Non-binary Sex and Gender
In Lübeck we are currently developing an interdisciplinary research network on sex development with an explicitly non-binary approach. It involves research groups from the natural sciences (developmental biology, genetics), medicine (endocrinology, DSD-care), the humanities, social and cultural sciences (sociology, psychology, history) law and ethics. The levels of sex and gender are each also examined in terms of their interdependencies.
In prevailing scientific, medical, and cultural ideas, the emergence of two sexes – female and male – is considered necessary primarily for reproduction. However, masculinity and femininity are more likely to be understood as multifaceted expressions of multiple conditions that include physicality, physical and psychological development, behaviors, and social identities. Concepts of sex development have multiple and obvious connections to gender, society and culture, as do biomedical understandings of sex diversity and human disease. In current sociocultural contexts, traditional binary thinking in a two-gender model is increasingly being challenged as it is recognized as discriminatory and confining. There is a growing awareness of the diversity of sex. In line with international developments, the German Federal Constitutional Court, in a groundbreaking ruling on October 10, 2017, deemed the binary model, with its assumption of only two biologically determined sexes, to violate fundamental rights of people living with differences of sex development (DSD) – and thus unconstitutional. The introduction of a third sex/gender category into laws, into administrative documents, and into social organization will lead to a transformation of society on several levels. The implications of these changes have been only partially understood and have a significant impact on individuals, families, institutions and culture.
There is a need for inter- and transdisciplinary research. This need includes, as Olaf Hiort, Martina Jürgensen, and Christoph Rehmann-Sutter outlined in a 2022 publication in the journal Hormone Research in Pediatrics, (1) research without the presupposition of gender binarity, (2) a collaboration between cultural and natural sciences, (3) research on the history and contexts of clinical decisions, (4) a observation of public perceptions, (5) a comparative study between congenital and acquired nonbinaries, (6) an active involvement of affected individuals and self-organizations, and (7) the study of stigma and discrimination in societal realities.
Queer Art: Films shape the public perception of sex, gender and binarity in a special way. Birgit Stammberger and Christoph Rehmann-Sutter use the formats of the film seminar and elective seminars to discuss selected filmic contributions and connect them to theoretical discussions.
Aspects of gender and diversity are part of the teaching. Perspectives of gender studies in the natural and life sciences are implemented in the sense of the required gender competence (National Competence Based Learning Goals Catalog Medicine).
- Seminar Gender Knowledge in Medicine
- Lecture on gender medicine or gender in medical history: "Bodies have (no) gender“.