Intersex people who have operated against their will must be compensated. This is the opinion of a Senate report published on March 7. He pleads for better monitoring.
For some, it is torture. For others, a mutilation. Sexual organ surgery is rarely experienced well by intersex people. And for good reason: for a long time, the choice was not left to those concerned. On paper, people who are intersex – or people with variations in sexual development – are born with sexual organs shaped in such a way that it cannot be said whether they are girls or boys (see box).
In a senatorial report handed over on March 7, a delegation marks the end of this taboo. The co-rapporteurs, Maryvonne Blondin (PS) and Corinne Bouchoux (EELV), propose to compensate people who have been operated against their will.
Heavy consequences
Two solutions were opposed during the debates: a questioning of the doctors who practice the intervention without taking the opinion of the first concerned, or a compensation by the National Office of Compensation for Medical Accidents (Oniam) The latter solution seems “preferable to that of the compensation which would involve the implication of a civil and penal responsibility of the professionals of health”, judges the report.
This outcome has the advantage of recognizing the harm suffered by intersex people. Because the interventions can leave long-term consequences, during sexual intercourse or a simple urination. “Today, I am 51 years old and still in pain: I suffer from urinary tract infections, I have neurological lesions linked to surgeries which make me suffer permanently and force me to walk with a cane”, testifies Vincent Guillot, questioned by the rapporteurs.
Improve follow-up
It is in fact all the medical care that must be reviewed, say the senators. They therefore recommend not to intervene until the child is able to speak for himself. If support is more the rule, efforts can still be obtained. Indeed, many people are not followed in the long term. The report therefore recommends the establishment of treatment protocols that strengthen medical care, but also psychological.
For this, it will be necessary to improve the training of health professionals, in order to make them aware of the subject. And why not, suggests the delegation, establish a treatment protocol that emphasizes the principles of precaution and medical necessity. In all cases, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health will have to take up the subject.
Facilitate civil status procedures
More transparency, but also more numbers. Currently, no reliable statistics exist on intersex people. The civil status is silent on the subject. A silence that must end, according to the Senate report. Because it is emblematic of the unease around this subject and the repercussions are heavy on those who are victims.
The delicate question of the declaration to the civil status remains to be resolved. He does not recognize, for the moment, the neutral sex. It is therefore up to parents to choose very early on. The delegation therefore suggests extending the deadline for declaring births beyond five days in order to allow a longer period of reflection, but also to facilitate the procedures for a change of sex… without mentioning them on official documents. One way to obtain well-deserved peace.
Intersex, a multifaceted definition
The Senate report acknowledges this: defining intersex is a difficult exercise. No wonder, since this term covers a wide variety of situations. On paper, people who are intersex – or people with variations in sexual development – are born with sex organs shaped in such a way that it cannot be said whether they are girls or boys. But in fact, many conditions are observed by specialists.
So, to facilitate the process, five “groups” were created, depending on the nature of the anomaly. The first involves an abnormality of the sexual organs in relation to genes, the second of people whose genetic profile is male but which does not correspond to the sexual organs. A third group is made up of people with an unusual chromosome set and malformed sexual organs, the fourth with “real” hermaphroditism cases – with two coexisting structures. Finally, the last group concerns people whose hormones and chromosomes are normal but whose sexual organs are seriously deformed.
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