Cheryl Chase (activist) 2922021 217772280 2008-06-07T16:29:35Z Jokestress 62694 add current name :''This article refers to the intersex activist; for the American actress, see [[Cheryl Chase]].'' '''Cheryl Chase''' (born [[August 14]] [[1956]]) is an [[United States|American]] [[intersexuality|intersex]] [[activism|activist]], and the founder of the [[Intersex Society of North America]]. Chase has also written professionally under the name '''Bo Laurent''' and uses that name currently. ==Early life== Chase was born in [[New Jersey]] with [[ambiguous genitalia]] that baffled doctors. According to the ''[[New York Times]]'', her parents originally named her '''Brian Sullivan''', noting "Chase is [[XY sex-determination system|XX]], and the reason for her intersex condition has never been fully understood."<ref name="weil">Weil, Elizabeth (September, 2006). [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/magazine/24intersexkids.html What if It’s (Sort of) a Boy and (Sort of) a Girl?] ''[[The New York Times Magazine]]''</ref> However, other sources state her original name was '''Charlie'''."<ref name="Lehrman">Lehrman, Sally (April 5, 1999). [http://www.salon.com/health/feature/1999/04/05/sex_police/index.html Sex police.] Salon.com</ref><ref name="phillips">Phillips, Jen (May 2003). Born Between Two Sexes. ''Girlfriends Magazine''</ref> Chase told ''[[Salon magazine|Salon]]'' she was born with "mixed male/female sex organs"<ref name="hyena">Hyena, Hank (December 16, 1999). [http://www.salon.com/health/sex/urge/world/1999/12/16/surgery/index.html The micropenis and the giant clitoris.] ''Salon''</ref> and after the discovery of [[ovaries]] and a [[uterus]], a [[clitoridectomy]] was performed when she was aged 18 months.<ref name="whites">Whites, Robin (November 28, 1997). [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1037090 Intersexuals (interview with Chase).] ''[[All Things Considered]]'', [[National Public Radio|NPR]].</ref><ref name="berreby">Berreby, David (Sept. 11, 1996). [http://www.slate.com/id/3118/ Quelle Différence?] ''Slate''</ref> Her parents, as advised by doctors, moved to a new town and raised her as a girl, '''Bonnie Sullivan'''. Although she had begun speaking before the operation, she fell silent for six months after the operation.<ref name="weil"/> She told ''Salon'' that she developed ovotestis at age 8<ref name="Lehrman"/> (later clarified as "the testicular part of her ovo-testes").<ref name="nataf">Nataf, Zachary I. (April 1998). [http://www.newint.org/issue300/trans.html Whatever I feel...] ''New Internationalist''</ref> She found out about the clitorectomy aged 10, and at age 21 succeeded in gaining access to her medical records<ref name="phillips"/> (some sources say this occurred in her early thirties<ref name="McDonough">McDonough, Victoria Tilney (November 23, 2006). [http://www.missoulanews.com/News/News.asp?no=2498 Between the lines.] ''Missoula Independent''</ref>). ==Personal evolution== Chase later moved to [[San Francisco]] and began to live as a [[lesbian]]. Chase graduated from [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] with a degree in math and later studied [[Japanese language|Japanese]] at [[Harvard University]].<ref name="weil"/> She moved to Japan and got a job doing computer and translation work. "I was good at all the hard stuff, the non-emotional stuff that’s considered more masculine."<ref name="McDonough"/> Chase told ''Salon'' she once contemplated committing [[suicide]] "in front of the mutilating physician who had rendered her genitalia numb and scarred."<ref name="hyena"/> Chase had a "[[mental breakdown|nervous breakdown]]" in her mid-30s.<ref name="liu">Liu, Shirley. [http://www.curvemag.com/Detailed/77.html Cheryl Chase.] ''Curve Magazine</ref> When she was 35, she returned to the U.S. and badgered her mother for answers, then embarked on a search for a fuller understanding of what she had learned. Chase [[Same-sex marriage in California|married]] her partner of five years, Robin Mathias, in [[San Francisco]] in 2004. They live on a [[hobby farm]] in [[Sonoma County, California|Sonoma]]. ==Activism== In mid-life, she contacted many academic researchers and people with personal experiences of intersex conditions. In 1993, via a letter to the editor published in ''[[The Sciences]]'' July/August issue, she founded the Intersex Society of North America by fiat and asked for people to write to her under her new name, Cheryl Chase, the beginning of the movement to protect the [[human rights]] of people born with intersex conditions in the U.S.