Emi Fekete discusses the question of intersexuality and its legal treatment. She explains how medical science approaches intersexuality and gives a thorough introduction to non-medical audiences about the most important facts and the development of science about these diverse sets of conditions. She then describes and criticizes still-existing practices of 'normalising' surgeries and explains why and in what conditions reassignment surgeries serve to alleviate the suffering intersexual persons undergo. She introduces the term 'psychosomatic sex' as the one used by medical science and which better captures the essence of intersexuality than gender.
Eszter Kováts presents the historical background of the German bill on gender self-identification (gender self-ID) as well as the arguments emphasized in the related social debate as a case study. Based on that, she tries to unpack the discursive space, which is perhaps more difficult to understand from a Hungarian point of view, as well as the stakes of the debate. Then, the author defines and disentangles the concepts of intersex, transgender and non-binary that overlap in the draft law and in the debate and points out the philosophical problems and political issues that arise around the concepts and in connection with the overlaps. Kováts concludes with some statements regarding the scientific and political stakes of the debate about gender self-ID.
Lídia Balogh reviews the use of the term 'gender' and concludes that it can be useful for social science theorizing and analysis, discussing differences between men and women, as well as for policy making that addresses this difference. The study concludes, however, that 'gender' as a legal concept might prove irrelevant for advancing women's interests and proved to be counterproductive in political mobilization.
Anikó Gregor argues that relearning the concept of gender cannot happen without first unlearning. Unlearning can be theorized as the strategic and active process of forgetting those pieces of information, impressions, attitudes, and different forms of knowledge that we have acquired about the term. Aniko Gregor proposes possible strategies for relearning gender and applying it in teaching gender studies and beyond.
In her essay, Erzsébet Barát argues that the 'gender debate' cannot be grasped along the feminist versus trans distinction. In her view, the points of view rather differ along the lines of trans-accepting (queer) feminism and the trans-rejecting concept, which calls itself radical.
Anna Betlen analyzes the problem of transgender teenagers and youngsters and shows that thinking about these issues has changed recently. She reviews various countries' relevant regulations, using a comparative viewpoint, and highlights the importance of those working in the healthcare system. She concludes that the psychological problems related to those youngsters who are suffering from the consequences of false self-identification are crucial, and societies should focus more on measures and therapies that help these teenagers to better understand their identity instead of focusing on pharmacotherapy.
Katalin Szajbély, in her contribution, claims that from a fundamental rights perspective, transgenderism appears as a right to live one's gender identity internally and externally - it is not only linguistically significant that it is not about the right to 'gender change' or 'gender choice', but we are talking about 'the right to legal recognition of gender'.
András Kristóf Kádár and Erika Farkas assess the highly controversial decision of the Hungarian Constitutional Court delivered in connection with the total ban on assemblies introduced under the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic. The blanket ban was ordered by the Hungarian government as an extraordinary measure but remained effective for over half a year, prohibiting, irrespective of their actual epidemic risk, all kinds of protests, demonstrations and assemblies, and thus de facto prevented Hungarian citizens from jointly manifesting their political opinion. While those willing to exercise their freedom of assembly faced full repression, the government made a wide range of exceptions for non-political gatherings (such as attending denom-
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inational events, but also shopping malls and casinos) to be held without restrictions or under less restrictive measures. The authors, as lawyers, have assisted assembly organisers and individuals in challenging the legislation by drafting constitutional complaints requesting the annulment of the ban. Disappointingly, the Constitutional Court turned all complaints down, claiming that the total ban shall be deemed as a proportionate restriction during the pandemic. Going further, the decision of the Constitutional Court practically authorized the government to introduce bans in the future, prescribing as 'constitutional requirement' the sole criteria that the government shall periodically review whether the ban is still necessary. The authors endeavour to point out the most controversial aspects of the decision.
In their essay, Eszter Mihály and János Nagy examine the Constitutional Court's past and present interpretation of one's gender identity. The paper puts decision no. 3058/2023. (II. 16.) AB of the Constitutional Court in a comparative law perspective, with special attention to the case law of the ECtHR and the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. The paper discusses the Constitutional Court's U-turn in protecting the fundamental rights of transgender persons, which the authors deem 'conveniently aligned' with the trans-phobic propaganda of the Hungarian Government and the current anti-gender movement.
Zsófia Orosz-Réti's review focuses on the volume entitled Remembrance and Forgiveness: Global and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Genocide and Mass Violence, edited by Ajlina Karamehić-Muratović and Laura Kromják. The collection of sixteen essays sets out to explore the structure, possibility and conceptual changes of forgiveness in case studies collected from seventeen countries on five continents. ■
Visszaugrás
