I'm so beside myself at an atrocious "Tragedy" model doco I just watched on
the ABC's Science Show "Quantum" that I must needs burst into email and
rejoin Dis-Res and OzAdvocacy just to vent on it. Excuse my incoherence, as
I'm feeling just a bit emotional about this
You can see the blurb for this piece of s*&!% at
http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/qnewsgrp.htm
Maybe I've been leading a sheltered life lately, but this simply horrified
me.
Its about this 10 year old intersex child, raised as a girl, who is being
harried into various operations to make her "normal", though she doesnt want
to be and wishes people would like her the way she is. Her mother, who is
working class, is doing her best to hold out and buy some time for her,
against the dark and gloomy warnings of an assortment of emotionally
atrophied upper class Medical Specialists who keep warning her that her
child is going to have a tragic life if she doesnt consent to these
procedures.
The voiceover is somthing atrocious as in,
"It is believed that genetics may be to 'blame' for these 'terrible'
birth defects'
I lost count of the times the word "to blame", "Tragic", "terrible"
appeared, in the hushed and mournful tones of the announcer
despite the fact that the Joella herself was totallylively, charming, and
happy with her life, except when made to squirm by being put on the spot by
Mr Fish-Eyed Surgeon about "Hmm, you dont seem to want an operation do you.
Well you know you know your life will be a tragedy if you dont! (Some of the
surgery she'd had was necessary, but the supremely self-confident gall of
these nifty fingered old fogies determining how she was to be re-assigned
was something else).
Another telling bit were these shots that we were meant to see as
heartbreaking, of a clothesline, with all denim and blue baby clothes, and
then it faded out and was replaced with all pink and white clothes, and the
mother talking about how it broke her heart to have to thow away the denims.
In the YEAR 2000!??
I can understand these film-makers never having heard of the Social Model
.... but never having heard of Feminism???
Anyhow, see for yourselves if you're running low on adrenaline
According to this show, abt 1 in 1000 people are born with some degree of
intersex - how astonishing that we have been able to suppress such a huge
population and cut them down to boring old M and F
Apparently, the reason why this child needs surgery, is because she wont be
able to get a passport, as you dont get any other choices besides M and F,
and she was registered as M and sex changes are forbidden in UK law, and
therefore the only way out of these impasse is the knife.... I dont
understand either ...
Oh well, now to compose some responsible sounding version of this rave to
send to the ABC ...
Judy SInger
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