• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE TO BYLINES SCOTLAND
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
Bylines Scotland
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Bylines Scotland Breaking News
    • Europe
    • King Charles III
    • Queen Elizabeth II
    • Scotland
    • War in Ukraine
    • World
    Go Dharmic charity with Martin Dover

    Putting compassion into action – Coronation Champion Award winner Martin Dover leads the way.

    Police Investigation

    There’s been a murder

    Heart of NHS

    Back to the future

    Women health inequalities represented by a heart and a cardiogram

    Women’s Health in Scotland: challenges and progress

    Oil in Scotland

    Oil, Margaret Thatcher and Dinnae Mess Wi Us

    Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh

    Scotland’s Road to Devolution

    Poverty in Scotland

    Poverty in Scotland 2022

    NHS Scotland

    A Healthcare System that delivers for people?

    Scottish political calls

    Liberté, égalité, fraternité

    Trending Tags

    • Democracy
    • Devolution
    • Brexit
    • Ukraine
  • Politics
    • All
    • Council Areas
    • Europe
    • Holyrood
    • Liz Truss
    • Rest of UK
    • Tories
    • United Kingdom
    • Westminster
    • World
    UK voting system First-past-the-post

    Why is the UK still locked into an obsolete political system?

    Scottish Parliament Party seats

    People like to back the winning side.

    Post Election Blues

    Post-election blues

    Labour Anas Sarwar cartoon

    The challenge for Labour in Scotland

    Hard Labour

    Hard Labour

    Edinburgh Military Tattoo mixed with EU symbol

    Great visionaries brought us two great institutions that made life better for Scots and Scotland

    Westminster Government

    Regimes are at their most dangerous in their death throes 

    Rupert Murdoch portrait

    Why Rupert Murdoch should support Scotland’s independence.

    Demonstrator on the streets of London

    Eggs, black shirts and unsettled Britain

    Trending Tags

    • Equality
    • Johnson
    • Scottish National Party
  • Business
    • All
    • Agriculture
    • Aviation
    • Corporations
    • Energy
    • Finance
    • Fishing
    • Natural Resources
    • Shipbuilding
    • Trade
    • Transport
    • Workers
    A crane in a port

    Forth and Clyde Drowned by the Thames and Mersey

    Scotland's green Freeport's

    Green freeports – gateway to sustainability or greenwashing with a tax avoidance cherry?

    Salmon covered by sea lice

    Anyone for sea lice risotto?

    Bakkafrost Barge

    The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

    Fish farm in Scotland

    A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

    Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

    How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

    Dead salmons

    Death in our waters

    Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

    Fish Farming in Scotland 

    Offshore wind farm

    How will local communities get a fair share of record investment from offshore wind farms?

    Trending Tags

    • Health
      • All
      • Assisted dying
      • Covid
      • Influenza
      • Polio virus
      • Respiratory
      • Scientific Research
      Illustration of an antibiotic running away from bacteria depicting antibiotic resistance

      Antibiotic resistance – a major global public health threat

      Slogan Still Home from Clinically Vulnerable Families group

      Covid-19 lockdown continues for many in the UK

      Tree representing lungs

      Where are the areas in Scotland most affected by lung conditions?

      Health service

      Funding the Scottish Health Service 

      A goose surrounded by avian flu

      Who is knocking our doors? A putative new pandemic?

      A woman walking in a field with a jerrycan of water on her back, spraying water on the vegetation

      The Ethiopia Medical Project

      Healthcare word seen in a scrabble

      “Leave no one behind” – the Health Foundation’s report into health inequalities in Scotland 2023.

      Sign saying NHS Greater Galsgow & Clyde in front of a hospital building

      Concern over patients waiting in corridors for free beds at Glasgow Superhospital

      A hospital corridor with trolleys on the sides.

      Glasgow hospitals halt non-urgent operations due to pressure

      Trending Tags

      • Environment
        • All
        • Air Pollution
        • Biology
        • Climate Change
        • Wildfires
        Balblair substation

        Desecrating the glens: the relentless march of the industrial triffids

        Salmon covered by sea lice

        Anyone for sea lice risotto?

        Diagram representing circular economy

        Local Authorities, communities and the circular economy

        Bakkafrost Barge

        The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

        Fish farm in Scotland

        A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

        Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

        How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

        Dead salmons

        Death in our waters

        Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

        Fish Farming in Scotland 

        Ardnish wildfire by Leslie Barrie, CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons'

        Fire threats in the Scottish countryside

        Trending Tags

        • Opinion
        No Result
        View All Result
        • Home
        • News
          • All
          • Bylines Scotland Breaking News
          • Europe
          • King Charles III
          • Queen Elizabeth II
          • Scotland
          • War in Ukraine
          • World
          Go Dharmic charity with Martin Dover

          Putting compassion into action – Coronation Champion Award winner Martin Dover leads the way.

