Intersex in educational contexts

Intersex describes a variation of sex characteristics. Intersex people identify as men, women, inter*, trans or non-binary. Up to now, the topic of intersex has mainly been researched medically and the problem has been "treated" on individual bodies. Inter* Studies are only slowly finding their way into gender studies in general and educational gender studies in particular. Many pedagogical actors assume that the topic does not play a role in their everyday lives. However, as the results show, intersex people are always present, but they attempt to hide their variations in gender characteristics in educational contexts. Not least against the background of current social and legal developments, the exclusion of the topic in pedagogical discourses is no longer acceptable. In this qualitative study, biographical experiences of intersex people within their family and during school time are explored. The narratives were collected through a call for written contributions and biographical narrative interviews. The results point to diverse normalization and taboos in family and school time. The narrators remain silenced subjects in pedagogical contexts, who secure their social existence (i.e., as a child in the family, as a student in class, or as a friend among peers) through tabooing, "official stories", social self-exclusion, or acting. A great gap in psychosocial and educational support becomes apparent. Support services in medical contexts did not offer suitable opportunities for inclusion of the topic in family and school life. The present narratives are characterized by years of silence and isolated negotiation processes. The results point to a dispositive deconceptualization of the topic in pedagogical contexts, leading to pathological self- and other-positionings. The narratives presented here are characterized by years of silence and lonely negotiation processes. The results point to a structural gap of the topic in pedagogical contexts, leading to pathological self- and other-positionings. Paedagogical contexts prove to be central spaces of education that could open up potential for all gendered subjects. The present findings offer central insights for theory and practice and important points for further research.

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