GIRES RESEARCH PRIZE REMINDER

Prize for best published research
Closing date for entries 30th April 2000

GIRES wishes to stimulate and give recognition to research undertaken by
others into gender identity and intersex issues.  For this research to have a
worthwhile educative effect it must be published via at least one of the
communication media.  The medium in which it appears must be influential
within the groups that can significantly affect the way British society
treats those affected by gender identity and intersex conditions.  GIRES will
therefore award a monetary prize for the most influential published research
which has appeared in print or been broadcast.  Entries for the award should
be made by those who undertook the research.  Permission for the prize to be
awarded to them would be obtained from the institution for which they worked.

The amount to be awarded is £500 OR $US800  Presentation of the award will
achieve substantial recognition for its recipient.  GIRES will initiate
publicity for the award.  Wherever feasible, the research will be featured in
GIRES' annual report to its varied membership.  The prize giving will form
part of GIRES' annual general meeting in June 2000.

Research entered for the prize should have been published between 1 April
1999 and 31 March 2000.  A printed or taped copy of the entry should be
mailed to GIRES and received no later than 30 April 2000.

The criteria for evaluating entries are shown below.  Entries should be
accompanied by the researchers' own assessments of how well they have met the
criteria.

The subject researched should be highly significant for those directly
affected by gender identity and intersex issues; it may relate to any
medical, social, legal, legislative or other aspect of these issues.

The medium in which the research data has appeared should be highly
influential among those who can significantly improve the way British society
treats those affected; thus it might be a prestigious professional journal, a
large circulation national newspaper or a popular broadcast.

The article or broadcast describing the research should contain readily
understood explicit or implicit recommendations which are highly likely to
improve the treatment of those affected.

The adjudication of articles submitted for consideration will be carried out
by GIRES' trustees.  They will, as necessary, seek the advice of appropriate
persons in the academic and media fields.  If no article adequately meets the
above criteria, the award will be withheld and offered again in the following
year.

The address for submissions is:

GIRES, Melverley, The Warren, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 2SP, England


FIRST RESEARCH PRIZE AWARDED

The GIRES Research Prize for 1999 was awarded to Professor Milton Diamond and
Professor Kenneth Kipnis for their article: "Pediatric Ethics and the
Surgical Assignment of Sex, published in the Journal of Clinical Ethics. The
Professors examined the existing medical practice of performing surgery on
infants with ambiguous genitalia, loss of penis, or a large clitoris and then
raising them in the assigned sex without ever informing them of this
treatment.

Research conducted around 1970 had postulated that gender identity is
initially malleable and only becomes fixed when an infant reaches the age of
18 to 24 months. One highly influential case involved nonhermaphroditic
identical twins one of whom had suffered destruction of penis as a result of
a botched circumcision. At the age of 17 months, that twin was surgically
refashioned with approximately female genitalia and thereafter raised as a
girl. The psychologist responsible for that gender reassignment, which
included oestrogens from the age of 12, affirmed its continuing success.
Professor Diamond located that twin, now in his thirties, and found that he
had never functioned successfully as a girl. The twin had, at the age of 14
requested reassignment as male which has since included hormone treatment and
mastectomy. He now lives as a man and has married a woman who is the mother
of three children. The article also describes a study of six comparable
infants. The behaviour of all was more masculine than feminine and two
changed to the male gender.

A further study referred to in the article describes the satisfactory life
experiences of twelve males, raised as boys, whose micropenises were retained
even though they were within the standard for surgical removal.

The article also questions the use of a standard for surgical correction of
an over large clitoris in infant girls in the absence of research that
demonstrates the benefits of this treatment.

The article recommends that: no such sex assignment surgery be performed
without the informed consent of the patient; this ban stays in force until
research has shown that it has a positive effect; and former patients be
informed of the surgery.

The professors have provide GIRES with a synopsis of their thinking and a
most helpful list of related reading. These are included in our annual report
of which hard copies may be ordered via our telephone, fax or email
addresses.

The American medical profession is beginning to give serious consideration to
the professors' recommendations. They were considered in April 1999 during a
special symposium entitled "Pediatric Gender Reassignment: A Critical
Appraisal" at the American Urological Association annual meeting. The meeting
accepted the call for consideration of all three recommendations and
specifically to have the Section of Urology of the American Academy of
Pediatrics establish a registry for all intersexed children and to perform
look-back evaluations of treatment and management.

GIRES considers that the article deserves to be considered by the medical
profession within the UK where it seems likely that about 30,000 people have
intersex conditions. The question of gender assignment in babies has worried
and challenged British paediatric surgeons for many years. Discussions are
now taking place with the leading authorities in this field who are
responding in a very positive and open way to the issues that have been
raised and will include GIRES in their debate of how best to deal with them.

The article has also provided highly valuable data on which GIRES has based
its recommendations to the Home Office Interdepartmental Working Group which
is examining the issues concerning birth certificates and related matters.

IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY JOINED GIRES, PLEASE APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP

Email:  [log in to unmask]
Telephone:  44 (0) 1372 801554
Fax:  44 (0) 1372 272297
Surface Mail:  GIRES. Melverley, The Warren, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 2SP, England

 Bernard Reed, Chairperson, GIRES




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