Fanfic Embryo 2: Intersex Character

[urbanperegrine]

Please note: These notes were written by a Yank who did not have access to any episodes of Season 9 at the time of writing.

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General Premise: Intersex character confuses an investigation.

Specifics depend on character traits (age, socio-economic status, employment if any) and how this character is used, but there are several avenues that can be explored:

• Body anomalies: These are obvious ways to skew forensic assessments, such as footprints that appear to be those of a small man are actually of a person who presents as female. Quite useful for false starts, red herrings, unchecked assumptions, surprise revelations, outright deception...

• Concealment: The character acts to hide traits that don't fit the public gender presentation. The concealment of this matter could easily be misconstrued as concealment of some other important matter, or this secret could be bound up with another (possibly criminal) one. Anxieties about maintaining the secret could prompt this person to avoid social and/or physical contact. Humor might be deployed as a kind of snark armor. This person would likely go to great lengths to avoid any medical care, especially if offered by someone with ties to a large institution and/or psychiatry. Plot development may involve gaining this person's trust and extending reassurances that they won't be fixed or cured in any way they don't want.

• Character name: The surname could be doing other work (acting as a shout out or playing on some other theme), or it could be tied into this issue by means of a "-man" suffix. Since given or "Christian" names are bestowed at birth, this person may be saddled with a very gendered name (obviously male or obviously female) that proves to be an awkward fit, particularly if this person was named for a family member or more distant ancestor. Nicknames, truncated or diminutive or otherwise altered, may be a stopping point along the way to a more permanent selection. If this person chooses a new name, it may be an ambiguously gendered one, or it may show a distinct rejection of the family choice (especially if the family was abusive). A new name may even be an attempt at splitting the difference or some kind of consensus (say, a first name gendered one way and a middle name gendered the other). Ideally, the solution may combine elements of these, such as a "girl" named "Cordelia" for an aunt or grandmother who chooses the legal name "Cord Delia <Surname>".

• Family conflict in the backstory: This person's birth with ambiguous genitalia could be the start of internal family conflict as the parents and other relatives debate courses of action. This conflict might extend for months or years after the person's birth, and may even linger into the present if they have living relations. Physical abuse is a distinct possibility, and likely one more thing to be concealed, adding to the impression of dishonesty on their part. Even good intentions on the part of some or all other family members could prove to be paving the way to hell on earth for this person, especially if medical or surgical procedures are threatened or performed. This person may choose to sever ties with hostile kin and retain those they have with familial allies, depending on events.

• Unorthodox career "choices": The character may have a past or current occupation as a carnival freak and/or a sex worker, especially if they come from a family that lacked the economic means to conceal the truth. In a more positive light, this person may have taken advantage of urban anonymity and/or the frontier (what's left of it) to escape strict rules for gender performance. More modern notions of progress may be useful in this person's search for a place in society.

• Highlight the failure to perform gender "correctly":
  

• From the regulars' point of view, the failure(s) could prompt more questions and add to any confusion. Intermittent "failure" and "success" in performing one gender role could also factor into others' confusion, point up the problems with a strict gender binary, and extend this plot thread. The regulars may note that this person dresses and/or behaves differently in different situations (family, friends and employer may see them present differently).

[/ul]

• In a middle or upper class setting, this person may have to deal with family pressure and criticism for failing to look and act their assigned gender. If the character was assigned female at birth or re-assigned at puberty, the pressures will likely involve marriage in some way (arranged by the family, attempted or failed in some way, rebuff from the prospective spouse).

[/ul]

• Religion can also be in the picture, especially if someone invokes complementarity and quotes the biblical "God made them male and female" bit (traditional gender roles were widely held to be divinely ordained). Perhaps this person gives a spirited riposte that "God made me male and female," and gets a hostile assertion that they are a symptom of the fallen world or outright demonic.

[li]Legal ramifications: This could involve anything from a name change (which could be framed as a positive life event) to deprivation of freedom due to false assessment of insanity or crime (sumptuary laws, fraud). Accusations of false pretenses on the part of the intersex character could involve criminal charges and require a legal defense. The laws being what they were, the question of this person's gender will likely end up as some kind of legal fiction (since third-gender options didn't exist then), with the character having to permanently choose to present as either female or male (assuming they are given a choice in the matter).[/li][/ul]

• New friends may not help: Initially, if this person is befriended by one or more newly-met characters (regulars or recurring minor characters), those characters will likely have some confusion as to how to proceed. Some friends may have reasons of their own for trying to persuade this person to choose a particular gender, and they may (at least for a time) give more weight and consideration to those reasons than to the wishes of the person in question. In fact, anyone might have a romantic interest in this person that depends upon them choosing to live as a particular gender, and therefore wish to put a thumb on the scales as the decision is being weighed.

