A reificação nos discursos e práticas biomédicas em intersexos: a violação de direitos e a luta pela despatologização

Abstract

The present work is carried out through an analytical contrast of the criticisms brought by the international political movements and social scientists of the "intersex issue" to the way in which the biomedical practices and discourses are based on reified – according to Axel Honneth –forms of rationality set to deal with intersex subjects. At this point, it is questioned to what extent this modus operandi hinders the recognition and realization of intersex rights. As a consequence, it is hypothesized that the medical notions underlying the treatments and care for the intersex "patient" end up by objectifying it through structures of rationality based on reified models, which causes obstacles to some of their ethical and legal demands. In order to do so, it is a general objective to analyze, in opposition to the political and juridical questions of the intersex international movement, the discourse used by the rational construction of biomedical theory and practice in the face of the diseases that are conventionally called the "anomalies or disorders of sexual differentiation". In the meantime, it is investigated to what extent this scheme violates rights and makes impossible the effective recognition of intersexuals. In relation to the specific objectives, it is intended, initially, to conceptualize the notion of reification on the theoretical bases that compose the sense brought by Axel Honneth, as well as the relation of the term with his notion of recognition. Moreover, it is proposed to contextualize the emergence and historical evolution of medical practice in the face of the phenomenon and to establish some of the precepts that make up what can be called "biomedical rationality". In addition, it is proposed to situate some of the state of the art of the conquest of intersex rights, with special emphasis on Colombia and Australia. In order to achieve these aims, the theory of representation of social actors of the linguist Theo van Leeuwen (2008), which constitutes a critical model of discourse analysis, is applied as a method of approach.