Yesterday marked the end of the “14 Days of Intersex” with Intersex Day of Remembrance, exactly 2 weeks after Intersex Day of Awareness. As LGBTQ+ lead at my school, I took it upon myself to teach others about Intersexuality.
I like that this day falls within the same week as Remembrance Day so it is like a week of tributes.
What Is Intersexuality?
To be intersex means to be born with sex characteristics outside the binary. This often results in hormonal issues and ambiguous genitalia.
It is estimated that 1 in 2000 people are born intersex. The exact figure is unknown because many cases go unreported as doctors surgically alter people when they are infants so that birth certificates can be signed either male or female.
What problems do intersex people face?
A lot of intersex individuals experience gender dysphoria as their gender identity does not match the gender they were assigned to at birth. If being intersex is visible, discrimination and stigmatisation can be faced.
In the UK, there are no human rights laws to protect intersex people from either forced surgery or harassment. Nevertheless, everyone has the right to see their medical notes. This means people can legally find out if surgery was performed on them when they were young.
Why is there a day of remembrance?
The first intersex days were celebrated in 2005.
Like Intersex Day of Awareness, this day was establish to inform and educate people on intersexuality and the issues they face in every day life. It’s also known as Intersex Day of Solidarity so people can focus on giving support to their peers.
8th November marks the birthday of Herculine Barbin, a French intersex person known for her memoir Herculine Barbine: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-Century Hermaphrodite, published in 1980.
Who are some famous intersex people?
Stella Walsh, who is an American-Polish track and field athlete. She competed in the Olympic 10pm. Her intersexuality was unknown was only discovered in her autopsy.
Caster Semenya is an Olympic 800-metre runner from South Africa. She has been scrutinised for her intersexuality since 2009, when she was just 18 years old. The IAAF wants Semenya to take medication to reduce her testosterone levels but she has refused. The media, public, and fellow athletes have misgendered her and said she shouldn’t compete.
Pigeon Pagonis is an American intersex activist who first learnt about intersexuality in a university lecture. They accessed their medical records and discovered that they were assigned female at birth and misdiagnosed with ovarian cancer, when they actually had internal testes. In 2015, they started the #intersexstories trend on Instagram and received the Obama White House Champion of Change award. They identify as queer and non-binary. They now use TikTok to raise awareness, and have criticised the platform for deleting intersex content.
Is intersex a human rights or LGBTQ+ topic?
There has been criticism of Intersex being the I in LGBTQIAA+ acronym. This is because intersex rights are more about human rights. In my opinion, they should be included as the I because the LGBTQ+ community is about diversity, inclusion and individuality.
Hopefully, this blog taught you something new. I encourage you to learn more about issues faced by the intersex community. Transgender Day of Awareness is the next celebrated day in the LGBTQ+ community.
Sorry for not posting in so long; since being back at school, I’ve been procrastinating but I aim to post more frequently.
Thank you for reading!
Starring Sam 