Thursday, May 29, 2014

Things You Wanted To Know About Intersex, But Were Afraid To Ask

Are you queer?  Is this a transgender thing?
No, most intersex people do not transition from the gender they were assigned and raised in.  Some may choose to transition, or identify as something else altogether, but so do many non-intersex people.  Gender identity and sexual orientation are separate issues from intersex.  It may surprise you to know that many intersex people get married and blend completely with heterosexual mainstream culture.

You denounce genital surgeries on children, is this just about sex?
No.  It is true that genital surgeries very often reduce sexual sensation.  The surgery issue goes much farther than merely sex.  It is about personal autonomy and bodily integrity. The right to choose for ourselves what happens to our bodies and our lives is the much deeper issue.    

Can’t you just do a test to find out a babies true sex?  What is the babies “real” sex?

No.  You can test gonadal tissue, chromosomes (which sometimes are both ambiguous) and hormone levels to find the cause for ambiguous genitals. This will not, however, tell you the baby’s “true” sex.  This is hard to accept, but the baby is not really a male or female.  Biologically they are intersex.  While testing will tell you which intersex condition they have, they cannot tell you how the baby will identify. 

No comments:

Post a Comment