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The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment

Charlotte Jones Orcid Logo

Feminist Theory, Volume: 23, Issue: 1, Pages: 39 - 60

Swansea University Author: Charlotte Jones Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/14647001211062740

Abstract

This article develops loneliness as a political and social justice issue by illustrating the harmful personal and social consequences of the medical jurisdiction over and constitution of variations in sex characteristics. Whilst connections between loneliness, health and illness have been well estab...

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Published in: Feminist Theory
ISSN: 1464-7001 1741-2773
Published: SAGE Publications 2022
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa61309
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Instead, I provide an account of the central role of medicalisation and medical management in producing loneliness. By doing so, I underline the imperative for medical practice to consider its influence upon social and personal, as well as physical, wellbeing. Drawing on stories shared through solicited diaries followed by in-depth interviews with seven people with sex variations and two parents in the UK, I show how accounts of loneliness help to illuminate the violence of abandonment, silencing and marginalisation that often goes unheard, together with hidden or normalised systems of harm.Building on concepts of ethical loneliness and ontological loneliness, I show how structural violations operate to injure trust and self-worth, leading to social unease. I argue for the importance of people with sex variations finding sites of comfort and acceptance, but note the ways that some forms of medicalisation can inhibit alliances and community formation, despite diagnoses also carrying the potential to facilitate informal support structures and collective identities. By bringing together intersex studies with discourses of loneliness, I develop a better understanding of loneliness as a product of social and systemic violence, and the ways in which medical discourses tie in with larger structures of oppression, coercion and control. 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spelling 2022-10-13T13:17:32.4258102 v2 61309 2022-09-23 The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment 60ff57269cfe0e65e571b0a68a82f69f 0000-0002-7348-4662 Charlotte Jones Charlotte Jones true false 2022-09-23 CSSP This article develops loneliness as a political and social justice issue by illustrating the harmful personal and social consequences of the medical jurisdiction over and constitution of variations in sex characteristics. Whilst connections between loneliness, health and illness have been well established, this work customarily identifies the ways illness can lead to, or be caused by, loneliness. Instead, I provide an account of the central role of medicalisation and medical management in producing loneliness. By doing so, I underline the imperative for medical practice to consider its influence upon social and personal, as well as physical, wellbeing. Drawing on stories shared through solicited diaries followed by in-depth interviews with seven people with sex variations and two parents in the UK, I show how accounts of loneliness help to illuminate the violence of abandonment, silencing and marginalisation that often goes unheard, together with hidden or normalised systems of harm.Building on concepts of ethical loneliness and ontological loneliness, I show how structural violations operate to injure trust and self-worth, leading to social unease. I argue for the importance of people with sex variations finding sites of comfort and acceptance, but note the ways that some forms of medicalisation can inhibit alliances and community formation, despite diagnoses also carrying the potential to facilitate informal support structures and collective identities. By bringing together intersex studies with discourses of loneliness, I develop a better understanding of loneliness as a product of social and systemic violence, and the ways in which medical discourses tie in with larger structures of oppression, coercion and control. This article concludes by underlining the need for structural change in our approach to and understanding of sex variations, and with a call for us to become more attentive to these stories of medical harm, to ensure that they are heard and to seek necessary justice. Journal Article Feminist Theory 23 1 39 60 SAGE Publications 1464-7001 1741-2773 Community, disorders of sex development, feminism, intersex, loneliness, medicalisation, relationships, shame, variations in sex characteristics 20 2 2022 2022-02-20 10.1177/14647001211062740 COLLEGE NANME Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy COLLEGE CODE CSSP Swansea University The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, and the writing of this article was supported by Charlotte's Fellowship with the Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health, University of Exeter (203109/Z/16/Z). 2022-10-13T13:17:32.4258102 2022-09-23T17:07:20.6517872 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy Charlotte Jones 0000-0002-7348-4662 1 61309__25445__86c137b2fab745d991cc281d2c873e2b.pdf 61309_VoR.pdf 2022-10-13T13:15:14.7237225 Output 599497 application/pdf Version of Record true © The Author(s) 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment
spellingShingle The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment
Charlotte Jones
title_short The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment
title_full The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment
title_fullStr The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment
title_full_unstemmed The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment
title_sort The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment
author_id_str_mv 60ff57269cfe0e65e571b0a68a82f69f
author_id_fullname_str_mv 60ff57269cfe0e65e571b0a68a82f69f_***_Charlotte Jones
author Charlotte Jones
author2 Charlotte Jones
format Journal article
container_title Feminist Theory
container_volume 23
container_issue 1
container_start_page 39
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
issn 1464-7001
1741-2773
doi_str_mv 10.1177/14647001211062740
publisher SAGE Publications
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Social Sciences - Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy
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description This article develops loneliness as a political and social justice issue by illustrating the harmful personal and social consequences of the medical jurisdiction over and constitution of variations in sex characteristics. Whilst connections between loneliness, health and illness have been well established, this work customarily identifies the ways illness can lead to, or be caused by, loneliness. Instead, I provide an account of the central role of medicalisation and medical management in producing loneliness. By doing so, I underline the imperative for medical practice to consider its influence upon social and personal, as well as physical, wellbeing. Drawing on stories shared through solicited diaries followed by in-depth interviews with seven people with sex variations and two parents in the UK, I show how accounts of loneliness help to illuminate the violence of abandonment, silencing and marginalisation that often goes unheard, together with hidden or normalised systems of harm.Building on concepts of ethical loneliness and ontological loneliness, I show how structural violations operate to injure trust and self-worth, leading to social unease. I argue for the importance of people with sex variations finding sites of comfort and acceptance, but note the ways that some forms of medicalisation can inhibit alliances and community formation, despite diagnoses also carrying the potential to facilitate informal support structures and collective identities. By bringing together intersex studies with discourses of loneliness, I develop a better understanding of loneliness as a product of social and systemic violence, and the ways in which medical discourses tie in with larger structures of oppression, coercion and control. This article concludes by underlining the need for structural change in our approach to and understanding of sex variations, and with a call for us to become more attentive to these stories of medical harm, to ensure that they are heard and to seek necessary justice.
published_date 2022-02-20T04:20:03Z
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