|
|
Preface
Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man, But will they come when you do call for them?
Glendower: Why, I can teach you, cousin, to command the devil.
Hotspur: And I can teach thee, coz, to shame the devil By Telling Truth. Tell truth and shame the devil. If thou have power to raise him, bring him hither, And I’ll be sworn I have power to shame him hence. O, while you live, tell truth and shame the devil!
(Shakespeare, Henry IV 3.1.52–3.1.61)
This book is about virtual intersex activism. It fills a gap in existing intersex research by focusing on how intersex persons, their families, and their advocates, through their ongoing construction of virtual communities, produce alternative rhetoric that challenges and, as recent trends show, contributes to the reshaping of the discourse surrounding intersexuality, its meanings, and its methods of medical treatment.