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Building bodies: a legal history of intersex in Ireland

Ní Mhuirthile, Tanya orcid logoORCID: 0000-0001-8660-0012 (2015) Building bodies: a legal history of intersex in Ireland. In: Redmond, Jennifer, Tiernan, Sonja orcid logoORCID: 0000-0003-2409-311X, McAvoy, Sandra and McAuliffe, Mary orcid logoORCID: 0000-0001-5464-7377, (eds.) Sexual Politics in Modern Ireland. Irish Academic Press, Sallins, pp. 154-172. ISBN 978-07165-32859

Abstract
This chapter will examine the impact which law’s changing conception of corporeality has had on people with intersex bodies. Historically, the law recognised three types of bodies as conferring legal status: male, female and hermaphrodite. Contemporaneous to increased specialisation in medical knowledge about hermaphroditic conditions, the laws governing the registration of persons were introduced: intersex is notable in its absence from these legal provisions. This coincidence of events is analysed and it is argued that it signals the beginning of the erosion of intersex from legal consciousness. Such a contention is further strengthened by an examination of the case law which has directly addressed the categorisation of bodies as either male or female. The results of this consideration reveal the disappearance of ‘intersex’ from legal consciousness. The continuing importance of the dual role of the birth certificate as both a historical ‘snapshot’ of events at a particular moment and as a crucial and current identification document becomes apparent. It is argued that adherence to a binary understanding of gender actively discriminates against intersex people. Finally, the chapter considers the re-emergence of the historical paradigm of self-declaration of gender identity for intersex people.
Metadata
Item Type:Book Section
Refereed:Yes
Subjects:Social Sciences > Law
Social Sciences > Gender
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Science > School of Law and Government
Publisher:Irish Academic Press
Copyright Information:© 2015 Irish Academic Press
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. View License
ID Code:23128
Deposited On:05 Apr 2019 12:24 by Tanya Ni Mhuirthile . Last Modified 05 Apr 2019 12:24
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