Cheryl Chase (activist)

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Cheryl Chase
Cheryl Chase.jpg
Intersex activist, Cheryl Chase
Born
Brian Sullivan

(1956-08-14) August 14, 1956 (age 67)
New Jersey
NationalityAmerican
Other namesBo Laurent
Alma mater Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1983);
Sonoma State University (2008)
OccupationIntersex activist
Known forFounding the Intersex Society of North America
SpouseRobin Mathias

Bo Laurent, better known by her pseudonym Cheryl Chase (born August 14, 1956), is an American intersex activist and the founder of the Intersex Society of North America. She began using the names Bo Laurent and Cheryl Chase simultaneously in the 1990s and changed her name legally from Bonnie Sullivan to Bo Laurent in 1995. [1]

Contents

Early life

Chase was born in New Jersey with ambiguous genitalia that baffled doctors. According to The New York Times , her parents originally named her Brian Sullivan, noting that "Chase is XX, and the reason for her intersex condition has never been fully understood." [2] Other sources state her original name was Charlie, [3] [4] since until recently Chase preferred to use pseudonyms when referring to her early life.

Chase told Salon she was born with "mixed male/female sex organs" [5] and after the discovery of ovaries and a uterus, a clitoridectomy was performed to remove her larger clitoris when she was aged 18 months. [6] [7] Her parents, as advised by doctors, moved to a new town and raised her as a girl, Bonnie Sullivan. Although she had begun speaking before the operation, she fell silent for six months afterwards. [2]

She told Salon that her ovotestis was removed at age 8 [3] (later clarified as "the testicular part of her ovo-testes"). [8] She found out about the clitoridectomy at age 10, and at age 21 succeeded in gaining access to her medical records [4] (some sources say this occurred in her early thirties). [9]

Education and career

Chase graduated from MIT with a B.S. in mathematics in 1983. She then studied Japanese at Harvard Extension School [2] and at the Intensive Summer Language Institute of Middlebury College, which was founded by Congregationalists. In 1985, Chase was working as a graphic designer. [10] She then moved to Japan as a visiting scholar at Hiroshima University. She later joined a computer software firm near Tokyo as co-founder. [11] While in Japan, she also did translation work; "I was good at all the hard stuff, the non-emotional stuff that's considered more masculine," Chase said. [9] Upon return to the United States, Chase began working as an intersex activist. In 2008, Chase received a M.A. in organization development from Sonoma State University.

Activism

Chase had a "nervous breakdown" in her mid-30s. [12] She told Salon she once contemplated committing suicide "in front of the mutilating physician who had rendered her genitalia numb and scarred." [5] When she was 35, Chase returned to the U.S. and badgered her mother for answers, then embarked on a search for a fuller understanding of what she had learned. Chase contacted many academic researchers and people with personal experiences of intersex conditions. In 1993, via a letter to the editor published in The Sciences July/August issue, she founded the now defunct Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) by fiat and asked for people to write to her under her new name, Cheryl Chase, the beginning of the movement to protect the human rights of people born with intersex conditions in the U.S. [13] In the 1990s, she began using the names Bo Laurent and Cheryl Chase simultaneously, sometimes in the same publication. [14] She is the creator of Hermaphrodites Speak! (1995), a 30-minute documentary film in which several intersex people discuss the psychological impact of their conditions and the medical treatment and parenting they received, [15] and the editor of the journal Hermaphrodites with Attitude .

In 1998 Chase wrote an amicus brief for the Colombian constitutional court, which was then considering a ruling on surgery for a six-year-old boy with a micropenis. In 2004, Chase and the ISNA persuaded the San Francisco Human Rights Commission to hold hearings on medical procedures for intersex infants. Chase has published commentaries in medical journals [16] and has criticized feminist writers, including Alice Walker and Katha Pollitt, for not putting intersexuality on the feminist agenda, despite their condemnation of female genital cutting in Africa and elsewhere. [17] ISNA was honored with the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission's 2000 Felipa de Souza Human Rights Award.

Cheryl Chase and Robin Mathias married in California in 2008. Chase and Mathias marry.jpg
Cheryl Chase and Robin Mathias married in California in 2008.

Chase's activism was a factor in the urology and endocrinology disciplines' reopening of their consideration of intersex conditions. Chase advocates a more complex view of intersexuality: in particular, that difficulties cannot be eliminated by early genital surgery. In August 2006, Pediatrics published a letter signed by 50 international experts, including Chase, titled "Consensus Statement on the Management of Intersex Disorders". The statement, however, does not discourage surgical interventions, but did emphasize caution.

