{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]],"date-time":"2026-10-28T01:46:46Z","timestamp":1793152006586,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":86,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,20]],"date-time":"2022-02-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1645315200000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,20]],"date-time":"2022-02-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1645315200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000269","name":"Economic and Social Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000269","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100004440","name":"Wellcome Trust","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100004440","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Feminist Theory"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,4]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article develops loneliness as a political and social justice issue by illustrating the harmful personal and social consequences of the medical jurisdiction over and constitution of variations in sex characteristics. Whilst connections between loneliness, health and illness have been well established, this work customarily identifies the ways illness can lead to, or be caused by, loneliness. Instead, I provide an account of the central role of medicalisation and medical management in producing loneliness. By doing so, I underline the imperative for medical practice to consider its influence upon social and personal, as well as physical, wellbeing. Drawing on stories shared through solicited diaries followed by in-depth interviews with seven people with sex variations and two parents in the UK, I show how accounts of loneliness help to illuminate the violence of abandonment, silencing and marginalisation that often goes unheard, together with hidden or normalised systems of harm.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Building on concepts of ethical loneliness and ontological loneliness, I show how structural violations operate to injure trust and self-worth, leading to social unease. I argue for the importance of people with sex variations finding sites of comfort and acceptance, but note the ways that some forms of medicalisation can inhibit alliances and community formation, despite diagnoses also carrying the potential to facilitate informal support structures and collective identities. By bringing together intersex studies with discourses of loneliness, I develop a better understanding of loneliness as a product of social and systemic violence, and the ways in which medical discourses tie in with larger structures of oppression, coercion and control. This article concludes by underlining the need for structural change in our approach to and understanding of sex variations, and with a call for us to become more attentive to these stories of medical harm, to ensure that they are heard and to seek necessary justice.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/14647001211062740","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,21]],"date-time":"2022-02-21T01:56:15Z","timestamp":1645408575000},"page":"39-60","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":24,"title":["The harms of medicalisation: intersex, loneliness and abandonment"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"23","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7348-4662","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Charlotte","family":"Jones","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Exeter"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,20]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_1","volume-title":"A Biography of Loneliness: the History of an Emotion","author":"Alberti Fay B.","year":"2019","unstructured":"Alberti Fay B. (2019) A Biography of Loneliness: the History of an Emotion. Oxford: Oxford University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.books.9780890425596"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_1","unstructured":"Bingham John. (2014) \u2018Britain the Loneliness Capital of Europe\u2019. Telegraph 18 June. Available at: https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/politics\/10909524\/Britain-the-loneliness-capital-of-Europe.html (accessed 28 May 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_1","volume-title":"Social Origins of Depression: a Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women","author":"Brown George W.","year":"1978","unstructured":"Brown George W., Tirril O. Harris (1978) Social Origins of Depression: a Study of Psychiatric Disorder in Women. London: Tavistock."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.0141-9889.2004.00413.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_1","volume-title":"Bodies That Matter: on the Discursive Limits of Sex","author":"Butler Judith","year":"1993","unstructured":"Butler Judith (1993) Bodies That Matter: on the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York: Routledge."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203499627"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9566.ep10491512"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/10642684-4-2-189"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/01.ten.0000081687.21823.d4"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1359104517719114"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_1","unstructured":"Cooper Fred (2020) \u2018COVID-19 and the Loneliness Crisis\u2019. Solitudes: Past and Present. Available at: https:\/\/solitudes.qmul.ac.uk\/blog\/covid-19-and-the-loneliness-crisis\/ (accessed 28 May 2020)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_1","article-title":"Co-production For or Against the University: Student Loneliness and the Commodification of Impact in Covid-19","author":"Cooper Fred","year":"2021","unstructured":"Cooper Fred, Charlotte Jones (2021) \u2018Co-production For or Against the University: Student Loneliness and the Commodification of Impact in Covid-19\u2019. Qualitative Research Journal. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/QRJ-02-2021-0016","journal-title":"Qualitative Research Journal"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/10642684-2008-136"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_1","volume-title":"Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body","author":"Davis Lennard J","year":"1995","unstructured":"Davis Lennard J (1995) Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body. New York: Verso."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.18574\/nyu\/9781479891993.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/09687599.2019.1609910"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-21898-0"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11019-015-9654-5"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_21_1","article-title":"The Co-productive Imagination: a Creative, Speculative and Eventful Approach to Co-producing Research","author":"Duggan James","year":"2020","unstructured":"Duggan James (2020) \u2018The Co-productive Imagination: a Creative, Speculative and Eventful Approach to Co-producing Research\u2019. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 24(3): 355\u2013367. