From genitals to genders and sexuality: Sexual differentiation disorders. A social and medical perspective

The birth of a child with some kind of sexual development disorder creates situations involving both biological and social aspects. In this regard, it is indisputable that a newborn with ‘genital ambiguity’ confronts the most common conceptions about sex, gender and sexual roles, because it is expected that a sexed body behaves in public and private environments, in line with expectations of being a male or female. However, the intersexual person breaks this paradigm, producing, like everything related to sex and gender- multiple representations, prejudice, discrimination, and meanings that severely affect the lives and rights of these people. In the last 20 years, medical practices have changed the ‘normalization’ of the body, with surgery now being performed under highly selected criteria, respecting the feelings and rights of children with sexual development disorder, and postponing many of the surgical acts of “genital correction” that were made in childhood. The aim of this work is to collect narratives and experiences of medical specialists who treat children with sexual development disorder in San Ignacio University Hospital in Bogotá.