There was a time in society when it was supposedly just men and woman, terms like gender and sex was used synchronously with each other determining whether you were male or female. Those were the only options, if you didn’t fit into one or the other you would be ostracised until you conformed. Now we live in far more open times with newer generations understanding and exploring fluid gender identities and we have terms like cis-gender and transgender regarding whether you identify as the gender you were born with. A distinct difference between someone’s gender and sex and the ability to express oneself regardless of gender roles and norms. It is still early days for all of it but considering the speed in which the fourth wave of feminism has grown as well as the #metoo movement, the future looks bright.
But then visibility plays a huge part as well as just a general buzz around these identities. More and more people of influence are rejecting gender norms coming out as non-binary or gender fluid. Extra effort is being made to give more representation to the transgender community, and LGBTQ members are flourishing as part of society more than ever. So I’m sad to say that when I first heard the term ‘Intersex’ I had no idea what it was.
Defined by the NHS as a ‘Disorder of sex development (DSD)’ it is medically categorised as ‘a group of rare conditions where the reproductive organs and genitals don’t develop as expected.’ However many are now objecting to determining it as a disorder and are now choosing to identify instead as Intersex.
Between 0.05% and 1.7% of the population are born with intersex characteristics, yet awareness of their existence is low despite being as common as people born with red hair. This is because of the still common practice to cosmetically ‘fix’ a baby’s genitalia and assign a gender at birth through surgery and hormone therapy. This is mostly believed by doctors and parents to reduce stigma associated with gender ambiguity and to hopefully give the child a ‘normal’ life.
This comes as recent news that the UK government will be launching a consultation into how Intersex people are treated in this country. With concerns regarding intersex babies being treated without their informed consent and the general narrative that one must conform to the gender binary.
Intersex has always existed, The Intersex Campaign for Equality explains “Although many folks are just learning about us, our existence is nothing new, but rather, dates back to the beginning of humanity.” They believe that intersex characteristics should be viewed as just another quirk of nature. “We were known as hermaphrodites in ancient times, and we’re just another example of the natural diversity of the human species.” However there are still those who disagree.
Many doctors consider the condition a fault at birth hence the ‘disorder’ term and liken it to babies born with a clef palette. It is also easier to perform surgery on babies since the tissue heals much quicker and the baby is too young to remember any trauma from the procedure. Intersex charities have likened it to female genital mutilation since the operations only fulfil cosmetic expectation and actually are unnecessary for children’s health. According to UNFE fertility can also be affected through these procedures but is considered by and by when many with DSD are born infertile. Other side effects include “Pain, incontinence, loss of sexual sensation, and lifelong mental suffering, including depression.” This could be why parents are now choosing to opt out of surgery when their child is born intersex. Before there was not that choice
Correctional surgery has been compared to conversion therapy to fix homosexuality or transgenderism. In 2015, Malta became the first country in the world to make these surgical procedures on minors without informed consent illegal through the Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics Act. The law also prohibits the discrimination of people based on their intersex characteristics. Australia was the first country to introduce a law prohibiting discrimination of specifically those with intersex characteristics in 2013, further launching an inquiry into the involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people. Something that could be considered reproductive coercion. The UK are yet to implement similar laws but with the UK government’s recent interest, the human rights of intersex people could be retained.
However the age of which an intersex child is considered old enough to provide informed consent is unclear since transgender children have to be 17 before they can start biologically transitioning. There is also fear that the surgical procedures will cause more trauma as an intersex child gets older, with the process being difficult since many surgeons do not have the experience of performing these surgeries on anyone older than an infant.
Parents also fear that their child will grow up bullied and carry a stigma because of their differences to other children but charities argue that it is due to lack of information and awareness that causes this. UNFE believes that with more representation on TV and the media less concern and stigma will be attached to people born intersex. Hopefully having less worried parents in maternity wards scared for their child’s future whilst trying to make the best decision for them with very little information.
The intersex community has been taken under the wing of the LGBTQ+ umbrella despite it having nothing to do with sexuality and not necessarily to gender identity either. There are those that argue that Intersex should not be considered a gender identity since gender has nothing to do with what’s between your legs. There are intersex people that identify as men and woman, boys and girls and blood tests can most likely determine whether a baby is biologically male or female so the genitalia is really low on that list of determining factors.
As someone who has heard horror stories of hermaphrodite babies being surgically reassigned female (since the process was easier than assigning them male), of parents of DSD children who were given the choice of their child’s gender and starting hormone therapy for the child to later identify as trans. Stories of family members not accepting the child’s ambiguous gender. I can only hope that intersex awareness is increased and the government’s new initiative will provide a positive lift to the intersex movement.
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