Hans Lindahl is the communications director for interACT: Advocates for Intersex Youth.
October 26th is Intersex Awareness Day, the anniversary of the first protest against medical harm to our community in the United States. And we've come a long way since that day in 1996, but I’m still not surprised to hear that many queer allies don’t yet have a solid concept of what exactly it can mean to have an intersex body.
Sex works in many layers. Intersex people’s layers don’t all fit together in the usual ways. Each of us somehow deviated from one of the two usual paths of human sex development, because we’re very creative in that way!
Almost 2% of people worldwide have some type of intersex difference. That means that somehow, something in our genitalia, chromosomes, gonads, internal sex organs, hormone production, hormone response, and/or secondary sex traits developed differently. That also means that you almost certainly know someone who is intersex, whether they’ve told you so or not.
Heavy medicalization of our bodies has kept a lot of us in the dark. It has also created some misconceptions that prevent more intersex people from realizing and celebrating this part of themselves.
Here are some top myths that I hope our queer allies from other letters will help us bust.
Intersex people have ‘both’ parts, or are ‘both’ sexes.
Intersex people all have genital differences at birth, and all have had surgeries.
Intersex people all have nonbinary gender and want third gender ID options.
Intersex people are all feminine or androgynous.
All intersex people with a specific medical diagnosis are one gender.
Intersex people can’t have sex, get pregnant, or have children.
Intersex only affects young people.
Intersex people don’t belong in the LGBTQIA acronym because we are a ‘medical thing.’