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Vagina Museum

26 Oct, 9 tweets, 2 min read

Today is #IntersexAwarenessDay! About 1-2% of people are intersex - their sex characteristics such as reproductive glands, genitals, hormones or chromosomes don't fit into the two boxes commonly used to describe sex.

Intersex is an umbrella term which describes a huge range of natural variations in people's bodies - you can download our free activity to explore intersex variations and how they're more common than you might think! vaginamuseum.co.uk/learning/resou…

Intersex refers to biological characteristics and is different to gender identity or sexual orientation - you can be a heterosexual intersex woman, a lesbian intersex enby, a bi intersex man, for example.

Sometimes intersex characteristics are seen at birth, sometimes they're noticed around puberty, and sometimes they might not be apparent at all! Because of this, it's difficult to give exact statistics on how common intersex variations are.

In most cases, no medical intervention is needed and intersex people can live a fulfilled and healthy life. If they want medical interventions, they should be able to access this on their own terms with their full consent. Sadly, this often does not happen.

"Normalisation" surgeries and interventions, performed without the consent of the person, without giving full information or when the person is too young to consent, have been widely criticised. Despite this, the practice is only illegal in a handful of countries.

Intersex people often also face discrimination and stigma because of having a body that's seen to be different. They also might encounter problems with legal recognition of intersex status, and accessing basic identity documents.

There is a global struggle for intersex rights. Intersex people are fighting for their rights, with support from endosex people - that's the word for people are not intersex.

We started this thread with the intersex flag, which was designed in 2013 by intersex activist Morgan Carpenter. The circle design symbolises wholeness and completeness - because intersex people are whole and complete.

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27 Oct

On this day in 1967, the Abortion Act received royal assent, legalising terminations of pregnancy under certain grounds. At the time the Act was passed, there were around 60 deaths per year from illegal "backstreet" abortions, and many more serious injuries and complications.

The Abortion Act 1967 establishes circumstances under which abortion is permitted. It has only ever applied in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) and has never been in effect in Northern Ireland.

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25 Oct

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20 Oct

On this day in 1960, R v Penguin Books Ltd began: the "Lady Chatterley Trial". This prosecution under the Obscene Publications Act opened with a statement from the prosecutor so out-of-touch it drew laughter in the courtroom.

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