Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Fixing Sex - A Tour de Force (Book review)

Fixing Sex is the best book I have ever read over the years which deals with the ethical issues which have plagued the intersex community, parents and doctors. One reason is that it is meticulously researched and in the introduction, the author helps the reader understand her methodology and also makes it transparent and easy to grasp for the reader who is not familiar with such research.

The author is also very accurate about the medical aspects of various intersex conditions (something that often was not true with previous books by researchers dealing with the ethical debate, unfortunately.) However, the main reason I feel the book is a success is that is shows respect for ALL stakeholders, something which has thus far not been the case and this will help in the future I hope in such a way that not just the parents and doctors will be able to have a dialog, but actual intersex adults also will be more likely to be included.

She has done something that is very difficult to do. Katrina Karkazis has written a book that both I (an intersex activist) and a medical doctor can read and understand and not be upset about. Now that is a tour de force.

Curtis E. Hinkle
Founder, Organisation Intersex International