          Police Investigation

          There’s been a murder

          Heart of NHS

          Back to the future

          Women health inequalities represented by a heart and a cardiogram

          Women’s Health in Scotland: challenges and progress

          Oil in Scotland

          Oil, Margaret Thatcher and Dinnae Mess Wi Us

          Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh

          Scotland’s Road to Devolution

          Poverty in Scotland

          Poverty in Scotland 2022

          NHS Scotland

          A Healthcare System that delivers for people?

          Scottish political calls

          Liberté, égalité, fraternité

          Trending Tags

          • Democracy
          • Devolution
          • Brexit
          • Ukraine
        • Politics
          • All
          • Council Areas
          • Europe
          • Holyrood
          • Liz Truss
          • Rest of UK
          • Tories
          • United Kingdom
          • Westminster
          • World
          UK voting system First-past-the-post

          Why is the UK still locked into an obsolete political system?

          Scottish Parliament Party seats

          People like to back the winning side.

          Post Election Blues

          Post-election blues

          Labour Anas Sarwar cartoon

          The challenge for Labour in Scotland

          Hard Labour

          Hard Labour

          Edinburgh Military Tattoo mixed with EU symbol

          Great visionaries brought us two great institutions that made life better for Scots and Scotland

          Westminster Government

          Regimes are at their most dangerous in their death throes 

          Rupert Murdoch portrait

          Why Rupert Murdoch should support Scotland’s independence.

          Demonstrator on the streets of London

          Eggs, black shirts and unsettled Britain

          Trending Tags

          • Equality
          • Johnson
          • Scottish National Party
        • Business
          • All
          • Agriculture
          • Aviation
          • Corporations
          • Energy
          • Finance
          • Fishing
          • Natural Resources
          • Shipbuilding
          • Trade
          • Transport
          • Workers
          A crane in a port

          Forth and Clyde Drowned by the Thames and Mersey

          Scotland's green Freeport's

          Green freeports – gateway to sustainability or greenwashing with a tax avoidance cherry?

          Salmon covered by sea lice

          Anyone for sea lice risotto?

          Bakkafrost Barge

          The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

          Fish farm in Scotland

          A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

          Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

          How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

          Dead salmons

          Death in our waters

          Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

          Fish Farming in Scotland 

          Offshore wind farm

          How will local communities get a fair share of record investment from offshore wind farms?

          Trending Tags

          • Health
            • All
            • Assisted dying
            • Covid
            • Influenza
            • Polio virus
            • Respiratory
            • Scientific Research
            Illustration of an antibiotic running away from bacteria depicting antibiotic resistance

            Antibiotic resistance – a major global public health threat

            Slogan Still Home from Clinically Vulnerable Families group

            Covid-19 lockdown continues for many in the UK

            Tree representing lungs

            Where are the areas in Scotland most affected by lung conditions?

            Health service

            Funding the Scottish Health Service 

            A goose surrounded by avian flu

            Who is knocking our doors? A putative new pandemic?

            A woman walking in a field with a jerrycan of water on her back, spraying water on the vegetation

            The Ethiopia Medical Project

            Healthcare word seen in a scrabble

            “Leave no one behind” – the Health Foundation’s report into health inequalities in Scotland 2023.

            Sign saying NHS Greater Galsgow & Clyde in front of a hospital building

            Concern over patients waiting in corridors for free beds at Glasgow Superhospital

            A hospital corridor with trolleys on the sides.

            Glasgow hospitals halt non-urgent operations due to pressure

            Trending Tags

            • Environment
              • All
              • Air Pollution
              • Biology
              • Climate Change
              • Wildfires
              Balblair substation

              Desecrating the glens: the relentless march of the industrial triffids

              Salmon covered by sea lice

              Anyone for sea lice risotto?

              Diagram representing circular economy

              Local Authorities, communities and the circular economy

              Bakkafrost Barge

              The Story of the Bakkafrost Barge Sinking

              Fish farm in Scotland

              A deeper dive into the history of Scottish fish farming

              Fish farms in a Scottish Loch

              How farmed salmon is produced – stage one

              Dead salmons

              Death in our waters

              Fish farming, Isle of Sky, Loch Ainort

              Fish Farming in Scotland 

              Ardnish wildfire by Leslie Barrie, CC BY-SA 2.0 Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic — CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons'

              Fire threats in the Scottish countryside

              Trending Tags

              • Opinion
              No Result
              View All Result
              Bylines Scotland
              No Result
              View All Result
              Home Rights and Freedoms

              Why is Scotland still failing intersex/VSC children?

