The Body Discourse and Dystopian Identity Narratives of Women with Turner Syndrome

Abstract

The aim of the article is to compare and contrast dystopian discourse with the first-person life narratives told by females with a rare genetic disorder, Turner syndrome (TS). Employing the methodology of discourse analysis, I trace the themes related to the most challenging areas of the lives of women with TS, and find certain tendencies in the way they position themselves and others in the contemporary discourse of medical treatment, femininity and social relationships. I analyze stories whose characters are developed on the basis of experiences that their tellers lived through. I argue that the discourse of Turner syndrome and the dystopian discourse are analogous on the grounds of the rarity of the syndrome and its two main symptoms — short stature and gonadal dysgenesis.