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RN Documentary: Intersex

From Radio Netherlands | Part of the RN Documentaries series | 00:29:31

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A group of women talk of their experiences with a rare condition – intersexuality.

A group of women talk of their experiences with a rare condition – intersexuality. They are women who have the male XY chromosome. One was forcibly raised as a boy. One only found out about her condition accidentally when she was a teenager. And one walk kept in the dark about it deliberately by doctors.
About 1 baby in 20,000 is born inetersex. Often these infants can be clearly seen to be belonging to one sex, but a small percentage of them are born with ambiguous genitalia and in the past doctors made a unilateral decision about which sex they thought the child belonged to. Sometimes they even performed surgery without properly consulting or informing the parents. That practice has been banned in the Netherlands but although medical personnel and lay people are more open to variations in sexuality these days, people with an intersex condition still find the subject very difficult to bring out in the open.
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A group of women talk of their experiences with a rare condition – intersexuality. They are women who have the male XY chromosome. One was forcibly raised as a boy. One only found out about her condition accidentally when she was a teenager. And one walk kept in the dark about it deliberately by doctors.
About 1 baby in 20,000 is born inetersex. Often these infants can be clearly seen to be belonging to one sex, but a small percentage of them are born with ambiguous genitalia and in the past doctors made a unilateral decision about which sex they thought the child belonged to. Sometimes they even performed surgery without ...
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4 Comments

Toddmelbyheadshot1_small

Review of RN Documentary: Intersex

This subject is certainly worthy of a documentary. In the United States, journalist John Colapinto's 2001 book, "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised A Girl," elevated awareness about the topic of intersexuality. In the book, Colapinto describes the story of a Canadian boy whose penis was severed during a botched circumcision in the late 1960s. His parents took him to the leading sexologist of the day --- Dr. John Money of Johns Hopkins University. Money recommended the boy become a girl. His tragic tale is the centerpiece of Colapinto's book.

While this documentary doesn't have the benefit of such a single, powerful story, it does a fine job of giving listeners an introduction to the intersexuality.

"For most of us, it's not about gender," says one person born with an intersex condition. "It's about shame, secrecy ... we were told by doctors not to tell other people about our coniditon. Not telling ... is more difficult than the condition itself."

By educating physicians and the public about intersex, activists are attempting to remove the condition from the shadows of secrecy. The most active group in the U.S. is the Intersex Society of North America (www.isna.org). Programmers looking to provide a full hour on this topic could air the documentary and interview Colapinto and/or an ISNA spokesperson.

Eric_small

Review of RN Documentary: Intersex

When a child is born with an intersex condition (the presence of deformed or under-formed genitalia, or genitalia of both sexes), the situation is almost impossible to resolve gracefully. Often times, the condition is not obvious at birth (sometimes not obvious until the teen years) and can cause parents to have to make dire decisions that will impact the child's life in profound ways. Should the child's gender be "reassigned"? Should the child undergo surgery? Should the genitalia be removed or reconstructed? Further, the emotional impact of this condition and how one could lead a normal life is difficult for most people to fathom.


In this doc, Radio Netherlands takes a thoughtful and sensitive look at the intellectual and emotional struggles to help children born with this condition. The piece not only explains the science behind the condition (and various treatments), but also talks with a group of women who have dealt with the condition first hand. Their stories are complex and emotionally difficult (it is difficult not to empathize with all sides in their stories—no one could ever be prepared to deal with such terrible situation).


The producers of the doc do an amazing job of remaining dispassionate in their storytelling, steering clear of the many potential emotional landmines. They avoid the easy temptation to let the poignant weight of these stories overwhelm their journalism of the entire subject.


The results are complete and clear. Regardless of one's own feelings and conclusions about how these situations should be handled, every listener will be moved by it.

Default-user-image

Review of RN Documentary: Intersex

This piece handles a delicate subject very well. The use of numerous people that have had to deal with the intersex condition takes the topic and puts a human fact on it. I originally thought that the piece would be more clinical or perhaps mocking, however, the dignity of the participants is preserved. I really apprecaited the piece.

Transcript

SIG TUNE

MUSIC (priv) – Songs from Liquid Days. Tr 6 “Forgetting” comp Philip Glass
Perf: Linda Ronstadt/The Roches. SMK87972 - under teasers and intro script

Alice teaser ‘14
When I was younger I was a girlie girl..still feel like a girl (laughs)

AM teaser ‘15
I didn’t want to know about this..didn’t know it was this

M – teaser ‘20
When I was born….quite a shock

Peggy taboo ‘15
The taboo is talking about sexuality.. ….seen as freaks

Petra teaser ‘25
Intersex children are born every day.. what will it be

Peggy – prevalence The prevalence of each condition.. pretty rare

Intersex is the term but its an umbrella for many things.

Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome – AIS or AOS, hermaphrodite, transgender, transsexual, hijra, Gender dysphoria, XX, XY…gender dysphoria

DIFF VOICES READING THEM IN A JUMBLE – under music
215.737 VOI...
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Musical Works

Songs from Liquid Days. Tr 6 “Forgetting” comp Philip Glass
Perf: Linda Ronstadt/The Roches. SMK87972 - 4’00

215.737 VOICES. “Scat n Swing” Comp/Perf: Xavier Delisle. KOK MEDIA 2038