Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

The focus of this article is on how parents of children with “nonnormative” genitalia cope with the conflict between the genital socialization process and their children’s genital autonomy in the Israeli medical–sociocultural context. Based on a qualitative narrative study that included 18 parents of children born with atypical genitalia and 23 parents who had chosen not to circumcise their sons, I compare parents’ experiences and perceptions of genital autonomy and examine the challenges posed by the Israeli genital socialization process from their perspective. In this study, I aim to shed light on the stressful and powerful Israeli genital socialization process, in which the medical, familial, and religious forces reproduce gendered normative genital appearances. The parents’ physical and emotional experiences include feelings of doubt and a critical stance toward genital socialization, changes in perceptions regarding genital appearance, and parental practices that challenge the meaning and outcomes of genital surgeries.

Keywords

narrative research genital autonomy Israeli parents decision-making process circumcision nonnormative genitalia socio-physical uncertainty qualitative

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Aggleton

(2007). “Just a snip”? A social history of male circumcision. Reproductive Health Matters, 15(29), 15–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(07)29303-6

Braun

Clarke

(2012). Thematic analysis. In Cooper

(Ed.), Methods in psychology (pp. 57–71). American Psychological Association.

Burrage

(2015). Eradicating female genital mutilation: A UK perspective. Ashgate.

Carpenter

(2016). The human rights of intersex people: Addressing harmful practices and rhetoric of change. Reproductive Health Matters, 24(47), 74–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rhm.2016.06.003

Carpenter

(2018). The “normalization” of intersex bodies and “othering” of intersex identities in Australia. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 15, 487–495. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-018-9855-8

Chase

(2003). What is the agenda of the intersex patient advocacy movement? The Endocrinologist, 13, 240–242. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.ten.0000081687.21823.d4

Cools

Nordenström

Robeva

Hall

Westerveld

Flück

Köler

Berra

Springer

Scweizer

Pasterski

(2018). Caring for individuals with a difference of sex development (DSD): A consensus statement. Nature Reviews Endocrinology, 14(7), 415–429. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-018-0010-8

Creighton

Chernausek

S. D.

Romao

Ransley

Salle

J. P.

(2012). Timing and nature of reconstructive surgery for disorders of sex development introduction. Journal of Pediatric Urology, 8(6), 602–610. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpurol.2012.10.001

Creighton

S. M.

Michala

Mushtaq

Yaron

(2014). Childhood surgery for ambiguous genitalia: Glimpses of practice changes or more of the same? Psychology & Sexuality, 5(1), 34–43. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2013.831214

10.

Darby

(2013). A surgical temptation: The demonization of the foreskin and the rise of circumcision in Britain. University of Chicago Press.

11.

Davis

(2015). Contesting intersex: The dubious diagnosis. New York University Press.

12.

Dewey

(2002). Human nature and conduct. Dover. (Original work published 1922)

13.

Diamond

Garland

(2014). Evidence regarding cosmetic and medically unnecessary surgery on infants. Journal of Pediatric Urology, 10(1), 2–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpurol.2013.10.021

14.

Domurat-Dreger

(1998). Hermaphrodites and the medical invention of sex. Harvard University Press.

15.

Domurat-Dreger

(Ed.). (1999). Intersex in the age of ethics. University Publishing Group.

16.

Dunsmuir

Gordon

E. M.

(1999). The history of circumcision. BJU International, 83(s1), 1–12.

17.

Earp

B. D.

Steinfeld

(2018). Genital autonomy and sexual well-being. Current Sexual Health Reports, 10(1), 7–17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11930-018-0141-x

18.

Ellis

E. C.

(2019). Female genital mutilation/cutting: Key influences on a continued controversial practice. Aisthesis: Honors Student Journal, 10(1), 1–9.

19.

Fausto-Sterling

(2000). Sexing the body: Gender politics and the construction of sexuality. Basic Books.

20.

Fausto-Sterling

(2019). Gender/sex, sexual orientation, and identity are in the body: How did they get there? The Journal of Sex Research, 56(4–5), 529–555. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2019.1581883

21.

Feder

E. K.

(2014). Making sense of intersex: Changing ethical perspectives in bio-medicine. Indiana University Press.

22.

Friedman

(2013). Blind to sameness: Sexpectations and the social construction of male and female bodies. University of Chicago Press.

23.

Frisch

Earp

B. D.

(2018). Circumcision of male infants and children as a public health measure in developed countries: A critical assessment of recent evidence. Global Public Health, 13(5), 626–641. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2016.1184292

24.

Gardner

Sandberg

D. E.

(2018). Navigating surgical decision making in disorders of sex development (DSD). Frontiers in Pediatrics, 6, Article 339. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2018.00339

25.