• Nods to the future: This person may have other traits (hair of two different colors, ambidexterity, etc.) that can prompt regulars' speculation about what is now known as a tetragametic chimera. Someone may speculate about what is now known as transgender identity. Someone may express hope for a future in which laws and social rules acknowledge the existence of intersex people with dignity.
  

• Going forward: It may be a simple case of this person boarding a train and moving to a new city for a fresh start, and they exit the scene (at least for a time). If this person stays in Toronto, new friends can help with life adjustments, perhaps even with some kind of celebration. In particular, if this person does begin to "transition" to a different gender identity, they may seek out some practical advice (sartorial for a start). Health issues may contribute to this (especially if the person does choose some kind of surgery); perhaps something such as a rise in testosterone will require them to learn to shave. Obviously, specifics depend on which gender role they settle into, though a female-to-male change offers the understandable and symbolic visuals of facial hair.

• Episode naming: Reference to Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Measure of a Man" (possibly even quote that title directly) very useful if an assigned female chooses to live as a male. "By Any Other Name" or "Also Known As" might be good if this person's identity is the main issue of the episode.

[snacky]

Dec 21, 2015 23:11:37 GMT urbanperegrine said:

Please note: These notes were written by a Yank who did not have access to any episodes of Season 9 at the time of writing.

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General Premise: Intersex character confuses an investigation.

A few months ago I joked about solving some of William's personal arc mysteries by having Julia play the crying game.

If you do start writing, it seems to aggregate at fanfic.net. Having come from fandoms that usually had their own web sites and archives for fanfic, I would never have guessed this.

[urbanperegrine]

 I'm rather glad the writers didn't go The Crying Game route with Julia. I suspect it would look too much like a gimmick and undercut the feminism in the series. Put another way, I'm not sure an intersex character can be a character first and intersex second or incidentally, rather the ambiguous gender identity takes center stage (much like gay characters were in earlier times). Besides, the confusing evidence an intersex character can provide is more suited to a guest character (a target of investigation) rather than a regular.

As for turning this into a story, thanks for the placement tip. I'll keep it in mind, though I won't have as much free time in the next few months. I have thought of tying the two embryos together, making an intersex character who is involved with the Ethical Culture group. Oh well, maybe later. 

[snacky]

Dec 23, 2015 20:23:06 GMT urbanperegrine said:

 I'm rather glad the writers didn't go The Crying Game route with Julia. I suspect it would look too much like a gimmick and undercut the feminism in the series. Put another way, I'm not sure an intersex character can be a character first and intersex second or incidentally, rather the ambiguous gender identity takes center stage (much like gay characters were in earlier times). Besides, the confusing evidence an intersex character can provide is more suited to a guest character (a target of investigation) rather than a regular.

As for turning this into a story, thanks for the placement tip. I'll keep it in mind, though I won't have as much free time in the next few months. I have thought of tying the two embryos together, making an intersex character who is involved with the Ethical Culture group. Oh well, maybe later. 

Haha, yeah I can't imagine that on the show either! I was thinking in terms of fanfic.

The Christmas ep reminded me I still have an unfinished Christmas fic lurking on my computer from 2 years ago. Unfortunately, I've also been busy...

[urbanperegrine]

Dec 23, 2015 22:26:39 GMT snacky said:

Dec 23, 2015 20:23:06 GMT urbanperegrine said:

 I'm rather glad the writers didn't go The Crying Game route with Julia. I suspect it would look too much like a gimmick and undercut the feminism in the series. Put another way, I'm not sure an intersex character can be a character first and intersex second or incidentally, rather the ambiguous gender identity takes center stage (much like gay characters were in earlier times). Besides, the confusing evidence an intersex character can provide is more suited to a guest character (a target of investigation) rather than a regular.

Haha, yeah I can't imagine that on the show either! I was thinking in terms of fanfic.

   Well, perhaps I'm doing fanfic wrong, but to the limited extent I think about it at all, I feel constrained by what might work in the source material (in this case, the show). It's not that I expect the actual folks on the show to approve of my stuff or even take notice of it (though admittedly I'd be pretty chuffed if they did), it's just that I regard those kinds of limitations as inherent to the process, like the rules in D&D. To my mind, if one strays too far from the source, it just isn't fanfic anymore.

