Contextualising Intersex: Ethical discourses on Intersex in Sweden and the US

As of the beginning of the 1990s the medical management of intersex has been up for debate, and the U.S. has been the epicentre of debate. Scholars like Iain Morland and Anne Fausto-Sterling have identified three key actors in the U.S. context: clinicians, patient oriented support groups and intersex advocacy organizations, and feminist scholars with a critical perspective on the medical discourse surrounding sex and gender identity (Fausto-Sterling 2000; Morland 2004). There has been fairly little discussion about intersex rights in Sweden until the last couple of years. The budding Swedish discussions are all framed by international discourses, especially the U.S. discussions among clinicians on the pros and cons of the traditional treatment model, and the discussions between intersex people, intersex advocates, clinicians and politicians on intersex rights. However, while the U.S. discourses on intersex have been greatly affected by the participation of feminist scholars such influences have been scarce in Sweden. This article explores differences and similarities between the Swedish and the U.S. context, arguing that the relative lack of feminist scholarly attention to intersex has had consequences for the Swedish discussion.