Join Juliana Gleeson, author and intersex activism advocate, as she dives into the transformative world of intersex liberation. She recounts the powerful protests of the 1990s and how advocates challenged harmful medical practices. The conversation highlights the strategic use of humor within the movement, showcasing its ability to engage and inform. Gleeson also addresses the intricate legal landscape affecting intersex identities and the importance of representation in art and literature, all while intertwining personal narratives and philosophical insights.
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Sex's Expressive Political Nature
Sex is not inherently political but is made political by agents asserting its meanings.
In 'Hermaphrodite Logic,' Juliana Gleeson dives deep into intersex activism since 1990, with key themes of resistance, style, and strategic use of humor. The book examines the expressive politics of gender through protest and medical confrontation. It is a retelling of the intersex activism between the years 1990-present. This book examines the global struggles, highlighting confrontations, historical examples, and societal impacts. The author provides a close look at the movement's engagement with medical institutions and efforts to reshape perceptions.
Histories of the Transgender Child
Jules Gill-Peterson
Histories of the Transgender Child shatters the widespread myth that today’s transgender children are a brand new generation. Jules Gill-Peterson reconstructs the medicalization and racialization of children’s bodies from the early 1900s to the 1970s, highlighting how transgender children preexisted the term transgender and its predecessors. The book uses archival research from hospitals and clinics, including personal letters from children to doctors, to show how the concept of gender relies on the medicalization of children's presumed racial plasticity. It foregrounds the racial history of medicine that excludes black and trans of color children, placing race at the center of transgender studies.
What does it mean to politicize sex rather than assume its politics? In this episode, we're joined once again by Juliana Gleeson to discuss her new book Hermaphrodite Logic: A History of Intersex Liberation, a sharp and sardonic retelling of intersex activism from 1990 to today. We trace the expressive politics of sex through protest, medical confrontation, and wit as strategy, asking how humor, style, and clinical resistance shaped a movement. Along the way, we explore the global stakes of intersex struggle—from American hospitals to South African race science and the Olympic spectacle.
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