Goldingay

(2000). The significance of circumcision. Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 25(88), 3–18.

26.

Gollaher

D. L.

(1994). From ritual to science: The medical transformation of circumcision in America. Journal of Social History, 28(1), 5–36.

27.

Gollaher

D. L.

(2000). Circumcision: A history of the world’s most controversial surgery. Basic Books.

28.

Hashiloni-Dolev

(2007). International library of ethics, law and the new medicine: A life (un)worthy of living: Reproductive genetics in Israel and Germany. Springer.

29.

Hashiloni-Dolev

(2018). Policy regarding reproductive technologies. In Boas

Hashiloni-Dolev

Lavi

Filc

Davidovitch

(Eds.), Bioethics and biopolitics in Israel (pp. 119–138). Cambridge University Press.

30.

Holmes

(2008). Intersex: A perilous difference. Susquehanna University Press.

31.

Holmes

(2009). Introduction: Straddling past, present and future. In Holmes

(Ed.), Critical intersex (pp. 1–12). Ashgate.

32.

James

(2010). Pragmatism: A new name for some old ways of thinking. The Floating Press.

33.

Karkazis

(2008). Fixing sex: Intersex, medical authority, and lived experience. Duke University Press.

34.

Kasher

(2017). Mila: A second thought on circumcision. Beofen TV.

35.

Kessler

S. J.

(1998). Lessons from the intersexed. Rutgers University Press.

36.

Kessler

S. J.

McKenna

(2013). Toward a theory of gender. In Stryker

Whittle

(Eds.), The transgender studies reader (pp. 181–198). Routledge.

37.

Lundberg

Lindström

Roen

Hegarty

(2017). From knowing nothing to knowing what, how and now: Parents’ experiences of caring for their children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 42(5), 520–529. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsw001

38.

Mead

G. H.

(1962). Mind, self & society. University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1934)

39.

Meoded Danon

(2015). The body/secret dynamic: Life experiences of intersexed people in Israel. SAGE Open, 5(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2158244015580370

40.

Meoded Danon

(2018). Time matters for intersex bodies: Between socio-medical time and somatic time. Social Science & Medicine, 208, 89–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.05.019

41.

Meoded Danon

(2019). Comparing contemporary medical treatment practices aimed at intersex/DSD bodies in Israel and Germany. Sociology of Health & Illness, 41(1), 143–164. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12812

42.

Meoded Danon

Krämer

(2017). Between concealing and revealing intersexed bodies: Parental strategies. Qualitative Health Research, 27(10), 1562–1574. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1049732317697100

43.

Meoded Danon

Yanay

(2016). Intersexuality: On secret bodies and secrecy. Studies in Gender and Sexuality, 17(1), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/15240657.2016.1135684

44.

Michala

Liao

L. M.

Wood

Conway

G. S.

Creighton

S. M.

(2014). Practice changes in childhood surgery for ambiguous genitalia? Journal of Pediatric Urology, 10(5), 934–939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpurol.2014.01.030

45.

Morland

(2012). The injured world: Intersex and the phenomenology of feeling. Differences, 23(2), 20–41. https://doi.org/10.1215/10407391-1629803

46.

Preves

(2003). Intersex and identity: The contested self. Rutgers University Press.

47.

Remennick

(2006). The quest for the perfect baby: Why do Israeli women seek prenatal genetic testing? Sociology of Health and Illness, 28, 21–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9566.2006.00481.x

48.

Rolston

A. M.

Gardner

Vilain

Sandberg

D. E.

(2015). Parental reports of stigma associated with child’s disorder of sex development. International Journal of Endocrinology, 2015, Article 980121. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/980121

49.

Sandberg

D. E.

Gardner

Cohen-Kettenis

P. T.

(2012). Psychological aspects of the treatment of patients with disorders of sex development. Seminars in Reproductive Medicine, 30(5), 443–1452.

50.

Shilling

(2008). Changing bodies: Habit, crisis and creativity. SAGE.

51.

Silverman

E. K.

(2004). Anthropology and circumcision. Annual Review of Anthropology, 33, 419–445. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.33.070203.143706

52.

Van de Grift

T. C.

Cohen-Kettenis

P. T.

de Vries

A. L.

Kreukels

B. P.

(2018). Body image and self-esteem in disorders of sex development: A European multicenter study. Health Psychology, 37(4), 334–343. https://doi.org/10.1037/hea0000600

53.

Vidal

Gorduza

D. B.

Haraux

Gay

C. L.

Chatelain

Nicolino

Mure

P.-Y.

Mouriquand

(2010). Surgical options in disorders of sex development (DSD) with ambiguous genitalia. Best Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 24(2), 311–324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beem.2009.10.004

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.19 MB

The Parental Struggle With the Israeli Genital Socialization Process

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material