>>> Open Letter of Concern to ‘WOFAPS 2013’ Surgeons (PDF)
Martha Coventry on a familiar excuse by Intersex Genital Mutilators:
»Clitoral surgery on children is brutal and illogical, and no matter what name you give it, it is a mutilation. When I use the word mutilation, I can hear doors slamming shut in the minds of doctors all over this country. John Gearhart, a pediatric urologist at Johns Hopkins, has said, “To compare genital mutilation of young girls in Africa to reconstructive surgery of a young baby is a giant, giant leap of misrepresentation.” But neither Dr. Gearhart, nor anyone else, has ever bothered to ask those of us subjected to clitoral surgery as children if being taken to the hospital without explanation, having your healthy genitals cut and scarred, then left alone with the results feels like mutilation or “reconstructive surgery.” Gearhart’s mistake is to judge surgery only by the surgeon’s intent, and not by the effect on the child. I spoke with a woman recently who is young enough to be my daughter. With great effort, she told me of her clitoral surgery as a child. She implored me, “Why do they have to cut so deep, Martha? Why do they do that?”«
Martha Coventry: “The Tyranny of the Esthetic – Surgery’s Most Intimate Violation” (1998). On The Issues Magazine, Vol 7, Summer 1998, p 19-22
>>> John Gearhart: ‘female orgasm = successful vaginal penetration’
>>> Call to Sign Open Letter to ‘WOFAPS 2013’ Surgeons
>>> INTERSEX-PROTESTS + INFO: Berlin 13.-15.10. ‘WOFAPS 2013’
>>> CALL FOR ACTION! Digging the Dirt on local & regional Intersex Mutilators
>>> Intersex Protests + Info: Innsbruck 6.–10.5. “25th ESPU 2014”
>>> Documentation ‘Intersex Genital Mutilations: History & Current Practice’