After studying Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen, Audrey Aegerter interned during two years. Alongside the end of her undergraduate studies and internships, Audrey Aegerter engaged in intersex activism. She cofounded InterAction Suisse, a national intersex organisation, replica rolex pearlmaster worked on different projects for intersex human rights and joined the LGBTIQ advisory board at the equality office of Geneva. In 2019, she enrolled in a master’s programme on interdisciplinary children’s rights studies at the University of Geneva, and wrote a master’s thesis on the emergence of a global intersex human rights movement from 2006 to 2015.
*Photo credit: Jean-Bernard Sieber, from ARC SA
Audrey started her 36-month Marie SkłodowskaCurie fellowship at Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium in March 2021.
Awards and Certificates
Gender Studies Prize, University of Geneva
On May 11, 2021, Audrey was awarded the University of Geneva Gender Studies Prize for her master’s thesis research. A short abstract of Audrey’s work can be found here: https://www.unige.ch/rectorat/egalite/programmes-et-formations/programmes/prix-genre/edition-2021/
Outreach Activities
26 October 2023: Intersex Awareness Day
Audrey Aegerter was invited to present some of her research findings at the LGBTI Health conference organized by ExAequo. The aim of the conference is to discuss community health practices and initiatives aimed at LGBTI+ people. Audrey talked about the difficulty for intersex adults to access healthcare, due to lack of information, trauma and normative guidelines in human medicine, and the importance of peer-support groups (variation specific or intersex) in accessing information about health concerns, follow-up exams and care. More information about the conference can be found here: https://www.lgbtihealth.eu/en
6 October 2023: Séminaire de recherche ‛Enfants, Famille, Droits’ – automne
ESR3 Audrey Aegerter participated in a Research Seminar organized by the Center for Interdisciplinary Children’s Rights Studies and the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva. She presented her research for 15 minutes and received insightful comments from her two discussants: Solène Gouilhers and Cécile Greset. who are both from the Gender Studies Institute at the University of Geneva.
Link to the seminar: https://droit.cuso.ch/?id=3370&tx_displaycontroller%5bshowUid%5d=6533
Flyer for the seminar
17 May – 5 November 2023: Queer Graphics, Design Museum, Brussels
ESR3 Audrey Aegerter helped organise the Queer Graphics exhibition at the Design Museum (https://designmuseum.brussels/brussels-queer-graphics/). The exhibition looks at how the LGBTQI+ community in the 1950s used visual language to be visible and to express themselves. A book about the exhibition is available here:
https://www.maisoncfc.be/fr/products/1320-queer-graphics-collectif-d-auteurs
26 May 2023: OII Public Event, Paris, France
During the OII Community Event and Public Conference held in Paris, France, ESR Audrey Aegerter presented some of her research to approximatively 120-140 people at the movie theater Pathé La Villette. The audience consisted of European intersex activists, activists from other continents, politicians, journalists, and members of the public who were interested in the topic.
9 December 2022: LGBTQIA+ Research day at the University of Amsterdam
ESR3 Audrey Aegerter presented some of her findings during the session on political subjectivity. This research day is part of the VU Pride events:
A statement cosigned by professors and researchers in different universities in Belgium, amongst which PI David Paternotte and ESR3 Audrey Aegerter was released in the Belgian Press. It was written by the Law equality clinic. The statement calls for the government to pass the law to guarantee physical integrity to intersex people. You can read it here.
In addition, ESR 3 Audrey Aegerter was invited to a conference organised by the city of Brussels and Genres Pluriels on intersex issues.
26 September 2022: Stakeholder Event at University of Malta, Valletta Campus
During the sixth INIA network event held at University of Malta, Valletta, INIA PIs and ESRs participated in a stakeholder conference. This was a very successful event attended by approximately 40 people from the University of Malta and from the Maltese government. The programme for the event can be found here.
