The Merited Sex

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The Merited Sex

Abstract

By claiming to fight against various obstacles to women’s identity and sexual well-being, cosmetic surgery of the genitals presents itself as a practice that supports self-entrepreneurship. The authors analyze the discourse of doctors who practice it in French-speaking Switzerland by mobilizing the notion of passing, meaning passing from a category of sex or race to another. They highlight three registers justifying a modification of genital morphology (constitution, age and cultural constrains) and analyse the interwoven relations of gender, age, race and capacity that induce, control and sanction access to these practices of self-transformation.

Authors

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Publication information

Editors:

Amélie Keyser-Verreault, Élisabeth Mercier

Publisher:

Recherches féministes Volume 34, numéro 1, 2021, «Esthétique et politiques du corps», pp. 273–291

Languages:

French

Media Type:

PDF

City:

Québec

Year:

2021

Disciplines:

Research labels:

Health – medicine
Sexuality
Gender identities
Intersectionality

Subjects:

Gender Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Social Anthropology

Genres:

Article