It's Trans Awareness Week but in this post I want to continue my thoughts on intersex awareness and discuss how there is an overlap between the two yet they are not the same!
Intersex people's gender identity
An intersex person's gender identity can be cis, neither male nor female, non-binary or trans. Ipsogender (a word created in 2014 by Dr Cary Gabriel Costello, an intersex sociologist) is another gender identity term for cis intersex people but, unlike the word cis, is specific to the intersex experience of identifying with their assigned gender at birth. They have their own flags: one for ipsogender women and one for ipsogender men. Both flags are purple with a yellow plus sign inside a yellow circle. But the colour behind the plus sign in the circle is pink for women and blue for men although it is sometimes depicted as purple behind the plus circle. Trans-intersex are those whose gender identity does not match the one they were assigned at birth by doctors or parents. Thus, biologically they are intersex but in terms of gender identity they are trans. They also have their own flag since 2017, created by Jesse Bananasaurus/Demi-Dude: it's the same as the intersex flag but it has the trans flag inside the purple circle (yellow background). Non-binary-intersex encompasses all intersex people whose gender identity is on the non-binary gender identity spectrum e.g. agender, bigender, trigender, polygender, pangender, genderfluid, genderflux and so on. There seems to be much less information on their experiences and I haven't found a flag for them either. 😢 Some people debate whether the word intersex can also refer to a gender identity ie. an intersex person simply identifying as intersex both biologically and gender-wise. Some intersex people prefer it because other gender identities do not relate to their specific intersex experience of gender, while some people think it conflates sex and gender identities.
Trans people's gender identities
There isn't just one way to be intersex just as there isn't just one way to be trans. Both vary across a spectrum. Trans, when used as an umbrella term for anyone who isn't cis, can range from: trans who identify as the 'opposite' sex to the one they were assigned at birth; demi-women and men who partially identify as female or male irrespective of their assigned sex; agender; other gendered; various ways of being multigender and/or genderfluid. I have maintained in previous posts that this extremely broad umbrella term 'trans' seems to lead to confusion, especially when it is used almost interchangeably with narrower meanings and usages of trans e.g. transitioning from male to female, female to male; changing gender identity to agender which means they haven't undergone any surgery or hormone treatment. The latter are very different in terms of both gender experience and practical needs eg legal or medical. None of these are multigender, genderfluid or genderflux. All these experience a static gender identity that is consistently other than their assigned gender.
So there are two main types of non-binary:
those who have one, static gender identity that is outside of the binary sex model;
and those who have more than one gender identity which either run parallel to each other or may fluctuate between genders. The intensity of the gender for some may fluctuate too. Some of these have a static gender identity while others do not. Some experience partial gender identities.
This lack of awareness could be why some trans people appear to change their minds after undergoing a sex reassignment. They haven't changed their minds as such, they just weren't informed that trans people do not need to fit the gender binary. Hence, they may be non-binary or agender rather than necessarily feel that changing sex fits with how they feel about themselves and their identity. They also need to be knowledgeable about static gender identity compared to gender fluidity so they can assess their core gender identity or identities and consider their long-term options accordingly. Perhaps only those with one, static (full or partial) gender identity should consider sex reassignment procedures if they are under 16. This is why information, knowledge and open discussion is important. It saves lives. It's not propaganda or trying to persuade children or adults to think of themselves as trans, non-binary or gay. It's an important part of everyone's self-understanding, it's part of knowing who you are. If you don't understand yourself, how do you expect others to? How are you going to sustain relationships if you don't know who you are and don't have a strong awareness of your identity? It's not identity politics. It's merely knowledge that is now out there and people should learn about for their own personal growth. And for fostering an understanding of others, of their potential partners and any children they may have.
Intersex sex variations (independent of their gender identity and sexuality)
In my previous post, I talked about Herculine and how she had a small vagina and a very small penis but intersex babies/children do not have to exhibit external sexual organs of the so-called opposite sex. We do not know how many babies are born intersex because nobody collects the stats. Or exactly how many different types of intersex there are.