<ref name="chasefiat">Chase, Cheryl. [http://www.nyas.org/publications/sciences/pdf/ts_07_93.pdf Letters from readers.] ''[[The Sciences]]'' July/August 1993, page 25.</ref> In the 1990s, Chase began using the names Bo Laurent and Cheryl Chase simultaneously, sometimes in the same publication.<ref name="hwafall95">Laurent B (1995). Sexual scientists question treatment. in Chase C (ed.) ''Hermaphrodites with Attitude'' Fall/Winter 1995-1996, p. 16 ''ff''.</ref>Chase is the creator of ''Hermaphrodites Speak!'' (1995), a 30 minute [[documentary film]] in which several intersex people discuss the psychological impact of their conditions and the medical treatment and parenting they received.<ref name="speak">Chase, Cheryl (1997) [http://www.isna.org/videos/hermaphrodites_speak Hermaphrodites Speak!]</ref> In 1998 Chase wrote an [[amicus brief]] for the [[Colombia]]n constitutional court, which was then considering a ruling on surgery for a six-year-old boy with a [[micropenis]]. In 2004, Chase and the Intersex Society persuaded the [[San Francisco Human Rights Commission]] to hold hearings on medical procedures for intersex infants. Chase has published commentaries in medical journals<ref name="chasenurse">Chase, Cheryl. 1999. Rethinking treatment for ambiguous genitalia. ''Pediatric Nursing'' 25 (4):451-5</ref> and has criticized [[feminist]] writers, including [[Alice Walker]] and [[Katha Pollitt]], for not putting intersexuality on the feminist agenda, despite their condemnation of [[female genital cutting]] in [[Africa]] and elsewhere.<ref name="newitz">Newitz, Annalee (July 27, 1999). [http://www.gettingit.com/article/552 They Wrecked My Genitals! (interview with Chase).] Gettingit.com</ref> Chase was honored with the [[International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission]]'s 2000 Felipa de Souza Human Rights Award. Largely due to Chase's activism, the [[urology]] and [[endocrinology]] disciplines have begun to reopen their consideration of intersex conditions. Chase advocates a more complex view of intersexuality: in particular, that difficulties cannot be eliminated by early genital surgery. In [[August 2006]], ''[[Pediatrics (journal)|Pediatrics]]'' published a letter signed by 50 international experts including Chase titled "Consensus Statement on the Management of Intersex Disorders" arguing this position, without making a specific recommendation for parents of intersex children. Chase herself believes that surgery should only be done on patients who are able to make an informed choice; that children should be assigned a sex at birth, but parents should be ready to permit sex transition as the child grows; and that parents should be open with their children about their condition. Nevertheless, many medical professionals believe that few parents will make this choice. She also lobbies for the abolition of the word ''[[wikt:hermaphrodite|hermaphrodite]]'' in favor of ''disorders of sex development''. Among the doctors supporting Chase is [[Melvin Grumbach]], who had cared for her as an infant and later became a leading American pediatric [[endocrinologist]]. ==References== {{reflist}} == External links == *[http://www.isna.org/ Intersex Society of North America] *{{imdb_name|1877466}} *Chase, Cheryl (1997). [http://www.isna.org/videos/total_patient_care The Child with an Intersex Condition: Total Patient Care]. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chase, Cheryl}} [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:1956 births]] [[Category:American intersex activists]] [[Category:American expatriates]] [[Category:Harvard University alumni]] [[Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni]] [[Category:People from New Jersey]] [[Category:People from the San Francisco Bay Area]] [[es:Cheryl Chase]]