The Epistemic Injustice Experienced by Intersex People: The Erasure of Intersex Bodies as Institutional Violence

Abstract

Intersex is an umbrella term for variations in sexual characteristics. Although 1.7% to 4% of the population is born outside the framework of sexual binarity, the bodies of intersex people are pathologized and, according to medical specialists, in need of “repair”. This institutional stigmatization takes the form of sex reassignment surgery or hormone treatments, justified by socio-cultural premises based on heterosexist norms. Medical discourse is based less on the health, physical and psychological dangers of intersex patients than on safeguarding gendered bicategorization. At the same time, individuals with intersex variations are demanding their right to self-determination, in particular through respect for their free and informed consent. Sex-assignment surgery, motivated and oriented by historically constructed gender binarity, lead to two types of epistemic injustice. A conceptual philosophical analysis of testimonial injustice and hermeneutic injustice will help us to understand the process of making intersex invisible through the epistemic relationship between intersex people and physicians.