Finalist, 2026 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Studies

When children are born with sex attributes that do not fit expectations about male and female anatomy, it is standard medical practice to make their bodies look as “normal” as possible. Doctors seek to reduce or remove intersex characteristics through early childhood surgery—cutting down clitorises, remaking penises, and even performing sterilizations. For decades, intersex medicine has sparked outrage from patient groups, lawmakers, intergovernmental organizations, and scholars. It has been condemned for causing trauma, scars, nerve damage, and the loss of bodily autonomy. Yet it continues.

Iain Morland, an intersex scholar and advocate—and a former patient—explores why medicalization is so embedded in contemporary society and how to challenge it. He provides breakthrough accounts of the traumatic effects of surgery, the consequences for attachments between children and parents, and the paradoxes of the pursuit of normality. Weaving together theoretical analysis with autobiographical insights, Morland grapples with the complexity of dismantling intersex medicine. Accessibly written and passionately argued, this book exposes the contradictions of the medical management of intersex. With a bold mix of critical theory, psychology, queer theory, and philosophy, it provides fresh insights for scholars of intersex, gender, sexuality, and science, as well as for activists and their allies.

"With writings that span three decades, there is no one more qualified to offer directions forward than Morland...Through Intersex, we can begin to imagine the true demedicalization of intersex. By admitting the failure of the promise of normalization and examining the layers of physical and emotional scars that this failed promise created, we can see the necessity of charting a new way forward that eschews sex/gender as a simple binary, embracing those whose bodies defy this false opposition." - Science

"Morland’s vision and approach extend beyond issues of treating intersex conditions, making them essential to anyone invested in promoting bodily autonomy, as well as those seeking to understand and disrupt the reciprocal relationship between medical power and the social management of bodies." - The Gay & Lesbian Review

"Morland offers a comprehensive, in-depth, albeit at times conceptually demanding, analysis of the contradictory logics behind intersex surgery…. Intersex…constitutes a vital and acutely needed critique against medicalization not only within Intersex studies but also across medical humanities, Gender and Sexuality studies, and Critical Trauma scholarship." - Ethnic & Third World Literatures

"In an impressively majoritising gesture [Intersex] makes the subject of medicalisation of intersex a matter for all of us since we all live in the world that potentiates and legitimates it." - Lisa Downing, author of Against Affect