Morgan Holmes was born twelve weeks early in 1967, and later diagnosed with an “isolated clitoromegaly” (an enlarged clitoris) thought to be an unintended effect of hormones administered to her mother in an attempt to prevent premature labor. Lucky to spend her first several years with doctors content to see her difference as quite benign, a change in family physician in 1974 brought a change in diagnosis. Dr. Holmes went from being a child with a fairly insignificant difference to being a “pseudo-hermaphrodite” and her clitoris was amputated at the base in order to give her a “more normal appearance." Dr. Holmes began her studies in Cultural Studies and focused her work on the performative character of gender. Inspired by Anne Fausto-Sterling’s 1993 article, “The Five Sexes,” she shifted her focus to understand the contemporary challenges that people with intersex diagnoses faced as a result of their medicalization. Her work continues to explore problems associated with medicalization and the marginalization of persons with atypical bodies and abilities.
Dr. Holmes completed her PhD at Concordia University in Montreal in 2000; she is now Associate Professor of Sociology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada. Her work to date has appeared in Sexualities, The Journal of Lesbian Studies, The Cardozo Journal of Gender and Law, the online journal Transformations, and in edited collections such as Trans gender Rights and Queer Frontiers. |
