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Communicating Sex Variation Research Cluster
This research cluster is concerned with the language and discourses used to communicate about human sex characteristics in all their variation, normative and non-normative, and an array of healthcare contexts ranging from the hospital to the home. Also central to the cluster's interests are material consequences for people of all ages, which emerge from ways of speaking and writing about sex characteristics in healthcare contexts. The term 'sex characteristics' represents an array of natural body traits and/or chromosomal possibilities that sit both within and outside of common expectations about what counts as male and female in the culture of biomedicine and in society more generally. It stands to reason that human rights to bodily integrity and autonomy sit at the heart of these issues along with, of course, the rights of adults whose bodies have less common sex characteristics.
Current Project:
Research Team
Dr. KING, Brian
Leader
Language use and the intersex body: Communicating sex variations in multilingual Hong Kong (2020-2025)
This GRF-funded project (no. 17621819) has been the first research study to investigate the language used by clinicians to describe intersex variations of sex characteristics in an Asian context through a focus on Hong Kong. Findings (King, in press) show how language shapes the understanding and management of intersex variations in this context. Drawing on interviews with local clinicians, it investigates the ways doctors communicate with parents and patients about bodies that do not fit typical male or female categories. The analysis uses tools from interactional sociolinguistics to reveal how clinicians adopt different stances while explaining innate sex characteristics and treatment options, both reinforcing and challenging existing medical norms. The analysis of their accounts highlights the complex interactions of gender,
This GRF-funded project (no. 17621819) has been the first research study to investigate the language used by clinicians to describe intersex variations of sex characteristics in an Asian context through a focus on Hong Kong. Findings (King, in press) show how language shapes the understanding and management of intersex variations in this context. Drawing on interviews with local clinicians, it investigates the ways doctors communicate with parents and patients about bodies that do not fit typical male or female categories. The analysis uses tools from interactional sociolinguistics to reveal how clinicians adopt different stances while explaining innate sex characteristics and treatment options, both reinforcing and challenging existing medical norms. The analysis of their accounts highlights the complex interactions of gender,
biopower, ableism, and colonial legacies within medical practices, showing how these forces influence both professional and family responses to intersex traits. At the same time, it considers moments of resistance and possibility, where prevailing norms are called into question. By focusing on language, power, and social context, the analysis and findings offer fresh insight into the continuing challenges and ethical dilemmas surrounding intersex healthcare and underscores the need for truly patient-centred communication and broader social acceptance. It makes a case for rethinking how intersex issues are framed in healthcare, with lessons relevant far beyond Hong Kong.
King, Brian W. (in press) Language, gender and biopolitics: Meaning-making and intersex variations in healthcare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
biopower, ableism, and colonial legacies within medical practices, showing how these forces influence both professional and family responses to intersex traits. At the same time, it considers moments of resistance and possibility, where prevailing norms are called into question. By focusing on language, power, and social context, the analysis and findings offer fresh insight into the continuing challenges and ethical dilemmas surrounding intersex healthcare and underscores the need for truly patient-centred communication and broader social acceptance. It makes a case for rethinking how intersex issues are framed in healthcare, with lessons relevant far beyond Hong Kong.
King, Brian W. (in press) Language, gender and biopolitics: Meaning-making and intersex variations in healthcare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.