Abstract
The intersex body is continuously categorised through discourses of those who are in need of intervention. This view is particularly relevant for the intersex ‘disorder diagnosis’ that starts as early as prenatal stages. It is inevitable that these children will soon embark a journey of schooling. Internationally, children with intersex bodies were discriminated against in school practices because they did not have distinctive genitals and did not fit into specific gender roles in schools. Presently, there is no policy in South Africa that offers guidelines on how to provide inclusive and supportive education for youth with intersex bodies. Schools in South Africa are found to discriminate against and violate youth with non-heterosexual identities and nonnormative body developments. In light of all this, I am questioning how the intersex body as a construct of abnormal diagnosis could be perceived and engaged within the South African schooling environment. Although there is growing literature on diverse sexual orientations and gender identities in South African schooling, research is unfortunately contained to lesbian and gay identities, subsequently, there is a deafening silence on research that explores intersex bodies in the South African schooling system. This study aims to explore the narratives of an adolescent youth born intersex and subjected to infant gender “normalising” surgery. The study firstly explores how an intersex condition has affected a school youth’s school experiences. Secondly, it aims at extrapolating factors that influence the social and psychological agency as schools are more than just cognitive projects but that of holistic wellbeing.
M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)