User:Stm278/sandbox

Work I have contributed so far

added this to ISNA page on november 20th.

Patient-Centered Model

The ISNA advocated a move from what is called the Concealment-Centered Model to the Patient-Centered Model. This push was to move away from a model that teaches both that “intersex is a rare anatomical abnormality” and that there need to be immediate surgery to normalize the child’s abnormal genitals, and moved toward the idea that “intersex is a relatively common anatomical variation from the ‘standard’ male and female types”. The attempt is to treat intersex as something that is natural, as to not ostracize the intersex community.

The Patient-Centered Model wants people with intersex to be treated with the same ethical principles doctors show everyone else. One of the main things this implies is that newborn intersex genitals should be operated on, unless there need to be in order to maintain the child’s physical health. People with intersex should be allowed to opt for genital reconstruction, if they want to, when they can fully consent for the operations themselves.

The Patient-Centered Model also believes that “psychological distress is a legitimate concern and should be addressed by properly trained professionals”. This means that both people with intersex and family members who feel burdened in anyway should seek both the help of counselors trained in sex and gender issues and supports form a community of peers experiencing the same situation. This allows a network of support to help everyone through any trying times that might arise.

While some, like Dr. Anne Fausto-Sterling, see this new model that focus mainly on the interests of the patient as a opportunity to move away “from an era of sexual dimorphism to one of variety beyond the number two” (77), the ISNA still believes that “newborns with intersex should be given a gender assignment as boy or girl”. There reasoning is that and they think it would be impossible to know where male ends and intersex begins or where female ends and intersex begins and they want to “make the world a safe place for intersex kids”, and they believe that marking them as a third gender would exile them.

Then I added in two internal wikipedia links to "Anne Fausto-Sterling" and "Sex and Gender distinction"

My section plus a section added by Alexandra was reviewed later that day and the article was changed from a stub to a full article. (only edits made where placing periods in sources or compiling sources used multiple times)

On november 21st

I added a longer publication information to Anne Fausto-Sterling source I used

Added this photo to the INSA page

File:Intersex Society of North America Logo.png

Intersex Society of North America Logo.

Then I reformatted the "Alphonse Rebière" wikipedia article

Then I added a citation that was asked for to a previous persons work in the heading of the ISNA page

I combined sources used multiple times on the "ISNA" wiki page

added new section about reason why ISNA closed in 2008 on ISNA page

INSA closes

By 2008, even though ISNA felt that they were able to come to a “consensus on improvements to [medical] care” for people born intersex with a large amount of the medical community, they ran into many problems in implementing these ideas. There was a “concern among many healthcare professionals, parents, and mainstream healthcare system funders that ISNA’s views are biased”, and many of these people feared that they would be shunned by colleagues if they were it was found out they were associated with the ISNA. The ISNA decided its best course of action was to “support a new organization with a mission to promote integrated, comprehensive approaches to care that enhance the overall health and well-being of persons [who are intersex] and their families.” Therefore, in 2008, ISNA closed, transferring all of its left over funds, assets, and copyrights to Accord Alliance, an organization that opened in April of 2008, and that’s goal is to “improve the way health care is made available” to people born intersex.

New Work

Consensus Statement on Management of Intersex Disorders

Released in August 2006, the Consensus Statement on Management of Intersex Disorders was a document published in Pediatrics! that mapped out a new standard of care for people with intersex. According to the ISNA, it made three ground-breaking changes that advocated a Patient-Centered Model, a cautious approach to surgery, and an attempt to get rid of misleading language, all of which were backed by the ISNA

Patient-Centered Model

The ISNA advocated a move from what is called the Concealment-Centered Model to the Patient-Centered Model. This push was to move away from a model that teaches both that “intersex is a rare anatomical abnormality” and that there need to be immediate surgery to normalize the child’s abnormal genitals, and moved toward the idea that “intersex is a relatively common anatomical variation from the ‘standard’ male and female types”. The attempt is to treat intersex as something that is natural, as to not ostracize the intersex community and allow people with intersex to be treated with the same ethical principles doctors show to any other patient.