[urbanperegrine]

Addendum, or as Rachel Maddow might say, "But wait! There's more!"   Have been having a very merry MM Christmas (DVDs as my gift as well as my sending some to my mother ), and a few more points came to mind:

• Blaschko's lines were discovered in 1901, so they're in the period. In chimeras, they can show as a series of V-shaped markings from the shoulders to the lower back, and if the two different skin cell lines have similar skin tone, they'll only show up under UV light. Perhaps Murdoch could use his UV light box on this person to see the lines? Aside from some striking visuals, there are some dramatic possibilities here, especially if the intersex character had a previous prickly encounter with Murdoch, gets persuaded to have this exam, then has Murdoch walk in with the kit.

• Sometimes the plot hits close to home: In past seasons, Murdoch (and others, but frequently Murdoch) is confronted by someone who says or does something that touches on Murdoch's personal concerns (his predecessor--Lamb was it?--who postponed marriage until the fiancée broke things off, to name only one example). Murdoch has expressed a desire for children and a specific desire for a son. What if meeting an intersex person forced him to re-examine his expectations, or to wonder what he might do if he found himself fathering or adopting a child who didn't clearly fit physical expectations? As I think I've mentioned before, the family's good intentions might pave the road to hell on earth for the intersex person; might Murdoch or Brackenreid express some sympathy for the family's point of view, later to regret doing so?

• Poverty might actually be helpful: Based on some reading, I wonder if a poorer family might simply adopt a live-and-let-live attitude toward an intersex child, allowing that person to grow up physically intact. It may even be that prosperity could signal trouble, in that a first-time visit to a doctor might trigger a crisis over the issue. The doctor may be the problem, especially if said doctor wants to use the intersex character as a vector for his fame (see the film The Elephant Man for some dramatic discussion of this idea of scientific curiosity entwined with professional ambition). Another possibility (and not mutually exclusive) is that the newly-prosperous family finds the intersex family member's differences suddenly problematic due to their new-found respectability.

• A name game I favour is Francis/Frances. In addition to the gender difference being reflected in the contrasting e-spelling and i-spelling (which offers opportunities for ambiguous penmanship on the birth certificates, along with the near-identical pronunciation), it has the diminutive "Frank" which is also an English word for candor or bluntness. Perhaps the intersex character proves to be candid and is aptly named (and somebody could comment on that)?

[urbanperegrine]

On a pleasant New Year's (and possibly aided by a couple glasses of prosecco), there were some developments. (BTW I'm not holding out on you, I just had to wait upload this until I had wifi access, since I don't have it at home.) To extend the metaphor, this embryo seems to have developed to a fetal stage.    I'm very inclined to call this "The Measure of a Man" for reasons that should become apparent. As already noted in this thread, there are criminal and medical details that can be uncomfortable if not outright triggering. That said, I hope you lot enjoy it. 

• Framing device: William and Julia are approached to jointly give a presentation for a group (another speaker has had to cancel on relatively short notice). When they ask about the subject, one of the people making the request (the intersex character, as it will turn out) replies, "Me." The request comes some months after the events described have played out, so much of the tale is told in flashbacks and/or out of sequence. When William suggests that the subject is entirely medical and thus entirely Julia's bailiwick (maybe qualified by an "I'd be happy to help but"), someone reminds him that there are legal consequences and criminal aspects to the tale that are more in his line. Alternatively, someone may remind him of the importance of context: interesting science is all very well, but until it is related to the real world, it doesn't keep people's interest (see the many conversations Murdoch has had with Brackenreid, Crabtree, other constables...). Further discussion also prompts the intersex character to assert a desire to have a say, perhaps commenting on the venue (a club they belong to, with friends among the membership) as being better than a medical conference because they won't be reduced to a curious specimen to be examined. This may lead to the thing being designed as a panel presentation with questions afterward and the intersex subject as a member of the panel (they are just as much an expert in their own experience). Moving on, Julia does lead off with the medical evidence of the condition (perhaps with William using his UV light to show the Blaschko's lines on the intersex character's back), then there's a hand off to William to relate the real-world consequences for this character (maybe with Julia helping the intersex character dress after the lines are shown). His part gets the audience into the criminal case details (hence, the plot), perhaps with Julia taking over again to explain medical developments (see below).
  
  
• At minimum, start circa 25 years ago with a man and his sister, both married. The man and his wife have an intersex child, and this child is initially judged to be male and named for the father (with the "Junior" appended). The infant's penis is on the small side of the spectrum, but the father wants a son quite badly (possibly earlier children were all girls). The father may not have seen the infant's genitals for some time. Also, the physician may not have been sure about the assessment; perhaps pressure or persuasion was applied to help him make the masculine call.
  
