October 26 is Intersex Awareness Day, the time that we focus on the particular issues faced by intersex people.
You may be wondering – what makes a person intersex? How common is it? Well never fear! We have all the answers here.
Intersex people are born with variations in their sex characteristics, whether that be related to their chromosomes, sex hormones, reproductive glands, and genitalia, which do not fit our usual binary conceptualization of sex.
Being intersex is different from sexual orientation or gender identity. Intersex relates specifically to biological sex characteristics.
UN Free & Equal made a lovely video last year to show that intersex children are precious gifts.
More people are born intersex than you may have thought – up to 1.7% of people are born intersex! That’s nearly the same amount of people who are born redheads.
Intersex children are often subjected to surgeries in order to make them fit into our traditional categories biological sex.
Intersex advocates have condemned such practices, as they are unnecessary and can lead to ‘permanent infertility, pain, incontinence, loss of sexual sensation, and lifelong mental suffering, including depression’, according to the United Nations Free & Equal campaign.
Others have defended the surgeries, claiming that they normalize people born intersex, helping them to avoid cultural stigma and prejudice.
People took to Twitter today to show their support for intersex people.
Today is Intersex Awareness Day 2017! #IAD2017 #IntersexAwarenessDay pic.twitter.com/HbKjSHogtj
— Ross Flanagan (@boscorossco) 26 October 2017
Today is #IntersexAwarenessDay. @intersexday provides resources and information about the problems facing intersex people and organisations pic.twitter.com/oa0mpHoVKG
— LGBTIQA+ Greens (@LGBTIQAGreens) 26 October 2017
#Intersex rights are human rights. I stand in solidarity with intersex people #IntersexAwarenessDay pic.twitter.com/v8yoCW8w2r
— Simon Ware (@acogofchange) 26 October 2017
Thank you to all intersex advocates who are speaking up around the world.
