Did you know that approximately 1.5% of the population is born with red hair? Did you know that approximately 1.9% of the population has a twin? Did you know that 2% of the population is born with green eyes? That may not sound like a lot, but chances are you have seen a person with red hair, or green eyes and maybe one or two sets of twins. In fact, chances are you have probably met quite a few people that fit into these seemingly small subpopulations. That is because while 1% may sound small, it accounts for 78 million people- which is not small at all.
Did you know that 1.7% of the world’s population is born with intersex traits? If I lost you on that sentence, do not feel ashamed – the majority of people (including myself until a few weeks ago) have no idea what intersex means or that it exists; that is part of the problem.
Intersex is an umbrella term for a medically diverse group of people that do not fit into biological definitions of male or female. This can happen with a crossover of different combinations of male and female genetics. Some have gonads or chromosomes that do not match the classified combination of their assigned sex. Others are born with atypical genitalia, born with both body parts or parts of both. Therefore, that person is born with parts that make them medically both genders.
Why is this important to know about? Well, if you look back at the examples above, 1.7% may sound like a small number of our population when in reality, it is a fairly large group of people being underrepresented. Over 78 million people walking on this planet are born with intersex traits, and unfortunately, not a lot of them get to make choices about their bodies.
Across North America (and across the world), intersex children are subject to ‘corrective’ surgeries and medical practices at infancy that leave irreversible damages and lifelong consequences. These procedures can cause ongoing psychological and physical harm that lasts throughout their lives. The understood reasoning behind a lot of these surgeries is aimed at allowing the child to have a ‘normal’ upbringing; but the reality of these surgeries is that a predetermined gender choice is made for the child, and the ongoing consequences are only felt by the child being unwillingly performed on.
A lot of intersex children who do not have physically visible traits are not told and instead find out about their differences at later points in life (puberty, trying to get pregnant, etc). Some are also still subject to life-altering surgeries in infancy. For example, one procedure removes gonads, resulting in lifelong hormone replacement therapy.
It is unfair to say that all surgeries on intersex babies are for this reason, as some are deemed medically necessary for quality of life. However, for a large number of children, these surgeries are unnecessary for the child’s overall health and do nothing except make the child appear more ‘normal.’
The medical world has advanced in approaches to intersex cases – now categorized as DSDs (Differences of Sex Development) – and a lot of specialized teams have trained to work specifically with intersex people. However, there are still numerous issues surrounding the topic that are nowhere close to being discussed enough.
One very clear issue is that by performing these surgeries, the child’s gender is being physically predetermined for them. Intersex children often have a large array of biological qualities that are not clearly sided towards one gender but split between two. In other words, these children are essentially born bigender. They have no genetic conformity to either male or female, but both. By physically assigning these children genders, you are not only taking away their free will, but you are altering their choice in personal identity by physically changing their body without consent.
The worst part is that currently there are no legal protections for these children and their choice. Canada and North America have no recognition of the rights of intersex people to their bodily autonomy or physical integrity.
Recently, a bill in the state of California to protect intersex children from genital surgeries until the age of 12 (unless deemed medically necessary) was thrown out on the account that medical professionals and parents should have overall control over the child of interest. Thus, the child is completely disregarded as a developing person who also has rights. Similar arguments have been made when disregarding other legal actions of similar interest across North America.
Another issue is the lack of global awareness of the intersex community, which has continued a culture of shame and stigma. A lot of intersex people are made to feel ashamed and as though they need to hide their true identity due to being seen as ‘unnatural.’ In reality, they are natural, and what is unnatural is society’s decision to hide them.
In education systems, it is still taught that there are two genders: male and female. If any education system even acknowledges the existence of intersex children, they are made to seem like an anomaly rather than a growing and vastly present community of people. I do not know about you, but last time I checked, even though only 1.5% of the population have red hair we still consider it just as equal of hair colour as brown, blonde or black. Why is that? Because it is a genetic trait held by a group of people. The same goes for those who are born with green eyes or are born a twin. What is different about being intersex and why is it not acknowledged as a gender?
Intersex people are in no way rare but are simply under advocated for and misrepresented. Biology classes teach us that sex is either male or female. In reality, biologically, sex is a spectrum- with intersex people being the biggest proof of this.
The lack of rights and advocation for the intersex community is overwhelmingly horrifying and an ignorant truth of how our Western society chooses to deal with things that do not fit into our already understood bubble. People are people, and everyone deserves the same bodily respect and advocation that heteronormative people in the Western world get to experience every day. Take a minute and do some more research, open your eyes a little more to the not talked about world around you and help be a part of the conversation. You may very well become part of the advocation so many underrepresented subpopulations need.