  
• The child is legally named and raised for some years as a boy, but development takes a feminine turn at puberty: the small penis is present, but small breasts emerge and facial hair is spotty at best. The father feels angry and insists his "son" be dressed and treated as a girl. His sister intervenes, possibly with the support of the mother if she is still living. The intersex child spends time with the aunt and her husband, and perhaps a temporary arrangement becomes more permanent. The aunt and her husband allow the child to dress and behave as they wish in their care, but the father insists the child is a girl, so any visits or other situations that bring them together force the child into female clothing, perhaps with concessions to comfort like a quick change after the visit ends or masculine shoes under the skirts. Complications with sumptuary laws may occur as the intersex person gets closer to adulthood.
  
  
• The aunt and uncle are most supportive, and they allow the child to have a say in matters of behaviour and identity. The trio keep a journal measuring and noting the child's developmental changes in their effort to rationally deal with the situation. They search for or may even find a sympathetic doctor. Alternatively, they may have problems finding a doctor willing to help because the aunt and uncle lack custody, or they may be confronted by physicians who see the intersex child as less a person than a curious specimen for a case study.

• A change in circumstances leads to an end of the safe harbour. Perhaps the mother dies and the father feels himself no longer restrained by any commitment to her (at the worst, he kills his wife because he blames her for the intersex child, perhaps in light of another such child being born or stillborn). Perhaps there is a change in socio-economic circumstances. For whatever reason, the father reasserts his sway over the intersex child (now possibly a young adult); this may entail cutting off contact with his sister and her husband. The sister's husband may also suddenly be unavailable to help his wife defend the child, such that his standing as a man is not available to help the aunt fight her brother in court (perhaps the child's father killed him or had him killed). A rewrite of the child's history may be attempted (a second false or revised birth certificate--date may be revised to reduce the "daughter's" age below that of legal majority, and/or a quick headstone for "the son that was" without an actual death certificate--perhaps with a dog-in-the-nighttime exhumation of the empty grave to prove the deception!) Familial conflict becomes quite acute, with the father asserting this child is his daughter and his to command and dispose of as he sees fit over the aunt's and the child's objections. He may wish to further his point of view by having the intersex child surgically altered or institutionalized. Surgery quite likely to be suggested to remove the testicle which is in one side of the bifurcated scrotum (which otherwise resembles female labia). Bear in mind that surgery is a risky business in this period since antibiotics won't be perfected for several more decades; likely one or more characters will raise that very objection.
  
  
• The father decides on a more permanent disposition for the intersex offspring. He may threaten the offspring with life in an institution or even murder, but he may actually prefer to effectively sell off the offspring and thereby reap a profit instead of incurring an ongoing cost. This solution may be the mad-scientist flavor or a wealthy man with a prurient interest looking to buy and/or marry the offspring.
  
  
• At some point, the intersex offspring is raped and impregnated. The father may even be involved if he has chosen a like-minded suitor who is allowed or encouraged to make the attack in anticipation of a wedding (which may itself be coerced, even at gunpoint). There may even be suggestions that the intersex person needs to be thereby forcibly shown to be female (akin to the "corrective rape" of lesbians). The pregnancy will prove to be ectopic, perhaps because the person has only one ovary connected by a Fallopian tube and a (much) reduced uterus.
  

• The ectopic pregnancy begins to rupture and hemorrhage, requiring emergency surgery to save the person's life (in real life, such surgery has been done successfully since about 1883). A possible scenario has this person in the morgue to identify a body (perhaps a relative, maybe even the person's aunt or uncle) when the rupture occurs, with an emergency surgery done in the morgue. Perhaps Julia could operate, with William rigging up a means to reclaim and recycle the patient's lost blood to keep them from bleeding to death (no time for transfusion tests?). The ovary is also removed due to damage or adhesion of the embryo. [Note: Abortion objections can be overcome by invoking double effect: the death of the embryo is acceptable because it wasn't intended, but merely a consequence of the life-saving procedure. Admittedly this sounds like "intention is magic" or a distinction without a difference, but such is actual practice in Catholic hospitals even today.]
  
