Megan DeFranza: Intersex and Imago

Megan DeFranza was recently awarded a PhD from Marquette. Her thesis, Intersex and Imago: Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Postmodern Theological Anthropology, dealt with some aspects of how the Christian Church has viewed intersex. Megan, can you tell us a little about yourself?

First, thanks so much for the invitation!

My name is Megan, with a long ē—my parents wanted to make introductions a little more complicated for me. I am a Christian, a wife, a mother of two young daughters, a theologian, a college professor, a friend, and a person passionate about God and about bringing the love of God to all people.

What was your thesis topic?

My dissertation examined the ways in which theologians have interpreted the creation of Adam and Eve (paradigmatic male and female) in the image of God (imago Dei). I argue that Adam and Eve are only the beginning of the story. Others come as a result of their union—other men, other women, as well as those harder to classify, naturally born eunuchs, barren women, androgynes, hermaphrodites—whom we now call intersex or persons with Disorders of Sex Development (DSDs). All of these are also made in the image and likeness of God so theologians need to reconfigure the ways we talk about the imago Dei and sex/gender difference.

How did you become interested in intersex?

I first became interested in questions of sex and gender in college. I had grown up in conservative churches where women were never invited to pass the offering plate, much less speak behind the pulpit. I was passionate about serving God but felt like I was receiving mixed messages from churches and my Christian college. One of my professors encouraged me to get my degree and come back and serve as the first female faculty person in the Bible and Theology Department while another warned that I’d be sinning (violating God’s teaching in I Timothy 2:12) if I did just that. Thus began years of researching many different Christian perspectives on the significance of sex difference for Christian life and theology. Those questions carried me to Gordon-Conwell Seminary and then to Marquette University for doctoral studies.

I first read about intersex during my doctoral studies and became interested in learning more in the hopes that intersex would help me understand where bodily difference was distinct from theological visions of gender (how Christians have said men and women should act, think, feel, etc.). I never seemed to fit into these stereotypes so I hoped intersex would help me sort through some of the ways I saw sex and gender being handled in the Church.

Honestly, looking back I realize that I began my research on intersex selfishly. I was trying to answer questions from my own experience of living as a non-intersexed woman in conservative Christian churches. But during the course of my research I underwent a sort of conversion. I realized that intersex persons have a number of their own concerns—like questions about medical intervention and legal recognition in society. I became intent on raising awareness about intersex, particularly in conservative Churches—like the Evangelical churches I grew up in, the Roman Catholic tradition (where I was doing doctoral studies) and the conservative Anglican denomination in which I now worship. These churches are so embroiled in other debates over sexual ethics that they have often ignored or suppressed information about intersex for fear that it might undermine their understanding of Christian marriage. I wanted to quell these fears so that conservative Christians are no longer ignorant or afraid of intersex, so that intersex persons don’t have to hide in churches, and so that both parties can begin to work together for better care and understanding.

Would you summarize your conclusions for us?

I found that intersex persons have been a part of God’s people since Ancient Israel. The prophet Isaiah speaks about eunuchs (Is. 56:1-7), St. Augustine says hermaphrodites are rare but known in every society (City of God, 16.8), and, most importantly, Jesus speaks about three types of eunuchs in Matthew 19:12, naturally born eunuchs (the natural fit for intersex men with Klinefelter’s Syndrome), those made to be eunuchs by others (castrated males), and those who make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom (long considered the beginning of the monastic movement or religious celibacy). Jesus does not shame eunuchs as did the Greeks, Romans, and Jews of his day; rather, he brings them in from the outside and raises them up to become icons of radical discipleship. This is classic Jesus—love and concern for those often marginalized by the world!

I argue that Christians today need to follow the example of Jesus, by recognizing, welcoming, and loving those who continue to be left outside or shamed into hiding. I also go on to wrestle with the implications of these ideas for theological anthropology.

What are you working on now?

Right now I’m doing laundry and getting ready to get back to my kids… But if you mean what academic work I’m doing, right now I am working to secure a publisher for the dissertation so that I can work together with others to raise awareness and education about intersex—particularly among conservative Christians.

I would like to begin work on a handbook for hospital chaplains who are likely to be the first clergy contact with families as they begin to wrestle through the many medical decisions raised by the birth of an intersex child.

Where do you hope to be in the future?

In the future, I would like to find a faculty position at a Christian university or seminary where I can continue to learn, educate, and write on intersex and other matters of sex, gender, sexuality and Christian theology.

Thanks for sharing with us! I wish you well. Is it as difficult to get a thesis published as it is a novel?

No idea! I’ve only published articles up to this point. Maybe we both need an agent!

Thanks again for having me. I’d love to hear from you and your readers as we all think about how we can promote better understanding and acceptance.

All the best!