This subject is certainly worthy of a documentary. In the United States, journalist John Colapinto's 2001 book, "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised A Girl," elevated awareness about the topic of intersexuality. In the book, Colapinto describes the story of a Canadian boy whose penis was severed during a botched circumcision in the late 1960s. His parents took him to the leading sexologist of the day --- Dr. John Money of Johns Hopkins University. Money recommended the boy become a girl. His tragic tale is the centerpiece of Colapinto's book.
While this documentary doesn't have the benefit of such a single, powerful story, it does a fine job of giving listeners an introduction to the intersexuality.
"For most of us, it's not about gender," says one person born with an intersex condition. "It's about shame, secrecy ... we were told by doctors not to tell other people about our coniditon. Not telling ... is more difficult than the condition itself."
By educating physicians and the public about intersex, activists are attempting to remove the condition from the shadows of secrecy. The most active group in the U.S. is the Intersex Society of North America (www.isna.org). Programmers looking to provide a full hour on this topic could air the documentary and interview Colapinto and/or an ISNA spokesperson.
When a child is born with an intersex condition (the presence of deformed or under-formed genitalia, or genitalia of both sexes), the situation is almost impossible to resolve gracefully. Often times, the condition is not obvious at birth (sometimes not obvious until the teen years) and can cause parents to have to make dire decisions that will impact the child's life in profound ways. Should the child's gender be "reassigned"? Should the child undergo surgery? Should the genitalia be removed or reconstructed? Further, the emotional impact of this condition and how one could lead a normal life is difficult for most people to fathom.
In this doc, Radio Netherlands takes a thoughtful and sensitive look at the intellectual and emotional struggles to help children born with this condition. The piece not only explains the science behind the condition (and various treatments), but also talks with a group of women who have dealt with the condition first hand. Their stories are complex and emotionally difficult (it is difficult not to empathize with all sides in their stories—no one could ever be prepared to deal with such terrible situation).
The producers of the doc do an amazing job of remaining dispassionate in their storytelling, steering clear of the many potential emotional landmines. They avoid the easy temptation to let the poignant weight of these stories overwhelm their journalism of the entire subject.
The results are complete and clear. Regardless of one's own feelings and conclusions about how these situations should be handled, every listener will be moved by it.
This piece handles a delicate subject very well. The use of numerous people that have had to deal with the intersex condition takes the topic and puts a human fact on it. I originally thought that the piece would be more clinical or perhaps mocking, however, the dignity of the participants is preserved. I really apprecaited the piece.
In the past year the topic of intersex has come up a surprising number of times, and to my surprise I found I knew next to nothing about it. The novel Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, only added fuel to my curiosity. The humanist slant to this story answered many of my questions with the important reminder that we are talking about people.
Comments for RN Documentary: Intersex
This piece belongs to the series "RN Documentaries"
Produced by Dheera Sujan
Other pieces by Radio Netherlands Worldwide
Rating Summary
4 comments
Todd Melby
Posted on September 01, 2004 at 09:29 AM | Permalink
Review of RN Documentary: Intersex
This subject is certainly worthy of a documentary. In the United States, journalist John Colapinto's 2001 book, "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised A Girl," elevated awareness about the topic of intersexuality. In the book, Colapinto describes the story of a Canadian boy whose penis was severed during a botched circumcision in the late 1960s. His parents took him to the leading sexologist of the day --- Dr. John Money of Johns Hopkins University. Money recommended the boy become a girl. His tragic tale is the centerpiece of Colapinto's book.
While this documentary doesn't have the benefit of such a single, powerful story, it does a fine job of giving listeners an introduction to the intersexuality.
"For most of us, it's not about gender," says one person born with an intersex condition. "It's about shame, secrecy ... we were told by doctors not to tell other people about our coniditon. Not telling ... is more difficult than the condition itself."
By educating physicians and the public about intersex, activists are attempting to remove the condition from the shadows of secrecy. The most active group in the U.S. is the Intersex Society of North America (www.isna.org). Programmers looking to provide a full hour on this topic could air the documentary and interview Colapinto and/or an ISNA spokesperson.
Eric Nuzum
Posted on July 22, 2004 at 05:59 AM | Permalink
Review of RN Documentary: Intersex
In this doc, Radio Netherlands takes a thoughtful and sensitive look at the intellectual and emotional struggles to help children born with this condition. The piece not only explains the science behind the condition (and various treatments), but also talks with a group of women who have dealt with the condition first hand. Their stories are complex and emotionally difficult (it is difficult not to empathize with all sides in their stories—no one could ever be prepared to deal with such terrible situation).
The producers of the doc do an amazing job of remaining dispassionate in their storytelling, steering clear of the many potential emotional landmines. They avoid the easy temptation to let the poignant weight of these stories overwhelm their journalism of the entire subject.
The results are complete and clear. Regardless of one's own feelings and conclusions about how these situations should be handled, every listener will be moved by it.
Brad Powers
Posted on July 06, 2004 at 07:45 AM | Permalink
Review of RN Documentary: Intersex
This piece handles a delicate subject very well. The use of numerous people that have had to deal with the intersex condition takes the topic and puts a human fact on it. I originally thought that the piece would be more clinical or perhaps mocking, however, the dignity of the participants is preserved. I really apprecaited the piece.
Matthew Westercamp
Posted on June 15, 2004 at 07:06 AM | Permalink
Review of RN Documantary: Intersex
In the past year the topic of intersex has come up a surprising number of times, and to my surprise I found I knew next to nothing about it. The novel Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides, only added fuel to my curiosity. The humanist slant to this story answered many of my questions with the important reminder that we are talking about people.