Katrina Karkazis, Ph.D., MPH
Book
Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience, Durham, NC: Duke University Press (forthcoming October 2008).
What happens when a baby is born with “ambiguous” genitalia or a combination of “male” and “female” body parts? Clinicians and parents in these situations are confronted with complicated questions such as whether a girl can have XY chromosomes, or whether some penises are “too small” for a male sex assignment. Since the 1950s, standard treatment has involved determining a sex for these infants and performing surgery to normalize the infant’s genitalia. Over the past decade intersex advocates have mounted unprecedented challenges to treatment, offering alternative perspectives about the meaning and appropriate medical response to intersexuality and driving the field of those who treat intersex conditions into a deep crisis. Katrina Karkazis offers a nuanced, compassionate picture of these charged issues in Fixing Sex, the first book to examine contemporary controversies over the medical management of intersexuality in the United States from the multiple perspectives of those most intimately involved.
Drawing extensively on interviews with adults with intersex conditions, parents, and physicians, Karkazis moves beyond the heated rhetoric to reveal the complex reality of how intersexuality is understood, treated, and experienced today. As she unravels the historical, technological, social, and political forces that have culminated in debates surrounding intersexuality, Karkazis exposes the contentious disagreements among theorists, physicians, intersex adults, activists, and parents—and all that those debates imply about gender and the changing landscape of intersex management. She argues that by viewing intersexuality exclusively through a narrow medical lens we avoid much more difficult questions. Do gender atypical bodies require treatment? Should physicians intervene to control the “sex” of the body? As this illuminating book reveals, debates over treatment for intersexuality force reassessment of the seemingly natural connections between gender, biology, and the body.
“The cultural rules of gender are complex, and they are never more tested than in the case of intersex. Fixing Sex is a huge addition to the field, encompassing as it does the views of clinicians, patients, parents, and others. The topic is intrinsically interesting, but Katrina Karkazis’s wonderful writing makes this a compelling story and a great read.”
—Abraham Verghese, M.D., author of The Tennis Partner and Senior Associate Chair for the Theory and Practice of Medicine, Stanford University
“With her fascinating field data, Katrina Karkazis exposes the contentious disagreements among theoreticians, physicians, intersex adults, and parents—and all that those debates imply about the changing landscape of gender and intersex management.”
—Suzanne J. Kessler, author of Lessons from the Intersexed
“I couldn’t put Fixing Sex down once I started it! Masterfully balancing all aspects of one of the most polarizing, contentious topics in medicine, this thoughtful book is destined to become the most recent authoritative treatise on intersex. Non-medical persons will find it easily digestible, yet it is a ‘must-read’ for every pediatrician and pediatric subspecialist caring for children with disorders of sex development.”
—Kenneth C. Copeland, M.D., Jonas Professor of Pediatrics, University of Oklahoma College of Medicine, and former President of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society
“This meticulous, sensitive, and brilliantly executed book will transform our knowledge of intersexuality, gender, and the ethnographic study of medical practice.”
—Gayle Rubin, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan
“This book is a velvet-gloved punch to the gut. Fixing Sex is astonishing, a tale told straight from the mouths of affected adults, parents, and physicians in tender and lyrical prose. It resonated deeply with my memories of motherhood in the disorders of sex development community. But the chapters devoted to clinicians made me weep. A physician myself, I remember my disbelief as the worlds of intersex and medicine collided in my own family. An extraordinary book for a wide audience, it is a huge step toward reconciliation and spiritual healing for its protagonists.”