              Jennie Kermode stresses how Scotland hasn't progressed well with regard to non-therapeutic surgeries on intersex/VSC children and with equality and human rights towards these children.

              Jennie KermodebyJennie Kermode
              20-04-2023 06:28
              in Rights and Freedoms
              Equality, respect, dignity for all

              Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

              77
              VIEWS
              Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

              The UN Committee Against Torture has called it ‘inhuman treatment’. The Scottish government has repeatedly promised to hold a consultation on it, but without result. Now a new analysis of the way that non-therapeutic surgeries on intersex/VSC children are carried out in Scotland has raised fresh questions about why nothing has been done.

              Across much of the world, including Scotland, intersex people and others with VSC (variation of sex characteristics) are frequently subjected to genital examinations, ‘masculinising’ and ‘feminising’ genital surgery, and hormone treatments, when they are below the age of medical consent. Such treatments can cause loss of sensation, infertility, and lasting pain. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has previously called on the UK to ‘ensure that no one is subjected to unnecessary medical or surgical treatment during infancy or childhood’ and to ‘guarantee bodily integrity, autonomy and self-determination’.

              New research examines the legal framework

              Describing them as ‘procedures carried out for cosmetic or cultural reasons, rather than to actually medically benefit the individual,’ researcher Cameron Kadar examined the way in which Scots law has historically treated these surgeries. He also examined the present day legal framework surrounding them.

              “Specifically, I looked at the medical law in Scotland regarding the best interests of the child, and the reasons why non therapeutic surgery is carried out in the first place,” he explained. “There is no proven medical benefit to such surgeries. The overall rationale for them arrived from ideas posited by New Zealand sexologist John Money in the 1960s – that the surgeries have to facilitate the social acceptance of the child, which can minimise any gender doubts that the child may have, and provide the capacity for penal-vaginal intercourse.”

              Describing this as being problematic in itself, he also noted that it stems from an assumption that children will or should grow up to be heterosexual.

              Scotland has established consensus guidelines stating that any such surgery should be delayed until children are old enough to consent, rather than the decision belonging to their parents, but Kadar warned that there is no substantive evidence to suggest that these guidelines are being followed.

              “If the state has not legislated, especially with a medical topic, the individuals who compose of the state don’t have the medical expertise. So when we get things which are diagnosable or medically defined, those medical definitions themselves aren’t usually contested by the state. In Scotland, the state is doing nothing about this. And doctors are the same. While the law hasn’t changed, they’re going to try and follow these procedures. So I think we’re kind of caught at the start. Neither party is willing to change its behaviour because its opinion is dependent on the other party.”

              Noting that other countries have already taken action, he said “Scotland has not legislated on this issue but it is within our competency, as far as the devolved government is concerned. If we do not, we will be left behind.

              “This is a debate essentially about a child not having to bear the weight of social assimilation, the child not being alienated within changing rooms just because his body looks different. That doesn’t mean that his body is wrong, or if there’s anything unnatural about him. Education, social policy, communications within the medical community, all of this needs to really stack up to mitigate the harms which these people are currently facing.”

              Hands wrap Human Rights
              Rights and Freedoms

              UK government contemplates changes to the Equality Act

              byJennie Kermode
              12 April 2023

              Human rights “sorely lacking”

              “I/VSC equality and human rights in Scotland are sorely lacking and rarely, if at all, recognised appropriately by policy makers or by the public sector,” said Rebecca Crowther of the Equality Network. “For people with a VSC or who are intersex their existence is rarely acknowledged outside of a medical context, which can be harmful.

              “It was intended that the new Relationships Sexual Health and Parenting Guidance for Scottish schools would be updated to cover diverse sex characteristics and variations in bodies – this would be a positive step for the awareness, and for the support of young people with a VSC – however even if this had materialised, this would not be enough.”

              She noted that the lack of public awareness around these issues “begets violence, persecution, shame and intolerance,” adding “When we enable a society that recognises and celebrates these differences we remove the impetus and supposed reasoning for these harmful interventions.”

              “Due to culture, the instinctive reaction of many parents is just to ‘fix’ their child in a way which shows that they’re like other children,” said Kadar. “I think they feel pressure to make that decision because they’re confronted by all these exclusionary binary ideals of how intersex is an abnormality that requires medical intervention out of social necessity, despite there being no medical benefits.”

              He noted that the treatment of ‘normalising’ surgeries on Scottish I/VSC children is clearly anomalous because another form of genital alteration carried out on children for purely social reasons is treated very differently.