In 2017, Chase took part in the launch of a report by Human Rights Watch and interACT on medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children, "I Want to Be Like Nature Made Me", based on interviews with intersex persons, families and physicians. [18] The report found that intersex medical interventions persist as default advice from doctors to parents, despite some change in some regions of the U.S. and claims of improved surgical techniques, resulting in an uneven situation where care differs and a lack of standards of care, but paradigms for care are still based on socio-cultural factors including expectations of "normality" and evidence in support of surgeries remains lacking. "Nearly every parent" in the study reported pressure for their children to undergo surgery, and many reported misinformation. The report calls for a ban on "surgical procedures that seek to alter the gonads, genitals, or internal sex organs of children with atypical sex characteristics too young to participate in the decision, when those procedures both carry a meaningful risk of harm and can be safely deferred." [19]

Personal life

Chase has written about being openly lesbian since her 20s. [20] Chase married her partner of five years, Robin Mathias, in San Francisco in 2004. They live on a hobby farm in Sonoma and remarried in 2008 following the In re Marriage Cases . [21]

See also

Related Research Articles

Clitoridectomy or clitorectomy is the surgical removal, reduction, or partial removal of the clitoris. It is rarely used as a therapeutic medical procedure, such as when cancer has developed in or spread to the clitoris. It is often performed on intersex newborns. Commonly, non-medical removal of the clitoris is performed during female genital mutilation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex Society of North America</span> Advocacy group for intersex people in the U.S. and Canada

The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) was a non-profit advocacy group founded in 1993 by Cheryl Chase to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries. Other notable members included Morgan Holmes, Max Beck, Howard (Tiger) Devore, Esther Morris Leidolf and Alice Dreger. The organization closed in June 2008, and has been succeeded by a number of health, civil and human rights organizations including interACT.

Sex assignment is the discernment of an infant's sex, usually at birth. Based on an inspection of the baby's external genitalia by a relative, midwife, nurse, or physician, sex is assigned without ambiguity in 99.95% of births. In the remaining cases, additional diagnostic steps are required and sex assignment is deferred. Sex also may be determined prior to birth through prenatal sex discernment.

Genital reconstructive surgery may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex medical interventions</span> Performed to modify atypical or ambiguous genitalia

Intersex medical interventions, also known as intersex genital mutilations (IGM), are surgical, hormonal and other medical interventions performed to modify atypical or ambiguous genitalia and other sex characteristics, primarily for the purposes of making a person's appearance more typical and to reduce the likelihood of future problems. The history of intersex surgery has been characterized by controversy due to reports that surgery can compromise sexual function and sensation, and create lifelong health issues. Timing, evidence, necessity and indications for surgeries in infancy, adolescence or adult age have been controversial, associated with issues of consent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of intersex surgery</span> Aspect of history

The history of intersex surgery is intertwined with the development of the specialities of pediatric surgery, pediatric urology, and pediatric endocrinology, with our increasingly refined understanding of sexual differentiation, with the development of political advocacy groups united by a human qualified analysis, and in the last decade by doubts as to efficacy, and controversy over when and even whether some procedures should be performed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clitoromegaly</span> Unusually large clitoris

Clitoromegaly is an abnormal enlargement of the clitoris that is mostly congenital; it is otherwise acquired through deliberately induced clitoral enlargement e.g. body modification by use of anabolic steroids, including testosterone. It is not the same as normal enlargement of the clitoris seen during sexual arousal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disorders of sex development</span> Medical conditions involving the development of the reproductive system

Disorders of sex development (DSDs), also known as differences in sex development, diverse sex development and variations in sex characteristics (VSC), are congenital conditions affecting the reproductive system, in which development of chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex is atypical.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex</span> Atypical congenital variations of sex characteristics

Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".

Hermaphrodites with Attitude was a newsletter edited by Cheryl Chase and published by the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) between 1994 and 2005. The full archives are available online. In 2008, ISNA transferred its remaining funds, assets, and copyrights to Accord Alliance and then closed.

Morgan Holmes is a Canadian sociologist, author, and a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, Ontario. She is also an intersex activist and writer, and former member of Intersex Society of North America. Holmes participated in the first public demonstration by intersex people, now marked by Intersex Awareness Day.

Tiger Devore, previously known as Howard Devore and Tiger Howard Devore, is an American clinical psychologist, sex therapist, and spokesperson on intersex issues. He was a member of the defunct Intersex Society of North America. Historian Alice Dreger credits him with starting the work of the intersex movement.

Christiane Völling is the first intersex person known to have successfully sued for damages in a case brought for non-consensual surgical intervention described as a non-consensual sex reassignment. She was awarded €100,000 by the Regional Court of Cologne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex people in history</span>

Intersex, in humans and other animals, describes variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". Intersex people were historically termed hermaphrodites, "congenital eunuchs", or even congenitally "frigid". Such terms have fallen out of favor, now considered to be misleading and stigmatizing.

