Percepción de los estudiantes de la carrera de género y desarrollo de la Universidad de Cuenca sobre la intersexualidad, período 2022-2023

Abstract

Intersexuality corresponds to the combination of sexual characteristics that commonly distinguish men and women, this combination is presented as atypical within sexuality. The term is used for a variety of bodily situations in which a person is born with sexual characteristics, genitalia, gonads, hormone levels, and chromosome patterns that do not seem to fit the typical definitions of male-female. Therefore, the present work has as a general objective to describe the perceptions of the students of the Gender and Development career of the University of Cuenca on intersex. The research was carried out under a qualitative approach study with a phenomenological design. Eight semi-structured interviews were applied to the students of the Gender and Development career at the University of Cuenca and after that, a thematic analysis was carried out. Based on the data obtained, the results suggest that intersex is mainly associated with a condition that deviates from the heteronormative gender binary (male-female) norm. This perception indicates that intersex people are in a vulnerable situation where discrimination is a determining factor for rejection by society, including religious influences and socially accepted beliefs that can negatively affect the quality of life of intersex people.