Intersex Insights

Welcome to Intersex Insights, an event dedicated to advancing interdisciplinary conversations on intersex studies and the social, cultural, medical and ethical approaches to Variations of Sex Characteristics (VSC).

Hosted at Dublin City University on June 9th and 10th, 2025, this 2-day event welcomes contributions from activists, social scientists, legal experts and medical professionals. This event fosters a space to reflect on the future of the healthcare, social awareness and human rights for people with variations of sex characteristics (VSC) and their families.

Aims and topics

We welcome scholars, activists, advocates, professionals and policy makers with interests and expertise in a broad range of areas, including the social sciences, humanities, health, medical, legal and cultural studies.

This conference will engage with key issues in critical intersex studies, welcoming proposals for individual presentations. We consider also unconventional contributions beyond traditional panel presentations, includung artistic expressions.

The conference seeks to:

• Reflect on the current state and future of the wellbeing for people with VSC.
• Explore social awareness, cultural differences, human rights, and advocacy strategies.
• Engage with diverse disciplinary approaches to inform international and local research.

About Variations of Sex Characteristics and Intersex Studies

Variations of Sex Characteristics (VSC) - also referred to as intersex variations or Disorders/differences of sex development (DSD/dsd) - encompass a range of innate biological variations that do not meet the expected definitions of male or female bodies. Historically, medical practices have aimed to “manage” VSC with “normalising” surgical and hormonal interventions. These practices are increasingly contested by intersex activists, scholars and medical ethics professionals as well as supranational entities.

In recent years, social sciences, humanities, healthcare professionals, medical ethics and human rights experts have engaged in interdisciplinary conversations on the current landscape and the advancement of critical intersex studies to inform the international and local research in support to a holistic perspective of intersex/VSC.