LGBTIntersexQA+

I – Intersex

Contrary to any belief, intersex is not a matter of choice, it’s a matter of birth. To understand “intersex”, we must also understand “dyadic”. As explained in my last post, your sex can be understood as your assigned sex & your aligned sex.

For dyadic individuals, their genitals, chromosomes & hormones can be classified easily at birth and puberty into one of the following binary categories: male & female.

For intersex individuals, their genitals, chromosomes & hormones do not wholly subscribe to one binary category or the other. It’s important to understand that each intersex individual is different. There are more than 15 medical diagnoses that have been found to involve intersex anatomy.

Intersex Society of North America offers resources for members & allies of the Intersex community.

MICROAGGRESSIONS

Most people are so ignorant to Intersex, they often mislabel it as Trans- or Bi- & use their same misconceptions about those groups towards the Intersex community. Considering it’s technically a medical condition of someone’s existence it’s not really a matter of regular conversation. Regardless, I was able to find some common microaggressions specifically towards the Intersex community.

Intersex is a fancy term for hermaphrodite. Hermaphrodite is an outdated & insensitive term in general.

Most people I’ve heard use this word ignorantly attach it to a trans- person. It’s origin lies within Greek mythology & that’s where the understanding of the word must’ve been left too. At this point all anyone needs to understand is that it isn’t a word that should be used in any way. Furthermore, no one should be throwing the terms “intersex” or “hermaphrodite” around at strangers because technically both are medically assigned labels.

Doctors, stuck in their old fashioned ways, can be the biggest offenders of microaggressions towards the Intersex community, similarly to the Trans- community. While it’s understandable to have your own opinions, practicing medicine is not usually a matter of opinion. As medicine & science evolve with our understanding of life, so must the professionals in those fields. There’s a level of understanding medical personnel & members of the scientific community must have, and some simply don’t.

DON’T ASK QUESTIONS YOU DON’T WANT ANSWERS TO.

I, again, don’t understand why anyone would need to know about anyone else’s genitals. It doesn’t have to make sense to you, it isn’t your life. My medical history isn’t your business & yours isn’t mine.