February 2022: Interview with the ULB student magazine Prisme
ESR Audrey Aegerter was interviewed by Prisme (the Université Libre de Bruxelles student magazine) about the challenges of medicalisation of intersex people. The article mentions Audrey’s participation in the INIA program. The article can be viewed here: https://prisme.ulb.be/tous-les-numeros/hiver-2022/intersexuation-des-evolutions-en-cours
24 September 2021 European Researchers’ Night
As part of European Researchers’ Night, ESR 3 Audrey Aegerter took part in an event organised at the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. The coordinator for the event was BeWise (Belgian Women in Science). All Marie Curie fellows present were women and the event included a discussion about the specific challenges of combining “womanhood” with science. Audrey talked about the INIA program and presented her research topic within INIA. She also mentioned Janik Bastien-Charlebois and how important her work was to Audrey’s own academic endeavours. Audrey also mentioned how knowing that her research could participate in the protection of intersex children’s human rights was motivating.
The idea behind the European Researchers’ Night within the framework of Horizon2020 is to run parallel, Europe-wide public events to raise the awareness on science careers and the enhance public recognition of researchers in general.
6 November 2020: Talk at RéFRI event in Paris
In November 2020, the Réseau Francophone de Recherche sur l’intersexuation (RéFRI) organised an event in Paris. Janik Bastien Charlebois presented the emergence of critical intersex studies, and Audrey Aegerter (ULB) spoke about INIA and the need for intersex research for advocacy purposes. Loé Petit presented the RéFRI.
https://quefaire.paris.fr/113119/quinzaine-de-visibilite-intersexe-2020
Publications:
Aegerter, A., Larrieu, G. & Raz, M.
Visibiliser les i sans (en faire une) exception.
Santé Publique 2022, 34, 103-108 (available online 15 June 2023)
https://doi.org/10.3917/spub.hs2.0103
https://zenodo.org/record/8064672
Aegerter, A.
Enjeux et controverses quant à la participation d’activistes intersexes au Consensus de Chicago (2005).
Santé Publique 2022, 34, 59-67 (available online 15 June 2023)
https://doi.org/10.3917/spub.hs2.0059
https://zenodo.org/record/8064628
Dissemination Activities
1 February 2024: Expanding intersex studies, Brussels, Belgium
For more information about this final INIA conference and programme: https://intersexnew.co.uk/expanding-intersex-studies/
ESR3 Audrey Aegerter gave a presentation titled: Identity negotiation: Intersex, DSD, and navigating terminological risks
June 27 – 29, 2023, 29th International Conference of Europeanists, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
ESRs Audrey Aegerter, Martin Gramc and Yessica Mestre presented papers during this conference in the session Utopias and Dystopias of intersex. The programme for the event can be found here: https://councilforeuropeanstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CES-Final-Conference-Program-2023.pdf
The Dis-Utopia of Medical Care For Intersex People
Single Paper
Martin Gramc – University of Zürich
Living Dystopia: Political Subjectification and Engagement of Intersex People in Europe
Single Paper
Audrey Alessandra Pascale Aegerter
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Without Access to Justice: The Utopia of Reparation in the Lives of Intersex People
Single Paper
Yessica mestre – Andalusian School of Public Health
6-8 July 2022: European Conference on Politics and Gender, University of Ljubljana
ESR3 Audrey Aegerter and ESR7 Martin Gramc gave presentations at ECPG (https://ecpr.eu/Events/157) on Wednesday 6th of July from 11 to 12:30. PI David Paternotte was the chair of the panel and Cynthia Kraus (UNIL) was the discussant. The event was open to academics (PhDs, postdocs, professors etc…) working on topics of Gender and Politics.
Audrey’s presentation was entitled: From the I to the we : the development of an intersex political subjectivity
Martin’s presentation was entitled Gender as Projection: The Politics of Decision Making in Multidisciplinary Teams in Intersex Care.
The panel’s title was: Intersex Politics in Europe: Activism, the State, and Medical Authority. It was part of the section: Executive Power, Legal Negotiations and the Politics of Trans and Queer Lives. Information about the panel can be found here: https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/PanelDetails/11465.