Intersexuality as a challenge for gender ethics critical of power structures – Philosophical approaches and didactic perspectives for educational practice

by Ivana Nenadovic: More information

Lecture/discussion

  • Language: German
  • Duration: 30 mins
  • In person

What’s it about?

Intersexuality challenges binary gender norms and reveals regimes of regulation governing bodies, identities and life paths. Building on ‘Gender Ethics and Intersexuality’ (2026), this paper combines queer-theoretical approaches and an ethics of vulnerability with research-based teaching methods for ethics lessons. The argument unfolds across three levels:

  1. historical and medical-legal developments, ranging from pathologisation to current human rights and children’s rights frameworks;
  2. philosophical perspectives (queer theory, care/vulnerability ethics) for analysing normative orders and logics of domination;
  3. the translation of these into pedagogical practice as relational solidarity, which prioritises autonomy, integrity and participation. Precise conceptual clarifications that go beyond binary schemata, work with vignettes and media examples, perspective-shifting exercises, and reflection on one’s own positionality are presented as a toolkit that enables visibility without exoticising or creating pressure to disclose.

Methodologically, the session is structured around a short presentation interspersed with dialogical sequences or a workshop that clarifies legal and ethical guidelines, analyses typical didactic pitfalls (exoticisation, visual language, tokenisation) and offers facilitation tips (sensitive language, use of pronouns and names, protection and complaints procedures). A practical session illustrates how criteria for equitable solutions can be developed from a case vignette, thereby operationalising solidarity as a relational practice. Alongside this, institutional frameworks (school social work, communication with parents, awareness-raising structures, dealing with resistance) are addressed. The aim of this contribution is not so much to merely increase knowledge as to strengthen a stance critical of power structures and based on solidarity within educational contexts: pupils, teachers and school leaders should be empowered to make intersex realities visible, to protect those affected and to actively create just structures. In this way, gender justice is presented not as a niche concern, but as a fundamental issue of justice and human dignity in school practice - aligning with the conference’s focus on unconditional, non-exchange-based solidarity.

Aim of the contribution

This contribution aims to highlight intersexuality as a challenge for gender ethics critical of power structures and for school education. Perspectives drawn from queer theory, as well as care and vulnerability ethics, are combined with didactic approaches for ethics lessons in order to critically reflect on normative gender orders and develop perspectives for action based on solidarity. The focus is on educational practices that are sensitive to discrimination, which strengthen autonomy, integrity and participation, and enable visibility without reproducing exoticisation or coercion to disclose one’s identity.