The Ramifications of the “Sexing” Process on Intersexed People: The Tension between the Biosocial Body and the Particular, Subjective Body

This article seeks to challenge the biomedical treatment of intersexed individuals in Israel by focusing on the constant tension between the particular, subjective body and the biosocial body established by biomedical professionals through the sexing process. The main goal of the sexing process is to conceal the ambiguity and deviation of the intersexed body by creating a normative, typical, single-sexed/single-gendered body, assuming that this typical body will enable intersexed people to adjust to their society and will contribute to their wellbeing. This article argues that the sexing process creates a kind of corporeal duality, as if two bodies existed within one body and were in constant struggle with each other. On the one hand, the sexing process creates a biosocial, artificial body and replicates sex/gender and social norms. On the other hand, the subjective, particular body constantly opposes the biosocial body through its senses and its material characteristics and reactions. This corporeal duality maintains and re-creates the deviance and ambiguity of intersexed people and traps them in a vicious, paradoxical circle.