”JAG TROR ATT VI LEVER I ETT JÄTTESTORT EXPERIMENT”: En kvalitativ studie om kirurgers och endokrinologers överväganden kring behandling vid intersexvariation med fokus på barnets bästa.

Abstract

Over the past thirty years, the living conditions of intersex people have received attention both in Sweden and internationally. A particularly intense debate has emerged from a human rights perspective, focusing on medical interventions and treatments performed on children with intersex variations. These procedures are often carried out at an early age without the child´s consent. Several UN committees have highlighted that such interventions risk violating fundamental human rights, including the right to consent, protection against torture and inhuman treatment, as well as Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: the principle of the best interests of the child. This study is based on qualitative, semi-structured interviews with Swedish surgeons and endocrinologists, which serve as the primary empirical source for the analysis. The study explores how these medical professionals reason regarding surgical interventions and hormonal treatment for children with intersex variations, who are unable to provide consent themselves. Particular focus is placed on how the doctors´ decisions relate to their interpretations of the principle of the best interests of the child. Drawing on a theoretical framework grounded in the two-gender norm and power relations, the study shows that doctors´ decisions are shaped by a complex web of social norms, medical considerations, and ethical dilemmas, rather than by an active intent to maintain and reproduce normalizing practices. The findings also reveal that many doctors´ actively resist prevailing gender norms. Operating at the intersection of medical logic and societal expectations, they navigate ethically charged decisions in the absence of research, striving to act in the child´s best interests.