Brian/Bonnie/Cheryl Chase Character Analysis

An individual whom Nutt references as an example of an intersex person. At birth, doctors were unsure of the sex of this baby, but they counseled the parents to assign the infant a male identity. The parents complied and named the baby Brian. At 18 months old, however, doctors discovered that Brian had a uterus and ovotestes. They removed the baby’s micropenis and suggested that the parents rename the child Bonnie and raise her as a girl. Bonnie underwent surgery to remove the testicular part of her gonads at eight years old under the false pretense that the procedure would help her stomachaches. When Bonnie was eventually told the truth, she was deeply disturbed by the doctor’s decision. When she grew up, she took on the alias Cheryl Chase and formed the Intersex Society of North America, advocating that doctors not perform surgery on intersex babies but instead let children make a decision themselves when they reach an appropriate age.