  
• The intersex person does survive and recover, and their appearance changes due to masculinization, since only a testicle remains (bed rest after the surgery could give time for facial hair to grow). This person can then choose to live life as a man (which may be what they wanted after all). A bookend for the episode may involve the facial hair being a different color, with the person considering keeping sideburns of that naturally-occurring contrasting color (which they were sporting at the start when the presentation was suggested), and near the end they are shown using a hand and a mirror to get an idea of what the sideburns will look like when deciding to retain them. A name change may be in order, especially given the father's attitude and behaviour (particularly if the father is judged a criminal for his part, and all the more so if he is convicted of involvement in a particularly notorious crime or an intensely personal one such murdering the protective aunt and/or some other kin--his brother-in-law or his own wife perhaps).

• Ultimate body count is somewhat a matter of taste, though a higher one could give the intersex character a stronger legal case for a name change. Among the casualties might be:
  • The Aunt  (perhaps shot twice: once to bring her down, then finished off with the gun in her mouth)
  • The Uncle (for much the same reason as his wife: advocating for the intersex character)
  • The Wife (blamed for birthing the child in the first place)
  • A second intersex infant (perhaps disguised as a birth misadventure like the chord around the neck)
  • The Physician who made the initial call (in retribution for his "error")
  • Any other bothersome witnesses or participants
  
  

• Wrap things up either with the presentation Q&A or a quiet get-together afterwards with the panel participants and one or two others (gratitude from the organizer and/or audience members, perhaps other regular characters who come to see the presentation). A potential moment of disquiet if Miss Hamilton or one of her spies proves to have been in the audience and visibly disapproves of the subject matter. Perhaps the door is gently but firmly closed on romantic feelers a man sent out toward the intersex character before the surgery. Perhaps we get one explanation of what the "S." in "Thomas S. Brackenreid" stands for (alternatively what the "C." in "Thomas C. Brackenreid" stands for, as there seems to be a continuity error on this point), one that invokes the trope A Boy Named Sue?
  
  

[urbanperegrine]

Another addendum (hey, if you lot want me to shut up, just tell me    ). This could stand alone as the start of the story, but I'd be inclined to use it as the start of the nested story within the presentation story, if only to provide more opportunities for the the intersex character's autonomy to be questioned and to be clearly demonstrated.

• A "concerned citizen" goes up to a constable (Higgins?) and points out a young-looking figure dressed as a man. The citizen asserts the young man is a fraud and is actually a woman (possibly insisting he knows the person or elaborating with details of a fraudulent scheme that may not have happened), then demands "she" be arrested. The young person spots the pair and flees the approaching constable (who may only wish to question them), and the constable gives chase. The young person's capture is effected, and the problem of their identity is addressed at the station.

• Someone thinks to ask how the concerned citizen knew the person is a woman. The citizen may be the person's father and say so, or he may claim to know the father (and therefore recognize the offspring), which provides a tense delay while the father is summoned to the station. At some point, the father arrives and asserts his identity and that of the person as being his daughter.
  
  
• The young person has the problem of concealing their feminine aspects and thereby maintain their masculine presentation. They may vocally insist on their masculine name (say, "Francis Joseph Hecht Junior") and prompt an angry response that their real name is a feminine version of the same ("Frances Josephine Hecht"). They may alternatively refuse to speak and resort to writing to conceal a feminine-sounding voice.

• A visual inspection limited to the area above the waist supports the contention that the person is female. It's key to keep this inspection cursory and above the waist to keep the plot going, but there are several ways to do this. The father may be in a hurry to get his "daughter" home and demand the exam only go so far. Perhaps no woman can be summoned to perform a body search. The person may resist any examination, and may object to the police pressing on with their scrutiny. Someone may see their breasts and declare, "I've seen enough," with a bitter response of "Have you?" coming from the young person (foreshadowing the full revelation).
  
  
• Then there's the problem of what to do with the young person. The father may express a wish to take his "daughter" home and give assurances that he'll deal with the matter (to get the person under his direct control), or he may try to play the insanity card, telling the police that his "daughter" has made a habit of this and asking them to hold her until she can be committed to an institution. The young person may try to stall for time (in hopes of avoiding the father's control, if not obtaining rescue from their aunt and uncle), or even go from evading the cops to seeking to stay in custody, possibly acting out to ensure getting charged (punching a cop to get charged with assault, for instance).

• The aunt and uncle will make a belated appearance to rescue their "nephew", but the young person may be held out of their sight (or off the premises), or the father may still be present and deny they have any right to intervene. Assuming he doesn't reveal himself to be the father but is rather a friend or colleague of the father, the concerned citizen may follow the father's lead, supporting the "she's always doing this" tale and/or expressing a wish to avoid embarrassment by asking to withdraw any criminal charges (of fraud or whatever) so the person can be taken home by the father.

