Workshop „Genderlaw male – female – blank?“: Teil 1

Am 10. Februar 2014 findet der Workshop „Genderlaw. Male – female – blank? Workshop about the new law on civil status in germany“ mit Malin Ah-King (Evolutionsbiologin und Genderforscherin, Uppsala), Dan Christian Ghattas (Kulturwissenschaftler und Intersex Aktivist, Berlin) und Juana Remus (Rechtswissenschaftlerin und Genderforscherin, Berlin) statt, veranstaltet vom Zentrum für Gender Studies und feministische Zukunftsforschung in Kooperation mit dem DAAD und dem Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung.

Topics and goals of the Workshop

As the first country in Europe, on November 1, 2013, Germany changed the obligatory designation of male or female in the birth register and introduced gender: blank. It was applauded by many for its progressiveness, but it has also received severe criticism especially from intersex communities and NGOs.

In our Workshops we consider the new German law on sex designation that provides the possibility of assigning newborn intersex babies with gender: blank instead of female/male. What were the incentives towards taking on this law? What are the legal regulations for it? And first and foremost, what are the implications of this law for intersex people?

In our first workshop we question the assumed dichotomy of biological sex and investigate the two-gender hegemony and heterosexual normativity in law. What are the limitations and implications of the current law? The dispute over the necessity of sex designation in legal status will be the focus of our discussion.

In our second workshop we want to give an overview of the legal and life situations of intersex individuals from selected countries in various regions of the world, for example Sweden, Australia, and Argentina. How do other countries handle the registration of sex/gender? What may Germany learn from them and which strategies are necessary to improve the human rights situation of intersex individuals and individuals with various gender identities?

Malin Ah-King, an evolutionary biologist and gender researcher, will give a critical perspective on the assumed dichotomy of biological sex. Juana Remus is a legal expert and gender researcher who will describe the development of the new law and the heteronormative two-gender hegemony of which the law is part. Dan Christian Ghattas, intersex activist and cultural scientist, is the author of a preliminary study on the life situations of intersex individuals, called Human Rights between the Sexes, recently published by the Heinrich Boell Foundation and will give an overview of the life situation of intersex individuals.

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