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Micropenises and Early Life Medical Abuse

CW: discussion of genitalia, childhood surgery, medical abuse

What is a micropenis?

A micropenis is any penis which at birth is under 1.5 inches/3.8cm Stretched Length (length measured by gently pulling the penis to its maximum length), pre-pubescent age 2 inches/5.1cm SL or an adult penis of 3.65 inches/9.3cm SL.

What else is there to know?

A variation that occurs more often in people born with micropenises than the general population is Hypospadias, which is when the Meatus (urethra hole) terminates somewhere other than the tip of the glans.

It is more likely than not, regardless of the gender a person was raised, that a person with a micropenis and Hypospadias has been subjected to early childhood surgeries to move the meatus, among other possible surgeries.

What surgery? aka, paediatric urologists have earned my disdain

If assigned male the urethra is artificially lengthened and the meatus is made to terminate at the tip of the glans. (typically the option chosen today for children with true testes.)

Why is this done?: the assertion that it is better to subject a child to genital surgery, than risk the specific placement of the meatus interfering with standing urination.

If assigned female the meatus would be relocated to below the base of the penis to more aesthetically match a large clitoris.(the penis and clitoris are homologous structures, there is no significant difference between the two).

Why is this done?: this may be claimed to be necessary by medical professionals for a number of reasons, but it all ultimately revolves around enforcing a sex binary on a spectrum. The child may have a vagina or vulva, and this surgery is aesthetic. The child may have no vagina or vulva but because of the discovery of ovotestes, ovaries, streak gonads, or no gonads, it is decided that this child should undergo more radical "sex assignment", usually involving the removal of gonads often resulting in the sterilisation of children who were not born sterile.

In only recent decades it was still the norm for all children born with micropenises to be at risk of being forcibly assigned female, sometimes including penectomy (amputation of the phallus) because it was assumed their penis was not functional.

Change Society, Not The Child

The majority of the reasons given by doctors for you to consent to surgery on an intersex child are social. That the child will be bullied, or struggle romantically, or struggle sexually... And these procedures are "early intervention".

The only early intervention your child needs, is your advocacy... Advocate for their bodily integrity and autonomy, and once you've brought your baby home you can advocate for a better shame free world.

What can you do, day to day?

I was originally going to write a post on micropenises and sex, but I'll have to do that another time

Push back against the stigma associated with micropenises. Remember that there is no community where it is appropriate to use their physical features as knee-jerk assault on a person's character. The culture that uses intersex bodies as a way to cut at those they feel "deserve it", is the same culture that insists we raise the scalpel against those that possess them. These are two faces of the same coin.