• How this initial situation is resolved likely depends on who is there at the station house. Since Murdoch is the curious type, it might be best if he isn't there so he can't question anyone too closely at the outset. One way to play for time is for him to hear about this later, so that he has to work from secondhand reports of the incident. Establishing the person's identity (in terms of both gender and age) could be resolved in favour of the father if he protests loudly enough and/or if the concerned citizen friend is deemed trustworthy. The person's desire to conceal the truth about their anatomy would likely seem to support the idea that they are lying and possibly crazy, making it difficult for them to defend themselves.
  
  
• Once the aunt and uncle enter the picture, things may get even more confused. They may be telling partial truths (such as giving the person's male birth name) without explaining the physiological developments that fueled the dispute. Their credibility may be called into question (particularly by the father), so as to persuade the police to ignore their assertions in favour of the father's claims.
  
  
• With the person in question in a cell, the cops can get down to the business of establishing the identity of the young person in question. This might be the moment for Murdoch to enter the picture (arriving back at the station from work on another case, returning from lunch with Julia or some other personal errand); at this point, he has to be brought up to speed in the matter. Brackenreid likely sends a constable to check out the family (including birth records). Higgins might be sufficiently curious to visit the cell and try to talk to the person; for their part, the person might dance around an apology, desiring to make amends for the punch but at the same time fearing that a sincere apology would cause the cops to set aside the charge and deprive them of their present refuge.
  
  

• Sorting things out will first require establishing the various claims, perhaps with interviews in people's homes to allow for opportunities to learn more about these people. The father (and his supporters, if any) claims the person is his daughter and is underage. The aunt and uncle and the person admit the paternal connection but insist on a male gender and matching-junior legal name, along with an age past the majority (early twenties). Dueling documents obscure the question, along with expected protestations ("Don't you think I know my own daughter?").
  
  
• Julia can be brought in at about this point to try to establish the person's age. The young person's reaction or resistance may not only delay the revelation, it may also give clues to the reason the person is avoiding their father. On the other hand, it may simply be a bad reaction to medical professionals stemming from an unrelated bad experience. Developing this part of the plot could allow for the person to pushback against the period scientific term "hermaphrodite" as an unwarranted monstrous characterization, with Julia disarming the person by agreeing with them, and with bonus points in that the modern term "chimera" (also based on a mythological monster) is used for a genetic condition that might also apply in the situation.
  
  
• Ideally, the person themselves will get to reveal their intersex condition (helping them assert their autonomy), although the circumstances may be a bit coercive. One way to handle it may be to echo Cordelia in Shakespeare's King Lear: refusal and/or reluctance followed by utter candour. A visual expression of frankness would be the person choosing to undress (rapidly to forestall or overcome any objections) and show their body to be neither entirely male nor entirely female. The dark-paneled interview room would provide a striking backdrop for the revelation as well as a modicum of privacy. For yet more of an assertion of autonomy, the person may also make a remark about innocent people having things to hide. To revisit the frequent use of the Speak in Unison trope, have William and Julia both be in the room and on seeing the person's body, together they say, "A hermaphrodite.")
  
  
• 1/9/16: Assume the revelation leads to a rapprochement between the young person and the police. "Frank" opens up about the family history, something along these lines: named and raised as a boy until puberty revealed their intersex nature, then somehow they go to live with the aunt and uncle. Possible permutations of the how include being sold to a freak show by the father and escaping to the aunt and uncle, or the death of the mother (perhaps in the aftermath of another pregnancy) leading to a temporary arrangement that became more permanent. Other backstory details may include the trio living in another city until some other event(s) (such as a professional posting for the uncle and/or university studies for Frank) return them to Toronto despite the father still living there.
  
  
• 1/9/16: Murdoch informs Frank that the father not only claims Frank is a girl, but also that she is underage. He further tells Frank that their aunt and uncle have been to the station, and that the father also saw them, leading to an argument. Frank urges Murdoch to find out the truth for himself and asks to write a note to his aunt and uncle which Murdoch can take with him when he goes to interview them. Murdoch watches Frank write part of the note with each hand and comments on Frank's ambidexterity; Frank replies, "This way, they'll know it's from me." The note is fairly short (so Murdoch can see Frank isn't prompting them on what to say), with a bit of reassurance, an urgent request to fully answer Murdoch's questions (bolstered by something like "He has seen the whole of me and I'm inclined to trust him."), and ending with an oddly specific request that they "show him our book". Obviously if Julia is to go along and Frank knows this, make the note inclusive of both of them.
  
