INTERSEX 101 & HOW TO BE AN ALLY!

By Clara, ShoutOut Executive Team Member and Intersex Activist

Definition: Intersex people have biological traits that aren’t easily categorized as typically male or typically female. These differences occur in one or more of the five aspects of sex - external genitalia, internal gonads, chromosomes, hormones, and/or secondary sex characteristics. As you can imagine, this means that people with a very broad spectrum of traits all fall under the umbrella term of intersex. It also means that’s it’s really normal to be intersex! We represent about 1.75% of the population - which is the same as the global percentage of redheads.

In some cases this can be described as a ‘blending’ of male and female traits. It is easy to assume that this means all intersex people have bodies which are outwardly very ambiguous, but actually there can be little to no external indication that a person is intersex (because their ‘blending’ is at DNA level). 

Intersex Issues: In short, because it can be difficult for people to accept that intersex bodies are usually healthy ones, with some added quirks, we are at risk for medically unnecessary interventions. These are done for aesthetic purposes or to facilitate (heterosexual) sex. Unfortunately, statistically these interventions occur most commonly before the age of 2, meaning that our consent is also not obtained. 

Intersex surgeries are not by any means the only issue we face, but if I had one wish for my community it would be to end early intervention where surgeries can be postponed. It is by far the most pressing fight we are facing.

What it’s Like to be Intersex: Before they even brought me home from the hospital, my parents were told that I had an intersex condition. Of course, this being Ireland in the 90s they actually told my parents I had a ‘syndrome’, that it was nothing to worry about, they should simply raise me as a girl and ‘keep an eye on things.’

Throughout my childhood I had countless medical interventions, so much poking and prodding I can’t even quantify it. It’s only in my 20s that I’ve developed the courage to question my doctors. Nowadays, I hold them to account for mistakes that were made in my treatment, which have gone on to provoke gender dysphoria. I am more comfortable in insisting that they respect my bodily integrity and autonomy. 

It was only when I was around eighteen that I discovered that my ‘syndrome’ fell under the umbrella term of intersex, meaning there were other people like me. There was a community to find, advocacy to do. 

How to be an Ally?

• Educate yourself (learn about intersex from intersex people). 

• Use intersex-inclusive language. (If you watch your language for trans inclusivity, then you already are doing this, thank you!)

• Educate your community.

• Do not make the assumption that intersex is a medical condition.

• Include us in your discussions about human rights. Keep working on improving the GRA/ LGBTI strategy, keep demanding that healthcare improve! We stand to win when the broader community does too.

• At the same time, try to amplify the voices of intersex people when speaking about issues that effect them.

• Remember that our bodies are not a way to win arguments about gender theory! There are many other ways to prove that gender is not binary!

• Remember that being intersex may or may not be part of their identity

• Do not assume it is their duty to discuss being intersex at any time, or that they’re comfortable to discuss all aspects of being intersex

• Phrase questions broadly

• Ensure that your questions don’t serve to stigmatize or fetishize 

  
  

Key Goals

• Full implementation of human rights, bodily integrity & self-determination for intersex people

• Legal prohibition of non-consensual medical & psychological treatment; medical practitioners or other professionals should not conduct any treatment to the purpose of modifying sex characteristics which can be deferred until the person to be treated can provide informed consent

• Full protection against discrimination & the adoption of » sex characteristics « as a protective ground

• Education of society on intersex issues from a human rights perspective

Resources: If you’d like to learn more (and I really hope you would!) then you’re in luck. Thanks to wonderful intersex activists there’s now heaps of online resources. A few of my personal favourites are below: 

https://interactadvocates.org/

https://oiieurope.org/

https://www.them.us/story/intersex-allyship-101

http://4intersex.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/4intersex-Common-Arguments-from-Doctors.pdf

You can also check out intersex ‘influencers’ like Pidgeon Pagonis and Emily Quinn on youtube, or join an open facebook group run by InterAct/OII/Intersex Ireland, just for example. If you have a question not best answered by Google, or are an intersex person looking to reach out, please don’t hesitate to get in touch using the team@shoutout.ie email, or intersex.ie@gmail.com.

To all my lovely intersex people out there, happy awareness day, I hope to meet you soon. This one’s for us.