Pandemic Flu

June 2009: There has been extensive media coverage over the past couple months regarding the spread of a new virus, also called “swine flu”.

While we are still in the early stages of this flu outbreak, the World Health Organisation has advised that the infection can spread between humans and that appropriate precautions should be taken. The link here provides useful information about this flu.

If you are planning to travel overseas need to be alert to the risks associated with the destinations of your travel. If planning to travel you should closely monitor the Federal Government’s Foreign Affairs website for travel advisories.

At this time, we can all help reduce the spread of any influenza virus by taking these steps recommended by health authorities:

· Wash hands frequently with soap and water or use an alcohol-based anti-bacterial hand gel.

· Wash hands prior to touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

· When coughing or sneezing, cover your mouth and nose with disposable tissues which should be disposed of immediately.

· Don't share items such as cigarettes, glasses or cups, lipstick, or anything which could be contaminated with respiratory secretions.

· Consult your doctor if you have flu–like symptoms and follow their instructions, including remaining at home and taking medicine as prescribed.

· If you don’t have a doctor you can call 13 HEALTH (13 432 584).

· If planning to attend a medical practice or hospital Emergency Department, telephone beforehand so that they can arrange for you to be seen away from other people.

Altruistic Surrogacy to be Decriminalised

The Bligh Government will decriminalise altruistic surrogacy in Queensland, giving hundreds of women and couples the opportunity to have children. The announcement came 23 April, 2009. For the full story, please click here. Also visit our page on infertility.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) Gender Diversity Paper

The AISSG Australia had the opportunity to make a submission to HREOC's Gender Diversity Paper, and also to meet with the Commissioner in June 2008.

We welcome HREOC'S valuable contribution to the understanding and legal recognition of the ethical issues surrounding the gender diverse community. And it seems that HREOC have listened!

As recently reported in various News Limited newspapers, the Federal Government's human rights arm plans to invent a new official status called "intersex" adding it to male and female as a legally recognised gender.

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission wants people to be able to change their gender on their passports and driving licences even if they do not undergo surgery.

We look forward to working further with HREOC in the future.

'House' on the Rampage

An episode of House (Network Ten) entitled "Skin Deep" will be broadcast as a repeat on 11/6/08. The subject of the episode is an unwell supermodel under Dr House's care who turns out to have AIS.

Be warned the episode is not supposed to be a good or accurate reflection of AIS. Here is what the Intersex Society of North America says about this episode on their website:

For those who didn’t see the show, allow me to summarize the painful episode. A 15 year old supermodel presents with mysterious symptoms, such as erratic behavior and uncontrollable twitching. Throughout the show, much is made of her feminine physique, with comments about her beautiful breasts and buttocks playing a lead role in the dialogue—even among the doctors. In the course of searching for a diagnosis, the medical team discovers that the young woman has been using heroin and that her father sexually abused her once while he was intoxicated. After ruling out effects from the heroin and possible post traumatic stress disorder resulting from the sexual abuse, House finally reaches the conclusion that the young supermodel must have cancer and a series of scans reveal internal testes that are malignant.

When House enters the hospital room to tell the young supermodel and her father what the team has found, he immediately questions the young woman’s sex identity, calling her “him” and announcing that he will schedule “him” for surgery. In what appeared to be an incredibly bungled and inaccurate explanation of AIS, House tells the young woman and her father that she is really a man because her DNA says so. He refers to the young woman as a male pseudohermaphrodite and callously comments that the ultimate woman (the supermodel type) is really a man. When the young woman becomes upset and protests, crying out that she is a woman and ripping her hospital gown off to show her body to the doctor as proof, House quips that he’s going to “cut her balls off” and then she’ll be fine. In a final offensive twist, House tells the father that he supposes knowing his daughter is really a man will keep him from sexually abusing his daughter again because doing so would now be “gross” and would mean the father was a “homo.”

From the use of the supermodel stereotype to represent a woman with AIS, to the backward assumption that chromosomes reveal the “truth” about sex, to the refusal to listen to the young woman when she clearly states that she is female, this episode mocks both people with Disorders of Sex Development and the work that the intersex community has done to end shame. The frequency of Disorders of Sex Development is grossly under-estimated in the program at one in 150,000 (one in 1,500 is a more accurate frequency). Dr. House also claimed, inaccurately, that ovaries differentiate into testes. And, of course, there’s also the trivialization of sexual abuse and the homophobia inherent in House’s comments about why the father won’t abuse his daughter again. Frankly, the episode was so flawed that I can’t even begin to address all its sins in this blog.

ISNA Board Member, Jane Goto, happens to be a woman with Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, the condition likely referenced in the “Skin Deep” episode of House. Jane found this program particularly disturbing and states “My biggest fear is that some poor gal with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome or a similar condition is going to watch this program and be profoundly damaged as a result, wrapping herself in a shroud of shame, avoiding medical care and the excellent peer support currently available. Shame on the producers of this show and medical consultant/writers including David Foster MD for not only being mean-spirited but squandering a golden opportunity to inform.”

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