Intersex and Healthcare: A Narrative Review of Social Sciences Perspectives

Intersex individuals—those whose physical sex characteristics do not align with conventional male or female categories—encounter considerable challenges within healthcare systems, which often medicalize their bodies through invasive treatments aimed at “normalizing” their traits. This narrative review synthesizes key contributions from medical sociology, medical anthropology, and gender studies to examine the social processes that define, regulate, and often marginalize intersex identities in clinical contexts. Drawing on theoretical frameworks such as medicalization, biopower, stigma theory, intersectionality, and structural violence, the paper situates intersex healthcare within broader systems of normativity and control. It critiques the historical and contemporary role of healthcare institutions in reinforcing binary understandings of sex and gender, often at the cost of individual autonomy and psychosocial well-being. Comparative analyses with transgender healthcare reveal both shared and divergent mechanisms of institutional gatekeeping, underscoring the need for a justice-oriented, intersectional approach to care. This work ultimately advocates for systemic change in both healthcare delivery and policy, informed by sociological insight and intersex-led activism, emphasizing dignity, self-determination, and epistemic inclusion.