GALDEF’s YouTube channel now offers a video recording of ethicist Brian D. Earp’s presentation at the 26th Congress of the World Association for Sexual Health/WAS (November 2023, Antalya, Türkiye) titled Female, male, intersex, trans – the human right to genital autonomy.

During the 30-minute talk, Earp discusses why current laws against only female genital mutilation are morally, ethically and legally unsustainable and, in the U.S. at least, likely unconstitutional. He discusses how the physical and sexual harm of penile foreskin ablation, currently tolerated by law, is often greater than ablation of the clitoral foreskin and minor forms of FGM (ritual nicking, pricking, piercing), which are currently prohibited by law. The presentation also features discussion of the spectrum of intersex genitalia, which poses an ethical and legal challenge to those advocating “normalization” surgery at parental request to ensure that their child’s genitalia conform to strict gender-binary definitions.

Earp advocates for a fairer, more equitable understanding of genital cutting practices that focuses less on the degree of harm or the sex of the child at risk, and more on the issue of consent and letting children grow up to make their own decisions about permanent and irreversible genital surgeries.

The video recording was captured at the WAS Congress by Board Member Dan MacClymont and Genital Autonomy of Utah founder Steve Scott, with captions added by GALDEF volunteer Troy.