              “This country has outlawed FGM for decades and there’s barely any distinction.”


              We need your help! The press in our country is dominated by billionaire-owned media, many offshore and avoiding paying tax. We are a citizen journalism publication but still have significant costs. If you believe in what we do, please consider subscribing to the Bylines Gazette 🙏

              Previous Post

              Regimes are at their most dangerous in their death throes 

              Next Post

              SNP calls for Brexit Inquiry ahead of Westminster petition debate

              Jennie Kermode

              Jennie Kermode

              Jennie Kermode is an author and journalist based in Paisley who specialises in LGBTQ issues and film. Her work has appeared in the likes of New Internationalist, the New Statesman and the Independent, she is a commissioning editor at Eye For Film and her most recent book is Growing Older as a Trans and/or Non-Binary Person.

              Related Posts

              LGBT equality
              LGBTQ+

              UN representative “deeply concerned” over issues facing LGBT people in the UK

              byJennie Kermode
              22 May 2023
              USA LGBTQ+ rights
              LGBTQ+

              LGBTQ+ people’s fears grow as Kemi Badenoch meets Ron DeSantis

              byJennie Kermode
              4 May 2023
              Intimidation
              Discrimination

              The Department for Work and Pensions’ history of intimidation tactics

              byFiona Robertson
              26 April 2023
              Beltane The Pagan Festival
              Culture

              A new vision of fertility: Scotland’s asexual May Queen

              byJennie Kermode
              24 April 2023
              Hands wrap Human Rights
              Rights and Freedoms

              UK government contemplates changes to the Equality Act

              byJennie Kermode
              12 April 2023
              Next Post
              Brexit and a dismantled UK flag

              SNP calls for Brexit Inquiry ahead of Westminster petition debate

              PLEASE SUPPORT OUR CROWDFUNDER

              Subscribe to our newsletters
              CHOOSE YOUR NEWS
              Follow us on social media
              CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORMS
              Download our app
              ALL OF BYLINES IN ONE PLACE
              Subscribe to our gazette
              CONTRIBUTE TO OUR SUSTAINABILITY
              Make a monthly or one-off donation
              DONATE NOW
              Help us with our hosting costs
              SIGN UP TO SITEGROUND
              We are always looking for citizen journalists
              WRITE FOR US
              Volunteer as an editor, in a technical role, or on social media
              VOLUNTEER FOR US
              Something else?
              GET IN TOUCH
              Previous slide
              Next slide

              LATEST

              Go Dharmic charity with Martin Dover

              Putting compassion into action – Coronation Champion Award winner Martin Dover leads the way.

              28 May 2023
              UK voting system First-past-the-post

              Why is the UK still locked into an obsolete political system?

              27 May 2023
              Police Investigation

              There’s been a murder

              26 May 2023
              Brexit impact illustration

              Brexit Stock Take

              24 May 2023

              MOST READ

              UK voting system First-past-the-post

              Why is the UK still locked into an obsolete political system?

              27 May 2023
              Brexit impact illustration

              Brexit Stock Take

              24 May 2023
              King Charles Coronation and the United Kingdom Flag

              Coronation Chickens … coming home to roost

              29 April 2023
              Police Investigation

              There’s been a murder

              26 May 2023

              BROWSE BY TAGS

              Brexit Christmas ClimateChange Covid Covid19 Culture Defence Democracy Devolution election FishFarms Glasgow Halloween health History Holyrood independence IndyRef2 Johnson Journalism Labour LGBT+ Liz Truss Monarchy NATO NHS Nicola Sturgeon politics Poverty Pro-EU Public Health Putin Russia Sars-CoV-2 Scotland Security and Defence shipbuilding SNP Sunak Tories Tourism Twitter Ukraine UK Supreme Court War in Ukraine
              Bylines Scotland

              We are a not-for-profit citizen journalism publication. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in Scotland and beyond.

              Bylines Scotland is a trading brand of Bylines Network Limited, which is a partner organisation to Byline Times.

              Learn more about us

              No Result
              View All Result
              • Network
              • About
              • Authors
              • Contact
              • Donate
              • Privacy

              © 2023 Bylines Scotland. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

              No Result
              View All Result
              • Home
              • News
                • Scotland
                • World
              • Politics
                • Council Areas
                • Europe
                • Holyrood
                • Rest of UK
                • Westminster
              • Business
                • Fishing
                • Trade
                • Transport
              • Health
              • Environment
                • Climate Change
              • Opinion
              • Donate
              • Newsletter sign up
              CROWDFUNDER

              © 2023 Bylines Scotland. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

              Welcome Back!

              Login to your account below

              Forgotten Password?

              Retrieve your password

              Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

              Log In