Somatechnics of Consensus: Situating the Biomedicalisation of Intersex

Abstract

This article makes an inquiry into how the orientation towards consensus shapes the somatechnics of intersex ( Ahmed 2006 , 2007 ; Sullivan 2009a , 2009b ). The article takes its departure in the concept of somatechnics and the theoretical framework of biomedicalisation ( Clarke et al 2003 ), two theoretical perspectives that transgress the standoff between discursive and material approaches and challenge the notion that there is such a thing as pre-discursive, purely material bodies that discourses act upon, pointing towards the fact that ‘modes and practices of corporeality are always-already, and without exception, in-relation and in-process’ ( Sullivan 2009a ). In order to explore the complexity of the somatechnics of intersex, encompassing networks of organisations, communication channels, alliances, narratives, clinical protocols, surgical interventions, feminist critique and activist resistance, this inquiry tries to situate somatechnical practices by means of exploring local somatechnics of intersex, using the differences and similarities between US and Swedish contexts as a case study. The article also explores how the somatechnics of consensus as expressed within activist organisations sets boundaries for how feminist critique is formulated and enacted.