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Cart Before the Horse: Necropolitics, intersex and policy making

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation

Description

Intersex people are tragically unprotected in law and when harmful early intersex surgeries are banned, prosecutions are rare and there are ways to evade them for those who are determined to do so (OII Europe, 2021). Human rights bodies such as the United Nations (UNGA, 2024) and Council of Europe (COE, 2025) have recognised the need to address intersex human rights violations in recent years because of the work of intersex activists and allies. Alas, these milestones arrive at a time when the United Nations has been proven powerless in the prevention of genocide of the Palestinian people and Europe’s leaders have been largely silent or actively complicit (Beveraggi, 2025; Borrell, 2025; Euro-Med, 2025). While resolutions and recommendations are nonetheless welcome, there are more complex problems that must be addressed if we are to see intersex equality. Intersex people complain about suffering disrespect in many aspects of their lives and their knowledge gained from lived experience is dismissed even in the absence of formal intersex knowledge (Berry, 2024; Fricker, 2007). Intersex people suffer violence and discrimination even when their discriminators and assailants are not aware their victims are intersex (FRA, 2024). Necropolitics (Mbembe, 2020) is a sociopolitical theory that describes how political power is used to determine what lives are worth preserving and which are not. Recent developments amongst Western powers have imperilled intersex lives amongst others (The White House, 2025a, 2025b; UKSC, 2025). Recognising interphobia as a symptom of broader oppressive systems of which interphobia is a part, such as misogyny, patriarchy, capitalism (Federici, 2004; O’Connell, 2020), racism (Magubane, 2014), and ableism (Orr, 2022) allows us to address underlying causes, creates opportunities for allyship and helps us to avoid weaknesses in intersex organising such as prioritising certain intersex lives and voices over others (Fricker, 2007).
Period19 Jun 2026
Event titleLaw, Policy, and Intersex Workshop
Event typeConference
LocationManchester, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Documents & Links

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