There are many variations of intersex characteristics. I won't go into all of them that would take quite a few posts. However, they are broadly divided into 5 main categories: chromosome variations; hormonal variations; gonad variations; genital variations; undetermined intersex. Preconceived ideas about male and female bodies holds us back in understanding the human body and all its variations. After all, it makes no sense at all to reduce people to an ideal woman and an ideal man. We have argued against media versions of perfect women but when it comes to babies suddenly they have to conform to a fictitious binary ideal. Surely this is abuse. We are horrified by FGM yet are happy to perform non-consensual, unnecessary operations on the sex organs of babies.
If intersex babies are interfered with surgically not only is this against their bodily integrity but it can cause them harm down the line when they are older. For example, it can affect their sex lives, their fertility as well as cause them emotional distress. We need to recognise that bodies vary and do not fall into a neat category just because medical practitioners think they should. Doctors don't agree with each other about what determines that an individual is intersex. Indeed, intersex is far more common than many assume. It's not a natural category but rather a socially constructed one because it merely means a naturally occurring biological variation. This creates a wider gene pool which is important for a healthy society.
How many intersex babies are not accounted for?
Do doctors screen pregnant women for signs of intersex characteristics in foetuses? If they do, how many would suggest abortion? The Malta Declaration cites abortion as an issue with intersex babies, which may be artificially lowering the number of intersex babies born, making it seem a rarer phenomenon than it is. Sterilisation of intersex people is another issue the Malta Declaration has raised. Not only does this go against their human rights and bodily autonomy, but it could be reducing the potential for more intersex babies being born in cases where being intersex could be genetically inherited. So by deliberately aborting and sterilizing intersex individuals, stats are being skewed to make it appear as though they are an unusual variation when they are not. In addition, some people never find out they are intersex so they are missing from the stats as well. And then there are those who doctors insist are not intersex even though they know they are. Amnesty International have an example of a woman who suspected she may be intersex but wasn't sure since she noticed a scar and didn't know why she had it. When she went to doctors to discuss this, only one said it was possible she may have undergone an operation because she is intersex. The other doctors dismissed her inquiries by falsely claiming she was mentally ill and was simply trans even though she had in fact been operated on as intersex. So it turned out she was right that she is intersex but not before being traumatized for years about her intersex status.
Who determines what constitutes a so-called normal female or male body?
Doctors? Science researchers? Is it just social expectations? Is it a form of misogyny? Sexism? Is it that size matters? Men are obsessed about having a big penis and big muscles so want women to be the opposite of them ie lack muscle and have small clits. These social constructs about biology cause harm and ignorance. Some doctors think only a larger clit may be a sign of intersex while others disagree and have completely different criteria. What's the normal size for a clitoris anyway? Doctors shouldn't be wasting time and money on unnecessary operations like this. If a woman or a person who identifies as one, is happy with her so-called larger than average clit then leave her alone. It's normal for her. To interfere on some wild assumptions about potential bullying or out of the doctor's own desire to force people to conform to social norms constitutes bullying in itself. Besides, how does that work? If someone is genuinely in love with you they won't get their ruler out and love you less because, for instance, your clit is bigger or looks different than they anticipated.
And did you know that some intersex female athletes have had clitoral reduction so they can play professional sport? 😲🤔 Since when do you hit a tennis ball with your clit? That's what a tennis racquet is for! 🎾
Not all intersex people are intersex at birth but may develop intersex characteristics in childhood or in their teens. In many cases, it's difficult to know whether an individual is intersex because it could just be a chromosome difference so some find out late in life or not at all.
Intersex and Trans people have different needs
Intersex and trans people have certain different needs from each other. Nevertheless intersex and trans people have some needs that the rest of the non-cis gender community don't have, largely because both often have surgery of one kind or another. The main difference here is that trans people always decide for themselves that they want the surgery in order to become who they feel they are, whereas numerous intersex people have surgery foisted on them. In that sense, intersex have their human right to bodily autonomy taken from them simply because they are too young to consent. Yet this doesn't seem to matter with trans individuals. Apparently, they are too young to know who they are and what they want pre-puberty so some argue against any medical interference. Yet blocking puberty makes an enormous difference to trans teens, emotionally and also physically. It also means we don't have to listen to the tired argument that TERFs present that it's not fair to women if trans women have had the advantage of male puberty, especially when it comes to sport. That is a ridiculous argument because it assumes all women are weak and that there's no variation in strength between them. When, in fact, some women put on muscle faster and are stronger and faster than other women just as some men are naturally more muscular, stronger and faster than others.
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