Who Deserves Protection? Understanding the Legal Silence on Intersex Surgery Aisling Reidy Female genital mutilation (FGM) is widely condemned across modern societies as an archaic, harmful act of violence which has no medical benefits against a non-consenting child. International efforts to end this practice have resulted in the criminalization of FGM in many western societies and condemnation under international law. However, intersex people routinely receive potentially harmful, medically unnecessary genital reshaping surgery in infancy. Similarly, male circumcision for non-medical reasons is widespread and legal across the world. These procedures escape much of the criticism and legal opposition that the first action faces, despite being similarly rooted in cultural-religious preference rather than health concerns. The differences between these procedures and the justifications for them have been discussed at length in legal and medical literature, yet there is still much ambiguity surrounding these inconsistencies. In many countries, the line between what is and is not legal in this area is carefully drawn to allow the surgical alteration of some infant genitalia, but outlaw the surgical alteration of ‘normal’ female genitalia. Does this constitute sex-based discrimination? Why is the difference between these practices so highly politicised? The relative silence on male circumcision and intersex surgery compared to the significant outcry against FGM raises questions about the construction of what is ‘normal’ in our society and who deserves protection. This paper intends to investigate the treatment of intersex people in our society, in law, and medicine. Through this examination, it becomes clear that there is systematic harm done to intersex people which is further compounded and entrenched by their lack of visibility in law. Comparing to male circumcision and female genital mutilation, the social meaning of these contentious practices and the complex barriers to regulating them will be explored. Defining Contested Terms To provide a comparative approach, these three terms (female genital mutilation, intersex surgery and male circumcision) will be understood in their broader sense. There are various conditions to which the label intersex applies, and these occur when “genetic and/or hormonal patterns cause an
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