The Patient-Centered Model believes that “psychological distress is a legitimate concern and should be addressed by properly trained professionals”. This means that both people with intersex and family members who feel burdened in anyway should seek both the help of counselors trained in sex and gender issues and supports form a community of peers experiencing the same situation. This allows a network of support to help everyone through any trying times that might arise. The model also states that "care should be more focussed on addressing stigma, not solely gender assignment and genital appearance." The Model attempts to much more caring toward people with intersex.

While some, like Dr. Anne Fausto-Sterling, see this new model that focus mainly on the interests of the patient as a opportunity to move away “from an era of sexual dimorphism to one of variety beyond the number two” (77), the ISNA still believes that “newborns with intersex should be given a gender assignment as boy or girl”. There reasoning is that and they think it would be impossible to know where male ends and intersex begins or where female ends and intersex begins and they want to “make the world a safe place for intersex kids”, and they believe that marking them as a third gender would exile them.

Surgery and Intersex

With surgery, the ISNA wants to make it abundantly clear that newborn intersex genitals should not be operated on, unless there need to be in order to maintain the child’s physical health. It was (and to some extent still is) a common belief that a child's genitals needed to conform to average genitals of a male or female, so in the first 24 hours after birth, doctor's could undergo "extensive reconstructive surgery in order to avoid damage to the child's mental health” (56). On the other hand, the ISNA claims there is "no evidence that children who grow up with intersex genitals are worse off psychologically than those who are altered" and that there is "no evidence that early surgery relieves parental distress" They believe it to be inhuman to choice someone's genitals for them. This being said, the ISNA doesn't condone surgery in general, and believes that people with intersex should be allowed to opt for genital reconstruction, if they want to, when they can fully consent for the operations themselves.

Intersex Society of North America and Emphasis on Language

The goals of the ISNA were to: progress in patient-centered care, advocate a more cautious approach to surgery, and to get rid of misleading language. The last stated goal of the organization was to eradicate what the organization deemed as "misleading language" . The ISNA claimed that nomenclature based on hermaphroditism was stigmatizing to intersex individuals, as well as potentially panic-inducing to parents of intersex children. The suggested solution put forth by the ISNA was to restructure the system of intersex taxonomy and nomenclature to not include the words ‘hermaphrodite’, ‘hermaphroditism’, ‘sex reversal’, or other similar terms. This "standard division of many intersex types into true hermaphroditism, male pseudohermaphroditism, and female pseudohermaphroditism"is described by the ISNA and its advocates as confusing and clinically problematic.

Intersex in the Sex Anatomy Spectrum

The Intersex Society of North America claims that intersex is a socially constructed label that reflects actual biological variation. These variations range from chromosomal deviations from the standard male or female body, to deviations in reproductive organs that may or may not be visually expressed, to hormonal variations. The ISNA lists ambiguous genitalia as a commonly cited case of intersex, but there exist variations of lesser degree. The INSA claims that intersex anatomy is not always present at birth, and sometimes does not manifest until the age of puberty. Considering the wide range of variations that are considered intersex, as well as the perceived socially-constructed nature of gender and biological sex, the ISNA places intersex within a sex anatomy spectrum. The ISNA's argument is that intersex individuals can be thought of as being on a spectrum or continuum, in which there are no clear demarcations of where male ends and female begins.

The frequently asked questions about the Intersex Society of North America and biologist Anne Fausto-Sterlings "Of Gender and Genitals" both note how common intersex is. In one answer on the FAQ's it states that intersex is as common as "1 in 1500 to 1 in 2000 births" and in "Of Gender and Genitals" it states that albino births "occur less frequently than intersexual births". According to Anne Sterling, many male's are born with their "meautis" or "pee-hole" located in many different locations, rather than at the tip where it's supposed to be located, and so "many never knew they'd be urinating from the wrong place their entire lives." This as an example of why some would think albino births are more common than intersex births, because when a person is albino its a feature that you can notice on sight but you could see a dozen humans that fit into the term intersex and never even know it.