Wrestling with Privacy, Visibility, and Legitimacy
by Georgiann Davis, PhD When I was a teenager I phoned The Jerry Springer Show seeking help in resolving my family’s conflict around finances. My working-class family and I saw the show as a legitimate source of assistance. The show didn’t return my call, but my search for help was very real. Roughly 20 years later I was speaking to a producer of The Dr. Phil Show about an upcoming episode where parents of an intersex child would share their struggles with one another over the formation of their child’s gender identity—a four-year old child named Aubrey. Within 72 hours, and thanks to Skype, I was on the Dr. Phil set ready to share my personal and professional experience with intersex. My hope was that I could help these parents, or anyone else with intersex experience, understand that gender was fluid and contextual. Mostly, though, I just wanted viewers to know intersex was a normal and natural variation. When the show previewed on the internet, I heard a number of...