  
• 1/9/16: The story of the aunt and uncle supports Frank's version of events and adds some new information, even if only one of them is present to tell it (Perhaps the uncle went to see a lawyer and hasn't returned...). Perhaps in another personal poke at the regulars, it is revealed that one of them is sterile, making the couple even more willing to take on Frank's care years ago. Admittedly they lacked legal standing as adoptive parents in Frank's childhood, but they insist Frank is now an adult. There may be other tensions in the family (the uncle may be a different form of Protestant--say Unitarian) which add to the conflict. They produce "our book": a detailed journal of Frank's physical development, interspersed with entries written by Frank (again with both hands) that reveal their emotions and sexuality. There may also be photos, which may themselves have a story (how were they taken, and by whom?).The aunt and uncle come across as amateur investigators and/or scientists, better informed than many professionals, and they may open up about some of their difficulties (finding a doctor who isn't either dismissive or insistent on enforcing a single gender identity). They describe Frank as deciding on his own to take the path of least resistance by being a man, with some occasional "mistakes" (having effeminate interests or finding a man sexually attractive), and they assert they judged it best to let Frank tell them who he is. Julia asks to take the book for further study (it may become bedtime reading for her and William). There may also be a second book (with an identical binding) in which Frank recorded some observations of his own on a variety of topics over the years, perhaps including some on the effects of alcohol in various circumstances (consumption of food, carbonation, tolerance, speculation on body size as a factor); thus Frank is shown to take after his aunt and uncle, and the second book is available for substitution or other deceptive shenanigans.
  
  
• 1/9/16: In his interview, the father proves to sound quite plausible in his own claims, and possibly quite charming (other inquiries may prove the father is quite popular and has no known criminal background or other scandal). The details of his story will depend on his specific plans for his offspring. He'll admit to having had a son, then claim with expressions of regret that the boy died years ago (here he may make a point of naming the cemetery where he's buried). He insists the person in custody is a much-younger daughter who knows of the "older brother" and may be going insane by assuming the dead boy's identity. The father may even blame himself, citing his own expressed wish for a son as driving this "daughter" mad. If the mother has died, the event may be cited as an additional trigger for the madness. He may express embarrassment if the university officials accepted his daughter as a male student based on "her" false pretense, and this will extend to anger towards his sister and brother-in-law if they supported Frank. If an arranged marriage is in the offing, the father may claim his daughter is feigning insanity to get out of it. He may have documents of his own, particularly a second (false) birth certificate for this daughter.
  
  
• 1/9/16: The dark truth of the matter will depend on what the father's plans for Frank are. Even with a successful reset of Frank's date of birth, the clock is still ticking towards the age of majority, so if Frank isn't simply killed outright some method of more permanent control must be established. Obvious choices are marital couverture and medical/psychiatric restraint, in other words, forced marriage to a controlling man or mental commitment in the care of a physician looking to have a rare specimen for his collection and a career boost. The two options aren't mutually exclusive, and it's possible the unscrupulous doctor is acting independently, having learned of Frank's existence some other way.
  
  
• 1/9/16: Optional (hideous) backstory: Some years ago (as many as ten or more), the father uses a double-birth ruse to dispose of his wife and a second possibly intersex newborn. The actual birth is attended by a medical professional (doctor or midwife), and all is well except for the father's dissatisfaction with his latest offspring (or more specifically, the newborn's genitals). Very shortly after, he strangles the infant and wraps the umbilical chord around the neck, then has a second medico (perhaps a doctor) summoned and presented with a fait accompli. Likely the wife is also dispatched at some point, or at least drugged in the early stage and later directly killed or driven to suicide; after all, childbirth is a risky business and death in childbirth isn't entirely unexpected. This part is a bit leaky, since a number of people (both medical professionals, any household servants) could know something and reveal it--which could also mean a higher ultimate body count--but the physical evidence will have long since decayed. 

• 1/10/16: Second optional (also hideous) backstory: In a more direct homage to the STNG episode "The Measure of a Man", suppose there's a physician/scientist who not only desires to have Frank as a specimen, but also plans dissection (or even vivisection!). Young Frank may have been passed on or sold to this (mad) doctor at some time in the past, escaped and found refuge with the aunt and uncle. This doctor could reappear on the scene, perhaps by chance, thanks to the father's direct information (if the father sold his child to this man before, he might still know how to contact the doctor again), or by the doctor's own efforts and inquiries to retrieve his specimen. Frank's own horrific memories of this doctor would undoubtedly colour their feelings about doctors generally and Julia specifically.
  
