Alice Dreger: DSD - Silencing intersex voices - France/Belgium/Luxemburg

Message of solidarity from OII-France,
OII-Belgium & Luxemburg

Response to blog entry entitled: DREGER IN DENIAL

We in France are deeply concerned about the DSD guidelines and the very terminology. First of all, no Francophone intersex voices were allowed input despite the fact that we wished to have some voice.

We find it alarming that we have consistently been silenced by the US intersex movement which at the same time has had big articles published in our French magazines about them and further making it more difficult for us to speak about intersex in our own country.

These guidelines have serious consequences outside the United States and since intersex organisations from the United States find it perfectly acceptable to take centre stage in France, we also find it disturbing that we were never consulted about any of these guidelines or terminology.

We fully support OII-USA and its efforts to expose the fundamental objections that we have in France to this US-based Consortium which is exporting this to other countries without input from those of us trying to have a voice in our own countries.

Mes amitiés,
Vincent Guillot
Spokesperson for OII – Francophone Europe
Blog: http://oii-france.blogspot.com/

Message from Camille: (orginal French follows)

"As an intersexed person who was "treated" in childhood without consent, I wish to extend my total support and solidarity with my intersexed brothers and sisters in the organization OII-USA in the struggle against the new "DSD consortium" which was elaborated without consulting with the intersex community and which uses terms which are stigmatizing, shameful and which serve as a vehicle for preserving normalization therapies which sacrifice the integrity of intersexed children in order to calm the anxieties of the parents and which work to maintain the binary sex system and the sexism of that system.

Camille Lamarre, France
PS:(Huge kisses of solidarity!)

"En tant qu'intersexué-e "traité-e" dans l'enfance sans mon consentement éclairé, je souhaite apporter mon soutien et ma solidarité totale avec mes frères et soeurs intersexes de l'organisation OII-USA dans leur combat contre le nouveau "DSD consortium" qui a été élaboré sans tenir compte de la communauté intersexe et dont le qualificatif de DSD est stigmatisant, infamant et qui vise à maintenir les thérapeutiques de normalisation , sacrifiant les intérêts et l'intégrité des enfants intersexes au profit de la tranquilité des parents et du maintien d'un système sexuel binaire et sexiste."

Camille Lamarre, France
PS:(grosses bises solidaires!)

Message of solidarity from OII-Belgium and Luxemburg

We are not “disorders” !

A North American organization, the "Consortium on the Management of Disorders of Sex Development" intends to impose the terminology "Disorders of sex development" in Europe, just as it is presently doing in the United States. This new terminology is to replace the term "intersex" which is more broadly used and this decision has been made without any consultation or agreement from the individuals or associations that represent them.

Those of us who were born with bodies and/or who have genders which are not typically male or female in Belgium and Luxemburg, demand the right to self-determination concerning our sex and gender assignments at birth and we join the Organisation Intersex International – USA in refusing any pathological labels whatsoever.

Furthermore, those of us in Belgium and Luxemburg who are not typically male or female by current standards, demand the right to self-determination and respect for our choice concerning sex assignments and we demand respect from the medical community and other associated health-care providers and we demand the right to health care that all human beings should have access to.

Edith Nagant
OII Belgium and Luxemburg - OII Europe
(Organisation Internationale des Intersexes)

http://oii-europe.blogspot.com/ http://www.intersexualite.org/Europe/-index.html

Réseau InterGenre-InterSexe

rsoigis@yahoo.fr
http://www.intersexualite.org/F-intergenre.html

Other related links on the DSD controversy:
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Three intersex activists defend children against pejorative terminology
Monday, September 11, 2006
DSD - Is there really a consensus?
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Handbook for Parents is transphobic and homophobic
Friday, September 22, 2006
DSD Consortium: Homophobia and transphobia exposed
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Alice Dreger: Disorders of Sex Development
Thursday, September 28, 2006
DREGER IN DENIAL
DSD - Silencing Intersex Voices – International support letters:
Alice Dreger: DSD - Silencing intersex voices - United Kingdom
Alice Dreger: DSD - Silencing intersex voices - Canada
Alice Dreger: DSD - Silencing intersex voices - France
Alice Dreger: DSD - Silencing intersex voices - Switzerland

For more articles on OII's website