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/13645579.2020.1799638","journal-title":"International Journal of Social Research Methodology"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_22_1","volume-title":"Suicide: a Study in Sociology","author":"Durkheim \u00c9mile (","year":"1951","unstructured":"Durkheim \u00c9mile ([1897] 1951) Suicide: a Study in Sociology. New York: The Free Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_23_1","first-page":"71","article-title":"Intersex Surgery, Female Genital Cutting, and the Selective Condemnation of \u201cCultural Practices\u201d","volume":"40","author":"Ehrenreich Nancy","year":"2005","unstructured":"Ehrenreich Nancy, Barr Mark L. (2005) \u2018Intersex Surgery, Female Genital Cutting, and the Selective Condemnation of \u201cCultural Practices\u201d\u2019. Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 40: 71\u2013140. Available at SSRN: https:\/\/ssrn.com\/abstract=2926589","journal-title":"Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review,"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_24_1","volume-title":"The Loneliness of Dying","author":"Elias Norbert (","year":"2001","unstructured":"Elias Norbert ([1985] 2001) The Loneliness of Dying. London: Continuum."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/j.2326-1951.1993.tb03081.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1353\/pbm.2003.0007"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/10642684-2008-135"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_28_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1527-2001.2011.01193.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_29_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2979\/7148.0"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_30_1","volume-title":"Power\/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings (1977\u20131984)","author":"Foucault Michel","year":"1980","unstructured":"Foucault Michel (1980) Power\/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings (1977\u20131984). Edited by Gordon Colin. Brighton: Harvester Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_31_1","volume-title":"The Birth of the Clinic","author":"Foucault Michel","year":"2003","unstructured":"Foucault Michel (2003) The Birth of the Clinic. Abingdon: Routledge."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_32_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1468-0467.2009.00326.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_33_1","volume-title":"Profession of Medicine: a Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge","author":"Freidson Eliot","year":"1970","unstructured":"Freidson Eliot (1970) Profession of Medicine: a Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_34_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780198237907.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_35_1","first-page":"119","volume-title":"A Jurisprudence of the Body","author":"Garland Fae","unstructured":"Garland Fae, Travis Mitchell (2020a) \u2018Temporal Bodies: Emergencies, Emergence, and Intersex Embodiment\u2019. In: Dietz Chris, Travis Mitchell, Thomson (eds) Michael A Jurisprudence of the Body. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 119\u2013147."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_36_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/jols.12223"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_37_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0306312718757081"},{"issue":"5","key":"e_1_3_3_38_1","first-page":"69","article-title":"What Is the Experience of Isolation? An Interview with Lisa Guenther","volume":"11","author":"Guenther Lisa","year":"2013","unstructured":"Guenther Lisa (2013) \u2018What Is the Experience of Isolation? An Interview with Lisa Guenther\u2019. Believer, 11(5): 69. Available at https:\/\/believermag.com\/an-interview-with-lisa-guenther\/","journal-title":"Believer,"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_39_1","volume-title":"The Feminist Standpoint Revisited and Other Essays","author":"Hartsock N. C. M.","year":"1988","unstructured":"Hartsock N. C. M. (1988) The Feminist Standpoint Revisited and Other Essays. Boulder, CO: Westview Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_40_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/a0017805"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_41_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/1-4220-4314-7_3"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_42_1","unstructured":"Holmes Morgan M. (1995) \u2018Queer Cut Bodies: Intersexuality and Homophobia in Medical Practice\u2019. In: Queer Frontiers 1995 and Beyond Conference University of Southern California USA 23\u201326 March 1995."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_43_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11673-007-9073-2"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_44_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3366\/soma.2011.0026"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_45_1","volume-title":"Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and Humanities","author":"Holsti Ole R.","year":"1969","unstructured":"Holsti Ole R. (1969) Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and Humanities. Reading: Addison-Wesley."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_46_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203020142"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_47_1","unstructured":"Jones Charlotte (2016) Diagnosing Sex: Stories of Intersex Relationships & Identity. PhD thesis University of Sheffield UK."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_48_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9566.12990"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_49_1","volume-title":"Interdisciplinary and Global Perspectives on Intersex","author":"Jones Charlotte","unstructured":"Jones Charlotte (2022) \u2018\u2018This Is What I Am and Who I Am\u2019: Exploring Authorship and Ethics in Intersex Research and Reflective Diaries\u2019. In: Walker (ed.) Megan Interdisciplinary and Global Perspectives on Intersex. London: Palgrave Macmillan."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_50_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2158244017745577"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_51_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-9566.2008.01152.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_52_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822389217"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_53_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/494643"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_54_1","volume-title":"Lessons From the Intersexed","author":"Kessler Suzanne J.","year":"1998","unstructured":"Kessler Suzanne J. (1998) Lessons From the Intersexed. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_55_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1159\/000442975"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_56_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1542\/peds.2006-0738"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_57_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1471-0528.2009.02385.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_58_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjopen-2018-025821"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_59_1","volume-title":"The Broken Heart: the Medical Consequences of Loneliness","author":"Lynch James J. (","year":"1979","unstructured":"Lynch James J. ([1977] 1979) The Broken Heart: the Medical Consequences of Loneliness. New York: Basic books, Inc."