Max Beck was an American intersex advocate, who was active in the now-defunct Intersex Society of North America (ISNA). On October 26, 1996 in Boston, Beck participated in the first known public demonstration against human rights violations on intersex people. The event is now annually commemorated and recognized as Intersex Awareness Day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of intersex history</span> Overview of notable events in the timeline of intersex history

The following is a timeline of intersex history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in the United States</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in the United States of America

Intersex people in the United States have some of the same rights as other people, but with significant gaps, particularly in protection from non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions and violence, and protection from discrimination. Actions by intersex civil society organizations aim to eliminate harmful practices, promote social acceptance, and equality. In recent years, intersex activists have also secured some forms of legal recognition. Since April 11, 2022 US Passports give the sex/gender options of male, female and X by self determination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in the United Kingdom</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in the United Kingdom

Intersex people in the United Kingdom face significant gaps in legal protections, particularly in protection from non-consensual medical interventions, and protection from discrimination. Actions by intersex civil society organisations aim to eliminate unnecessary medical interventions and harmful practices, promote social acceptance, and equality in line with Council of Europe and United Nations demands. Intersex civil society organisations campaign for greater social acceptance, understanding of issues of bodily autonomy, and recognition of the human rights of intersex people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Switzerland</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Switzerland

Intersex people in Switzerland have no recognition of rights to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, and no specific protections from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. In 2012, the Swiss National Advisory Commission on Biomedical Ethics published a report on the medical management of differences of sex development or intersex variations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States partial military ban on intersex people</span> United States military ban on some intersex people

The (DoDI) 6130.03, 2018, section 5, 13f and 14m is the writing which bars persons with "true hermaphroditism", "pseudohermaphroditism" and "pure gonadal dysgenesis" from serving in the United States Armed Forces. The three are all intersex conditions and are as of now considered to be medically incompatible with military service in the United States. "DoDI" stands for "Department of Defense Instruction," the 6130.03 instruction concerns "Medical Standards for Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction in the Military Services" in the Armed Forces of the United States. Section 5 focuses on disqualifying conditions of the male and female reproductive system, on the female page the subheader 13 and paragraph f name true hermaphroditism, pseudohermaphroditism and pure gonadal dysgenesis specifically, and on the male page the subheader 14 and paragraph m also name exactly true hermaphroditism, pseudohermaphroditism and pure gonadal dysgenesis, respectively. There is no differentiation made between males and females with these conditions. Many doctors, medical professionals and intersex advocates find the terms hermaphroditism to be outdated and stigmatized, therefore it and its derivative words are seldom used in the 2000s, with the word hermaphrodite itself being considered a slur when used against a human.

References

  1. ↑ Cheryl Chase (Bo Laurent), Intersex Society of North America (2008). Retrieved July 25, 2008.
  2. 1 2 3 Weil, Elizabeth (September, 2006). What if It's (Sort of) a Boy and (Sort of) a Girl? The New York Times Magazine
  3. 1 2 Lehrman, Sally (April 5, 1999). Sex police. Archived December 25, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Salon.com
  4. 1 2 Phillips, Jen (May 2003). Born Between Two Sexes. Girlfriends
  5. 1 2 Hyena, Hank (December 16, 1999). The micropenis and the giant clitoris. Archived February 11, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Salon.com
  6. ↑ Whites, Robin (November 28, 1997). Intersexuals (interview with Chase). All Things Considered , NPR.
  7. ↑ Berreby, David (Sept. 11, 1996). Quelle Différence? Slate
  8. ↑ Nataf, Zachary I. (April 1998). Whatever I feel... Archived 2006-10-04 at the Wayback Machine New Internationalist
  9. 1 2 McDonough, Victoria Tilney (November 23, 2006). Between the lines. Archived October 10, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Missoula Independent
  10. ↑ U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (1986). Intellectual property rights in an age of electronics and information, OTA-CIT-302. U.S. Government Printing Office, April. ISBN   1-4289-2303-9
  11. ↑ Ward, Fred (1989). "Images for the computer age". National Geographic Magazine . 175: 718–751.
  12. ↑ Liu, Shirley. Cheryl Chase. Archived May 6, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Curve
  13. ↑ Chase, Cheryl. Letters from readers. Archived 2006-09-28 at the Wayback Machine The Sciences July/August 1993, page 25.
  14. ↑ Laurent B (1995). Sexual scientists question treatment. in Chase C (ed.) Hermaphrodites with Attitude Fall/Winter 1995-1996, p. 16 ff.
  15. ↑ Humpartzoomian R, Rye BJ (2000). Hermaphrodites Speak! (Review). Journal of Sex Research, Aug2000, Vol. 37 Issue 3, p295-298.
  16. ↑ Chase, Cheryl (1999). "Rethinking treatment for ambiguous genitalia". Pediatric Nursing. 25 (4): 451–5. PMID   12024368.
  17. ↑ Newitz, Annalee (July 27, 1999). They Wrecked My Genitals! When doctors try to fix what ain't broke . Archived February 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine Gettingit.com
  18. ↑ "HRW Live: Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Intersex Children in the US". YouTube . July 25, 2017.
  19. ↑ Human Rights Watch; interACT (July 2017). "I Want to Be Like Nature Made Me". ISBN   978-1-62313-502-7.
  20. ↑ Eloise Klein Healy, "Looking for the Amazons," Lesbian Ethics, Spring 1986, 2(1):50-64
  21. ↑ Rahimi, Shadi (June 17, 2008). Just Married. Archived December 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine The Press Democrat
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