  
  
  

[urbanperegrine]

Yes, I'm back at this again. Feel free to disregard. 

---

Addendum (3/29/2016): Another very direct homage to the STNG episode "The Measure of a Man": a Courtroom Episode with Clara Brett Martin acting as the attorney for the intersex character. The issue starts as a legal name change that is contested, but it soon turns on the question of just what the intersex person is. Effectively, as with the original, questions of otherness and identity get aired in an adversarial proceeding. Perhaps even autonomy and sanity come into question...

• Set-up: The intersex person "Frank" wants to go forward with a legal name change due to the father's bad behaviour, along the lines mentioned above. Perhaps the father has been convicted but his case is on appeal. To make Frank's case easier to make, the father's actions will have to be not only reprehensible but also somewhat notorious--conviction for one or more murders in addition to any mistreatment Frank himself received at the father's hands would likely be required, and the more shocking the circumstances, the stronger the case (turning it up to eleven, the circumstances would include the murder of a newborn sibling with ambiguous genitalia, along with the murder or gaslighted suicide of the mother, and the murders of the supportive aunt and uncle, possibly shot in the mouth because they protested the father's actions too often). Slight research shows the court would require satisfaction that the name change is not being done to further fraud or other crime, so there is a legalistic justification for introducing the tale of the criminal investigation Murdoch does in the murder case(s) into this court proceeding (and hence, to the audience).

• A seemingly straightforward case, given the terrible events people allude to but don't mention directly, gets complicated quickly when someone petitions against the change--most likely the father, perhaps appealing his own conviction on some or all of his charges, or simply in revenge from jail before he is hanged. This may be where the father's attempted fraudulent de-aging of Frank emerges or re-emerges: a slick lawyer could argue that even a murder conviction doesn't automatically sever parental rights. Frank may have to prove not only his manhood but also his true age in order to continue his petition.

• The precise claims the father makes could require expert testimony about Frank's anatomy, most especially if the father tries to "prove" Frank is a girl. This could then become a framing device for the murder case(s) mentioned in passing to be fully presented to the audience, with Murdoch and company doing the investigating, together with the revelation of Frank's intersex nature. Alternatively, the legal identity drama could alternate with Frank's backstory (including the murders, the freak show proprietor, and/or the unscrupulous scientist). 

• Bonus nasty surprise points if Leslie Garland is part of the opposing legal team! 

• The ectopic pregnancy would be akin to Data's arm-removal scene in the STNG episode. "Everybody knows" a man cannot get pregnant, so there can be awkward moments for Frank's supporters (Julia and William particularly) when they have to testify to the facts of the pregnancy. The emergency surgery which saves Frank's life could also be mischaracterized as a misguided attempt to make Frank into a man when he wasn't "naturally" one, particularly if attention is drawn to the removal of the ovary in the process ("Was that really necessary?"). Of course, Julia's past will be brought up to discredit her testimony, including her advocacy of birth control and perhaps even implications that she isn't really a woman (not a "natural" or "proper" one, anyway) because she is a doctor--reservations perhaps she herself had to overcome, considering her distaste for her tomboy nickname "Jules". William's position as her husband likely won't help him much either.
  
  By the way: Sly bit of strategy for Frank's case: somebody suggests he stop shaving, so that as the case goes on, he's sporting a beard. Thus, whatever happened in the past, Frank will look more like a man.
  
  

• Frank might bemoan the lack of a third option, gender-wise--privately if not in court. He might have to be dissuaded from even mentioning it for fear of being adjudged insane, which conversation could in turn involve a bitter comment about a "legal fiction" or other matters in which the law produces farcical or outrageous results.
  
  

• Frank ultimately wins his case and gets his legal name change--perhaps with a small celebration and/or a gift with the new name on it (a watch, calling cards). If the father only just pressed the de-aging fraud at this point, additional charges might be suggested or even lodged against the father while he's still in jail; on the other hand, the courts may not want to bother since he's under sentence of death already--which might contribute to some bitter feeling expressed against the justice system.
  
  
  Oh, just one more thing...If Leslie Garland is involved in the case on the losing side, he'll have yet another item on his list of grievances against Julia and William, and he may even put Ms. Martin on his hit list if she argues well enough in court to incite his ire and/or jealousy... If he's to go completely over the Moral Event Horizon, make him turn out be the man who impregnated Frank to conceive that life-threatening ectopic embryo, and have him gleefully point out that in law (at that time) a man could not be raped.