kinds of knowing. I argue that the use of these kinds of knowing creates gaps in research and clinical practice that, in turn, has consequences for people’s everyday lives and wellbeing. In this thesis, I empirically explore alternative kinds of knowing that address some of the gaps evident in the current literature.<br/><br/>The conclusions made in this thesis are that the specific experiences of having a certain body can be understood as contributory knowing that goes beyond what is presented in the medical, psychosocial or human rights literature in the topic area. This knowing involves developing language that works in everyday life (paper I), emotional and intellectual work that goes beyond medical information(paper II and III) as well as developing certain kinds of skills to handle everyday life (paper III). Finally, building on the insights from paper IV, I suggest that engaging with underlying understandings that shape lay and expert knowing might be more appropriate than highlighting certain principles in order to promote good care and human rights in the topic area. The pragmatic and flexible knowing of participants should inform future developments in research and health care, where an essential focus should be to continue to develop knowing that could be useful for people in their everyday life.}},
  author       = {{Lundberg, Tove}},
  keywords     = {{intersex; Disorders of sex development; Human rights; qualitative}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{643}},
  publisher    = {{University of Oslo}},
  series       = {{Series of dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Social Sciences}},
  title        = {{Knowing bodies : Making sense of Intersex/DSD a decade post-consensus}},
  url          = {{https://www.duo.uio.no/handle/10852/55654}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}