Cripping Intersex

by Celeste E. Orr

A radically innovative approach to intersex studies and activism. The connections between intersex and disability deserve nuanced attention to strengthen the rights and shared understanding of intersex people living with the disabling consequences of medical intervention. Cripping Intersex examines three key the medical management of intersex persons, the fascination with sport sex-testing policies, and the eugenic skew of preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Celeste E. Orr investigates how intersex and interphobia overlap with disability and ableism, proposing new approaches to intersex studies and activism. Integrating feminist disability studies with intersex studies provides tools to surpass the traditional sex binary and entrenched culture against intersex traits. Orr offers a radical understanding of intersex with disability, pushing analyses of intersex histories, experience, and embodiment further than feminist or queer theory can do alone.

Genres: Nonfiction, Queer, Disability, Intersex

332 pages, Paperback

Published June 26, 2023

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned some stuff! I went in thinking that LGBTQIA+ people are awesome and that disabled people are awesome, and already familiar with a lot of the theories presented about those groups, so I didn't have to struggle with the material in that sense. But I did learn new things specific to the experience of being intersex.

It's very academic but the clearly explained version of that. Like the author references Butler and Haraway but presents their ideas in a refreshingly straightforward way. Each chapter can stand alone, so there is some repetition if you're reading the book start to finish.

The most challenging part to me was having to force myself to care through two whole chapters on sports. (I know sports are massively significant on a cultural level, I just personally don't find the topic that interesting.)

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

PC Warning: This book is full of PC vocabulary, plus odd language usage like "intersex-as/is-disability."
This book makes a few good points. It is wrong for physicians to tell parents that having an intersex child is a medical emergency. People should be able to have cosmetic surgeries that often don't work well, after they are old enough to decide. Intersex people deserve respect and humanity. Intersex is not necessarily a disability. Otherwise, one star off because the book is horribly repetitive and goes on for chapters about simple ideas, in order to add her PC language and intersectionalist ideas.