Intersex Solidarity Day - 11/08/09

November 8th is Intersex Solidarity Day. In honor of the day please make the commitment to educate yourself about intersexuality and to promote intersex activism to others.

I'd also like to encourage this post to be about what it means to stand in solidarity with the intersex community, whether you are intersex or not, what we can do to be advocates and allies?

Other topics for possible discussion as suggested by the official Intersex Solidarity Day are The life of Herculine Barbin, intersex "normalization" treatments without consent, the violence of the binary sex and gender system, the sexism implicit within the binary construct of sex and gender.

Please sign the Solidarity with the Intersex Community Petition

Australian Government Urged to Consider Intersex Classification

The Australian government is being urged to consider altering their forms to be inclusive of intersex people.

"Australia's human rights office is pushing the federal government to allow some people to classify themselves as a third gender, intersex, for legal documents and procedures.

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission issued a paper titled "Sex Files -- The Legal Recognition of Sex: Proposed Reform" to transgender advocates across the country. The paper proposes the third gender classification to be included on legal documents such as drivers licenses and passports. The report was released in September, according to the agency's website, but the news media were not made aware of it until last week, the Sydney Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Sex and Gender Education Australia, a transgender advocacy group, says forms should include "other" as a fourth option, allowing some not to identify as any sex.

The paper defines intersex as people who "cannot or do not identify as either male or female" and choose to be "identified on their birth certificate and passport as intersex." Additionally, those who cannot or choose not to have gender reassignment surgery would "not be automatically ineligible to request a change in their legal sex." (Advocate).

For detailed information on the proposal by the Human Rights Commission click here for their post on "sex files".

Also, join us in contacting officials of the Parliament of Australia to act to ensure that intersex people are recognized by the government.

Click here to email the Prime Minister and here to email select representatives of the federal government.

Celebrate Intersex Awareness Day!

Oct 26th marks the 5th annual celebrate intersexual awareness day! Today is the (inter)national day of grass-roots action to end shame, secrecy and unwanted genital cosmetic surgeries on intersex children.

What is intersex?
Intersex refers to a series of medical conditions in which a child's genetic sex (chromosomes) and phenotypic sex (genital appearance) do not match, or are somehow different from the "standard" male or female. About one in 2,000 babies are born visibly intersexed, while some others are detected later. The current medical protocol calls for the surgical "reconstruction" of these different but healthy bodies to make them "normal," but this practice has become increasingly controversial as adults who went through the treatment report being physically, emotionally, and sexually harmed by such procedures.

Beside stopping cosmetic genital surgeries, what are intersex activists working toward?
Surgery is just part of a larger pattern of how intersex children are treated; it is also important to stop shame, secrecy and isolation that are socially and medically imposed on children born with intersex conditions under the theory that the child is better off it they didn't hear anything about it. Therefore, it's not enough to simply stop the surgery; we need to replace it with social and psychological support as well as open and honest communication.

What's so significant about October 26?
On October 26, 1996, intersex activists from Intersex Society of North America (carrying the sign "Hermaphrodites With Attitude") and our allies from Transexual Menace held the first public intersex demonstration in Boston, where American Academy of Pediatrics was holding its annual conference. The action generated a lot of press coverage, and made it difficult for the medical community to continue to neglect our growing movement. That said, events related to Intersex Awareness Day can take place throughout October and does not necessarily have to be on the 26th.

Ideas for Action:

Pamphlets for organizing intersex awareness day.

Click here to print out some articles to leaflet on intersexuality

Get some friends together and rally/demonstrate in front of a hospital or medical school demanding an end to genital mutilation!

Show a film or invite a guest speaker to speak about IS issues.

Please click the link for more info on Intersex Awareness Day.

"I'm 80% Girl, 20% Boy" - Intersex Documentary

One of our readers kindly emailed to let me know they were doing a documentary on an intersex person named Adele.

Maxx Ginnane (Director) emailed me with this:
"I am now making a full length film about intersex, including the stories of what is happening to the babies born visibly intersex and gender variant children as they grow up and approach puberty. There's currently still a debate in the medical community about how these young people should be treated. I'm seeking the input of doctors, parents, and of course, other intersex people in this project. If you would like to get in touch, my address is palya@hotmail.com"

Below is a clip of the film and a little bit of info about the documentary:

When Adele was born they couldn't tell if she was a girl or a boy. A series of childhood genital operations 'corrected' her into a boy but as she grew up it became apparent a mistake had been made. Now at 29 Adele is trying to transition into a woman, only to find she belongs somewhere in between. 1 in 2000 babies are born like Adele and she asks if it isn't time to make room in our society for more than two genders.

Word of the Gay: "Hypospadias"

"Hypospadias" can occur to some intersex people and is when an opening occurs at any given section along the penis as opposed to the average penis opening at the tip of the glans. The opening faces downward forcing the flow of secretions towards the feet.

Intersex Information & Resources

"Wikipedia defines intersexuality as “a state of a living thing (where) sex chromosomes, genitalia, and/or secondary sex characteristics are determined to be neither exclusively male nor female. An organism with intersex may have biological characteristics of both the male and female sexes. Intersexuality is the term… applied to human beings who cannot be classified as either male or female. Intersexuality is also the word adopted by the identitiary-political movement, to criticize medical protocols in sex assignment and to claim the right to be heard in the construction of a new one.”

Online resources for intersexed persons include:

The Accord Alliance works to promote comprehensive and integrated approaches to care that enhance the health and well-being of people and families affected by disorders in sexual development (DSD) by fostering collaboration among all stakeholders. The Accord Alliance’s work is based on a consensus for a new paradigm of healthcare for people diagnosed with intersex conditions developed by 50 international experts and patient advocates in 2006.

OII–USA is the United States affiliate of the Organisation Intersex International, a non-profit organization incorporated in the Province of Quebec, Canada. OII is one the largest intersex organizations in the world with members representing almost all known intersex variations. It has members in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. OII–USA works for intersex visibility, opposes genital mutilation, medicalization and normalization without consent, and provides a forum on intersex lives and experience that highlights the richness and diversity of intersex identities and culture.

The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) works to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries for people born with an anatomy that someone decided is not standard for male or female.

The MRKH Organization, Inc., supports women with Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser Syndrome. MRKH is also known as Mullerian Agenesis, Vaginal Agensis, and Congenital Absense of Vagina.

Intersextions Cafe offers user forums on intersex topics.

XXwhy.com is a blog with collection of articles, on Klinefelter Syndrome, a term used to describe males who have an extra X chromosome in most of their cells. Instead of having the usual XY chromosome pattern that most males have, these men have an XXY pattern.

XYTurners is a website with a forum and articles on XY/XO mosaicism.

Do you know of another resource on intersex issues? Post a comment and tell us about it."

Crossposted via LifeonQ