Defiant Bodies: Discourses on Intersex, 1573-2003

With the rise of the internet in the twenty-first century, members of the intersex community have been brought into closer contact with one another. Intersex activists have increasingly advocated for the bodily autonomy of intersex people and have argued that intersex medical interventions (also known as intersex genital mutilations), performed to clarify ambiguous genitalia are human rights abuses in many cases, especially when performed on those who cannot consent such as infants. This zine, compiled by Japanese-American intersex author, artist, and activist Emi Koyama, presents the first-person perspectives of several intersex people and provides valuable guidance for ways that teachers of women’s and gender studies can discuss intersex in a way that respects the lived experiences of intersex people.