BODIES BEFORE WORDS

Medical Interventions In Children With Variations Of Sex Characteristics 

Medical interventions involving children with variations of sex characteristics raise fundamental questions about bodily integrity, autonomy and the limits of parental, medical and legal decision-making. Its title points both to a temporal dilemma—what may be decided about a child’s body before they can speak for themselves?—and to a normative claim: that the body, its integrity and its future possibilities must remain primary when others seek to describe, classify or alter it through diagnoses, proxy consent, legal arrangements or judicial decisions.

The conference brings together perspectives from law, medicine, ethics and lived experience in two distinct, yet complementary parts: Part I, held in person in Linz, explores critiques of normalisation and binary ordering; Part II, held online, turns to protection, care and normative reconstruction.

We very much look forward to welcoming you and to an open and stimulating interdisciplinary and international exchange.

PART I – IN PERSON

• Friday, 23 October 2026 | 9:00 am – 5.30 pm
• JKU Linz
• Altenberger Str. 69 4040 Linz Austria
• Registration: www.reglist24.com/bbw1

PART II – ONLINE

• Friday, 20 November 2026 | 9:00 am – 5.30 pm
• The dial-in details will be sent out shortly before the event.
• Registration: www.reglist24.com/bbw2

Participation is free of charge, and a certificate of attendance can be issued.

If you have any questions, please contact lift_c jku at