Thread: Yesterday MP Mhairi Black said in parliament: “People often think that we have male and female, but the truth is that 1-2% of the global population is born intersex, which means they present characteristics of both sexes..."
She is wrong to use the political term "intersex" when describing people with different sexual development (DSD) and to say that they "present with characteristics of both sexes. People with DSD are not "between" sexes they are male or female.
Conditions range from hyopsadias, where the opening of the urethra is not located at the tip of the penis to Turner Syndrome in girls where one of the X chromosomes is missing or partially missing causing a range of medical/development challenges
Black is also wrong to assert that up to 2% of the global population has a DSD. There are up to 60 conditions, some almost unnoticeable, others life-changing, and estimates of how many people have a DSD differ considerably.
But what makes me really angry is Black's (and others) hijacking of people with a medical condition to bolster her spurious argument about gender identity. DSD is nothing to do with trans, body dysphoria or sexual fetish
It is a medical condition, like any other. It often requires ongoing clinical support and very often psycho-scocial support for the person and their family. Yet often the only time we hear about DSD is when it is described as "intersex" and used in a political campaign.
Black said yesterday that the current gender recognition process is "deeply invasive, traumatising, unnecessary and dehumanising." I would argue that her appropriation of DSD is deeply invasive, traumatising, unnecessary and dehumanising of people with DSD.
And damaging. The Scottish government does not fund organisations that work directly with DSD families, instead money goes to the Equality Network -a campaigning organisation. Why? gov.scot/publications/f…
If, unlike Mhari Black, you're interested in finding out more about DSD then follow @dsdfamilies or check out this great website about Klinefelter's Syndrome - where a boy is born with XXY chromosomes. livingwithxxy.org
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