So, today is #IntersexAwarenessDay.
Intersex people like me are born outside of binary gender. There is a wide range of how that presents, but we are neither male nor female by traditional definitions - down to our very biology.
This is me. Every day of the year. 🏳️🌈
Intersex people like me are born outside of binary gender. There is a wide range of how that presents, but we are neither male nor female by traditional definitions - down to our very biology.
This is me. Every day of the year. 🏳️🌈
A side bonus of how I am #intersex involves my voice. It gives me a range a little like Farinelli. I don’t normally brag about that, but a few years ago, together with @NoxArcana, we co-wrote a song designed specifically to show off my four octave range:
A difficult side of being born intersex is the fact that we are still grossly misunderstood. Our natural state is often perceived as a medical anomaly that must be fixed.
This means many of us undergo non-consensual and mutilating surgeries throughout infancy and childhood.
This means many of us undergo non-consensual and mutilating surgeries throughout infancy and childhood.
As an FYI, asking me what’s in my pants is not only rude, but it’s traumatic because modern medicine doesn’t let most intersex people remain the way they were born.
Think about that for a minute. Think about the cascade effect on your entire life.
Think about that for a minute. Think about the cascade effect on your entire life.
Another shitty thing about being born intersex is many doctors & parents ignorantly view it as such a shameful, damaging state, they keep it secret - even from the intersex person themselves.
Surgeries get explained away. Hormone regimens are “treatments” - it’s horrific.
Surgeries get explained away. Hormone regimens are “treatments” - it’s horrific.
Being born intersex is often medicalized as a disorder. A birth defect.
I don’t feel defective. I only ever felt defective when my family was still lying to me about who and what I really was. That went on into my early 30s.
I fought for answers.
I love everything I am.
I don’t feel defective. I only ever felt defective when my family was still lying to me about who and what I really was. That went on into my early 30s.
I fought for answers.
I love everything I am.
Discourse about intersex rights & trans rights is often intertwined. This Boston Globe article is from a couple years ago, but I am one of the people in it telling a bit more of my story. Thanks, @sirosenbaum for the compassionate reporting: bostonglobe.com/ideas/2019/07/…
Not every #intersex person has the luxury of being out about who they are.
Not every intersex person has the luxury of even KNOWING, because it is still a policy in places to lie about their nature.
I can’t speak for any of them, but I can speak out so you know we’re here.
Not every intersex person has the luxury of even KNOWING, because it is still a policy in places to lie about their nature.
I can’t speak for any of them, but I can speak out so you know we’re here.
One final thing: rigid definitions of binary gender are why intersex people are mutilated at birth.
In societies that leave no room for anything other than male or female, #intersex people like me are instantly marginalized.
Yet we exist.
Binary gender is a lie.
In societies that leave no room for anything other than male or female, #intersex people like me are instantly marginalized.
Yet we exist.
Binary gender is a lie.
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