Cultural Awareness of Intersex in Malta: Invisibility, Stigma and Epistemic Injustice

Claudia Bartolo Tabone, Fae Garland () and Mitchell Travis
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Claudia Bartolo Tabone: Department of Moral Theology, Faculty of Theology, University of Malta, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta
Fae Garland: Law Department, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Mitchell Travis: School of Law, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Social Sciences, 2024, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: In 2015, Malta introduced ground-breaking legal reform designed to protect the bodily integrity of intersex infants in Malta. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals, lawyers, policy-makers and advocates, this article considers the extent to which this reform has improved the cultural visibility and recognition of intersex people in Malta. Engaging with literature on epistemic injustice, this article provides new evidence for a cultural silence around intersex bodies that operates not only at a level of public knowledge but also at the individual and institutional levels. Our findings relate to three categories of visibility: political, cultural and medical. While the political visibility of intersex was an important factor in the introduction and shape of law reform in Malta, our respondents felt that the legislation had had very little effect on public understandings and familiarity with intersex issues. Moreover, respondents felt that many intersex people would be unlikely to know that they were intersex due to the limited conceptual and critical resources available to them: issues such as stigma and shame further encourage the epistemic silencing of intersex issues. The lack of cultural and medical visibility has significantly limited both the intended and hoped-for effect of the legislation. The article considers the broader implications of these results beyond Malta for those seeking to use the law to improve the lived experiences of intersex people.

Keywords: intersex; variations of sex characteristics; DSD; epistemic injustice; Malta; law; cultural visibility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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