—Arlene B. Baratz, M.D., family and medical consultant, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group and Accord Alliance
Selected Publications
Karkazis, K. 2006. “Early Genital Surgery to Remain Controversial,” Pediatrics 118(2): 814-5. pdf
Caron, L., Karkazis, K., Raffin, T., Swan, G., and B. Koenig. 2005. “Nicotine Addiction Through a Neurogenomic Prism: Ethics, Public Health, and Smoking,” Nicotine and Tobacco Research 7(2): 181-197. pdf
Maine, D., Karkazis, K., and N. Bolan. 1994. “The Bad Old Days Are Still Here: Abortion Mortality in Developing Countries,” Journal of the American Medical Women's Association, 49(5): 137-142. pdf
Popular Press and Media Interviews
Weil, Elizabeth. “What if It’s (Sort of) a Boy and (Sort of) a Girl?,” New York Times Magazine, September 24, 2006: 48-53. link
Karkazis, K. “Abstinence-Only Sex Education is Ethically Indefensible,” Open Forum, San Francisco Chronicle, January 12, 2006: Section B, p. 9. link
Karkazis, K. “A Thorny Issue.” Letter to the editor, New York Times, September 26, 2004, national edition: Section 9, p. 15. link
Navarro, Mireya. “When Gender Isn’t a Given,” New York Times, September 19, 2004, national edition: Section 9, p. 1+. link
Selected Talks
"New Standard of Care for the Management of Disorders of Sex Development,” annual meeting of the Pediatric Endocrinology Nursing Society, Portland Oregon, April 20, 2007.
Grand Rounds, Departments of Social Services, Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital, May 18, 2006.
Grand Rounds, Departments of Pediatric and Adult Endocrinology, Stanford University Medical Center, March 1, 2006.
“Controversies over the Medical Treatment of Intersex Infants,” Current Topics and Controversies in Women’s Health, Women’s Health Scholarly Concentration Seminar, Stanford University Medical School, February 22, 2006.
“Giving Birth to a Baby with an Intersex Diagnosis: Parents’ Perspectives,” Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Stanford University Medical School, January 31, 2006.
“Intersex Issues in Health Care,” LGBTI Health Care elective, UCSF Medical School, January 25, 2006.
“A Good Baby is a Straight Baby: The Production of Normative Sexuality in Intersexuality,” Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Pasadena, California, October 22, 2005
“Beyond Treatment: Broadening Debates over Genital Surgery for Intersex Infants,” American Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., August 18, 2005.
“The ‘Geneticization’ of Addiction: Forecasting Ethical Challenges and Public Policy Options” (with B. Koenig and N. Sperber), Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting, Santa Fe, New Mexico, April 8, 2005.
“Bodies of (Mixed) Evidence: Creating Sex and Assigning Gender in Intersexuality,” Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, UCSF, April 6, 2005.
“The Problem with Current Thinking about Feminizing Genital Surgery,” Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, February 23, 2005.
“Gender Assignment for Intersex Infants: Ethical and Human Rights Perspectives,” Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, February 21, 2005.
“The Science of Sex Assignment: Ethical and Human Rights Perspectives,” University Seminar, Columbia University, February 16, 2005.
Intersex Forum, LGBT Center, Stanford University, November 1, 2004.
“What Clinicians Do Not Know, They Cannot Tell: The Problems of Informed Consent,” Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas, April 3, 2004.
“The Science of Being: Hormones, Brains, and Gender Identity,” Society for Social Studies of Science Annual Meeting, Paris, France, August 28, 2004.
“Thinking Gender, Thinking Health: A Critical Look at the Connections between Gender and Health,” Women’s Health@Stanford Lecture Series, Stanford University, April 21, 2004.
“Size Matters: The Rules of Sexuality in Intersexuality,” University Seminar, Columbia University, March 3, 2004.
“The Trouble with Normal: Examining Normal Sexuality in Recent Debates over Intersexuality,” Trinity Seminar Series, Trinity College, Hartford, CT, March 1-2, 2004.
“A Good Baby is a Straight Baby: Refiguring Understandings of ‘Normal’ Sexuality in Recent Debates over Intersexuality,” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, November 22, 2003.
“Ethics of Neurogenetic Research on Nicotine Addiction,” Workshop on Genetics and Drug Addiction, The National Academies, Washington, D.C., November 13-14, 2003.
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