All: What do you make of the Christiane Volling case?

submitted by nausicaa from self.GCdebatesQT

Christiane Volling is a female (i.e., with ovaries) who was assigned male. Her female reproductive anatomy was removed without her consent when she was a teenager. Her Wikipedia entry is here.

What's your take on this?

What can we do, as a society, to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else?

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[–]divingrightintowork 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think we've pretty much already done this in modern society thanks to the work of ppl like Alice Dreger. Leave IS bodies alone until they're old enough to decide what they want.

[–]MarkTwainiac 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

What can we do, as a society, to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else?

Support orgs and individuals who advocate for better health care for persons with DSDs.

Support orgs and individuals who provide factual information and educational materials for prospective parents and the general public about the various DSD conditions so everyone becomes better acquainted with them.

Support better training about DSDs for medical professionals who work in fields like neonatology, pediatrics, internal medicine, endocrinology, urology and gynecology.

Support the universal adoption of the kind of newborn genetic testing that is already mandatory by law in every state and territory in the USA - and the inclusion, where appropriate, of specific DSD conditions to the list of what newborns are tested for.

The list of genetic anomalies and conditions that babies born in the US all must be tested for shortly after birth varies from state to state. But from the state screening programs I've examined, several forms of the specific condition that Volling has (CAH) are already routinely tested for in the US. Although medical care in the US has many problems, when it comes to mandatory newborn genetic screening, the US is a world leader. Even if you give birth at home in the US, it's impossible to register a birth and apply for a birth certificate unless a newborn has had blood drawn for the purpose of genetic testing.

Germany - the country where Volling is from - does mandatory newborn screening for a number of conditions, but it's not clear if any forms of CAH are included.

[–]peakingatthemomentTranssexual (natal male), HSTS 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Oh god... ☹️ No one should any surgeries like that without their consent. It just seems barbaric, but is was common practice to do these things for so long. I feel like there is more understand now that people with DSDs shouldn’t be treated surgically without their consent. I hope neither side would disagree with that.

[–]SnowAssMan 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I can't friggin stand those doctors who castrate & mutilate underage people without their consent, or scare them or their parents into consenting to it. Their patients trust them. They abuse their authority.

Even now, on the Wiki page on intersex it says something about how their gonads need to be removed bc of a cancer risk. It wouldn't surprise me if that risk is severely overstated. I can't imagine having to take hormones for the rest of your life is a better alternative to the natural ones produced by your own gonads. All gonads, breasts & prostates are a cancer risk. I can't understand their obsession is with performing "normalising" surgeries. Makes me shiver. They're worse than quacks. Nightmare.

What we need to do is not rest until every doctor who has ever done this, who is still practising, needs their license taken away & get sued. The news get around & it'll make them think twice.

[–]kwallio 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Retained testes are a cancer risk, that is true. This person had ovaries tho, which is not a cancer risk.

[–][deleted] 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

What we need to do is not rest until every doctor who has ever done this, who is still practising, needs their license taken away & get sued. The news get around & it'll make them think twice.

I thought this was a little rash at first, but now I'm in agreement. These people and practices need to be exposed.

[–][deleted] 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's cruel, and what's worse is this is just one person that we know about--one person who had this done to her and discovered what happened. If the general population was aware of these sorts of practices by medical professionals on intersex people, especially babies and children, I would think people would be outraged and sickened. Public awareness of such practices seem most important at first, so that people are aware that others are routinely subjected to such mistreatment. It seems like most of the general public has no clue that these things are happening.

[–]GenderbenderShe/her/hers 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

What happened to her is atrocious. Glad she won the lawsuit. Pidgeon Pagonis is an intersex enby also experienced non-consensual genital surgery.

HI I'M INTERSEX - PT 2

5 Ways You Can End Intersex Surgery - YouTube