Former Surgeon General Gets Hammered on Intersexual Surgery Stance
Hermaphrodites Give It To Elders
In Your Face News Service
Washington, DC - Sept. 20, 1997
THE ACTIVIST
GROUPS HERMAPHRODITES WITH ATTITUDE (HWA) and
Transexual Menace today protested Dr. Jocelyn
Elders' keynote address to a Mautner
Lesbians With Cancer Project fund-raiser, held
in the Washington Hilton. Dr. Elders, a
former US Surgeon General, is an outspoken
advocate of Intersex Genital Mutilation
(IGM), a cosmetic surgery performed on the
genitals of intersexed infants so they will
look like "normal" males and females.
Eight demonstrators carried banners
saying "Dr. Elders: Keep Your Scalpels OFF
Our Bodies" and "Intersex Kids Need
Counseling NOT Cutting", and distributed IGM
leaflets to attendees as they arrived for the
$100-a-plate dinner. [Flier Text Follows]
Several attendees expressed shock and
dismay upon learning of Dr. Elders' position,
noting that she is generally considered a
supporter of lesbian and feminist causes, and
enlightened on most matters of adolescent
sexuality. However, the flier noted
that on "correcting" queer genitals,
Dr. Elders has written: "...just take out
everything and make a good vaginal pouch and
the child can function very well as a
female," and "I always told my students,
I can make a good female, but it's very hard
to make a male."
"We're not protesting the Mautner
Project," explained HWA founder, Cheryl
Chase, "we're calling attention to Dr.
Elders' support of IGM and her continued
refusal to meet with us on an issue
that affects our lives. One reason IGM is
performed is the fear that girls born with
clitorises considered 'too large' will grow
up to be masculine or lesbian. We want to
bring awareness to the Lesbian and Gay
community that IGM is a queer issue."
Although intersexuality was once
considered rare, according to noted Brown
University medical researcher Dr. Anne
Fausto-Sterling, about 8 intersex children
are genitally cut in US hospitals every working
day for cosmetic reasons. Stated Chase, "We
will continue to seek a meeting with Dr. Elders,
and anticipate that once she takes IGM seriously,
she will support out position."
Following the demonstration, HWA and the
Menace donated a $100 to the Mautner Project
in the name of intersexed infants.
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