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_60_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neurenf.2008.06.002"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_61_1","volume-title":"Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature","author":"Mijuskovic Ben L.","year":"2012","unstructured":"Mijuskovic Ben L. (2012) Loneliness in Philosophy, Psychology, and Literature. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_62_1","volume-title":"The Sociological Imagination","author":"Mills C. Wright (","year":"1978","unstructured":"Mills C. Wright ([1959] 1978) The Sociological Imagination. London: Pelican books."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_63_1","volume-title":"The Guardian","author":"Monbiot George","year":"2014","unstructured":"Monbiot George (2014) The Age of Loneliness is Killing Us, The Guardian. Available at: https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2014\/oct\/14\/age-of-loneliness-killing-us (accessed 26 November 2021)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_64_1","volume-title":"Sex Errors of the Body and Related Syndromes: a Guide to Counseling Children, Adolescents, and Their Families","author":"Money John","year":"1994","unstructured":"Money John (1994) Sex Errors of the Body and Related Syndromes: a Guide to Counseling Children, Adolescents, and Their Families. 2nd edn. Baltimore, MD: P.H. Brooks Publishing."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_65_1","unstructured":"Orr Celeste E. (2018) Exorcising Intersex and Cripping Compulsory Dyadism. PhD thesis University of Ottawa Canada."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_66_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3167\/bhs.2019.120206"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_67_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1464-410X.2004.04967.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_68_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3349493"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_69_1","volume-title":"Loneliness: a Sourcebook of Current Theory, Research and Therapy","author":"Peplau Letitia A.","year":"1982","unstructured":"Peplau Letitia A., Perlman Daniel (1982) Loneliness: a Sourcebook of Current Theory, Research and Therapy. New York: Wiley-Interscience."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_70_1","volume-title":"Intersex and Identity: the Contested Self","author":"Preves Sharon","year":"2003","unstructured":"Preves Sharon (2003) Intersex and Identity: the Contested Self. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_71_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paid.2008.10.027"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_72_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/358916.361990"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_73_1","first-page":"91","volume-title":"Essays on the Anthropology of Reason","author":"Rabinow Paul","year":"1996","unstructured":"Rabinow Paul (1996) \u2018Artificiality and Enlightenment: from Sociobiology to Biosociality\u2019. In: Rabinow (ed.) Paul Essays on the Anthropology of Reason. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 91\u2013111."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_74_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1357034X07087530"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_75_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4236\/ojd.2014.34018"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_76_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1188\/09.ONF.175-183"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_77_1","first-page":"504","article-title":"Coping with Diverse Sex Development: Treatment Experiences and Psychosocial Support During Childhood and Adolescence and Adult Well-Being","volume":"42","author":"Schweizer Katinka","year":"2017","unstructured":"Schweizer Katinka, Brunner Franziska, Gedrose Benjamin, Handford Christina, Richter-Appelt Hertha et al. (2017) \u2018Coping with Diverse Sex Development: Treatment Experiences and Psychosocial Support During Childhood and Adolescence and Adult Well-Being\u2019. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 42: 504\u2013519. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jpepsy\/jsw058","journal-title":"Journal of Pediatric Psychology,"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_78_1","volume-title":"Loneliness","author":"Seabrook Jeremy","year":"1973","unstructured":"Seabrook Jeremy (1973) Loneliness. London: Maurice Temple Smith."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_79_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7312\/stau17150"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_80_1","unstructured":"Stenning Alison Hall Sarah M. (2018) \u2018On the Frontline: Loneliness and the Politics of Austerity\u2019. Discover Society. Available at: https:\/\/archive.discoversociety.org\/2018\/11\/06\/on-the-frontline-loneliness-and-the-politics-of-austerity\/ (accessed 27 November 2021)."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_81_1","first-page":"71","article-title":"The (In)visibility of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Psychiatric Theorizing of Transgenderism and Intersexuality","volume":"2","author":"Tosh Jem","year":"2013","unstructured":"Tosh Jem (2013) \u2018The (In)visibility of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Psychiatric Theorizing of Transgenderism and Intersexuality\u2019. Intersectionalities: a Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice, 2: 71\u201387. Available at: https:\/\/journals.library.mun.ca\/ojs\/index.php\/IJ\/article\/view\/739 (accessed: 27 November 2021).","journal-title":"Intersectionalities: a Global Journal of Social Work Analysis, Research, Polity, and Practice,"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_82_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/heartjnl-2015-308790"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_83_1","volume-title":"A History of Solitude","author":"Vincent David","year":"2020","unstructured":"Vincent David (2020) A History of Solitude. Cambridge: Polity."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_84_1","author":"Weiss Robert S.","year":"1973","unstructured":"Weiss Robert S. (1973) Loneliness: The experience of emotional and social isolation, Cambridge, Massachusetts.","journal-title":"Loneliness: The experience of emotional and social isolation"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_85_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2018.09.056"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_86_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph17186533"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_87_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/089124167700500406"}],"container-title":["Feminist Theory"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/14647001211062740","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/full-xml\/10.1177\/14647001211062740","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/14647001211062740","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T06:31:08Z","timestamp":1777444268000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/14647001211062740"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,20]]},"references-count":86,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2022,4]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/14647001211062740"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/14647001211062740","relation":{},"ISSN":["1464-7001","1741-2773"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1464-7001","type":"print"},{"value":"1741-2773","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,20]]}}}