Recently I've learned a little more about intersex people. I've heard stats like roughly 1 out of every 50 people is actually intersex. I've also heard that some people have 'adopted' the label of intersex, but I didn't think that was an identity you could 'adopt' for yourself, technically. Aren't you simply born intersex? Or do I have that wrong? If anyone on this forum happens to be intersex I would just in general love to learn more about your life experiences, particularly those having to do with personal gender identity. I'm asking because I've known a couple intersex people in the past but never got to know them well and I was too shy to ask about their experiences, because I thought it would be rude.
From my experience, (and this may sound kind of rude as well) most intersex people don't really want to identify as intersex, but just as whatever gender they identify as. The only time I hear about intersex people is usually when trans people want to make some sort of point about gender, e.g. "intersex people exist so obviously gender isn't so black and white!" Not that I'm saying intersex people don't belong in the LGBTIABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQIA+ community if they want to (or that trans people don't have a point), just that I rarely hear of intersex people themselves trying to include themselves in our community. The thing is, people view being intersex as a legit medical condition while being trans is usually viewed as being either a lifestyle or as a mental disorder... I'd be interested to hear from anyone who wants to say I am wrong or ignorant though. Always open to other opinions. ;D
Patrick's right, most intersex people don't really care for their condition or may not even know about it (since it doesn't always cause a difference in visible sex characteristics). Some intersex people are assigned as intersex if their genitalia is ambiguous, but most intersex people are assigned as either male or female - and the hospital may surgically alter the baby's genitals to make them look "normal" for the gender they assigned them, but this has become increasingly frowned upon since it's a major surgery that can have a significant impact on their life and their ability to consent is non-existant. I've spoken to a few intersex people before, and none of them were at all interested in being included in the LGBT community. The youngest (15 at the time) told me how pissed she was that people keep bringing up intersex people as some sort of catch-22 in nearly every gender-related argument - sometimes they're relevant, but most of the time they aren't because it's nearly always used to back-up NB identities even though most intersex people identify as a binary gender and don't (want to) identify as NB. As for "adopting" the label of intersex, I think that some non-binary people use it to refer to when they feel like their body should have a mixture of sexual characteristics - like, in the same way that I say I am male because I feel male and my body should be male. Some people call it a third sex, even though technically there are 50-odd different variations of being intersex, so with that mindset I guess people believe that it's the same as identifying as male or female. Overall I'm not sure how I feel about that particular label being used but I'm not intersex (to my knowledge) so I'm not going to start getting offended for another group when I don't know if it's even offensive in the first place.
From what I've heard what SystemGlitch said is absolutely right. I think it is not right to bring intersex people into any kind of trans debate as "proof" for trans identities. Intersex is a medical condition that is completely different from the medical and scientific findings towards transsexualism. There is also the fact that by using intersex as an argument one somehow implies that intersex people would agree with one's opinion or drags them into a debate they probably do not want to be a part of. Particularly with non-binary identities: If an intersex person lives a normal life as a binary gender why would they fight for non binary genders or necessarily agree that it is a thing if they themselves don't experience it despite them allegedly being" proof" for non-b identities ? I think some intersex people are part of the T group due to either wanting to or having to alter their bodies for medical reasons. Some also identify as non- b but that is really a very little minority. All in all I think that intersex individuals can be a part of the LGBT community but that they should not be included in general as most live a straight gender conforming life with no need for us. Besides" community" implies help and advice and since a lot of LGBT people aren't that informed about intersexuality they could not help them in any way. It makes more sense for them to be their own community.
Intersex is a medical condition and biological sex. It is not a gender identity. Saying someone is intersex is like saying a trans woman is male. That's her biological sex due to being XY, but not her identity. Likewise, an intersex person ALSO may strictly identify with the binary and do not want people to know their biological sex. I don't know if intersex people are automatically LGBT. Intersex is a medical condition, not a gender identity problem. Most intersex people get offended being linked in with LGBT and do not want anything to do with gender politics. Most are cis and hetero. If they want to come in the community they can, but I don't think they should be linked in with transgender stuff just for having their condition. My uncle is technically intersex because he has klinefelters syndrome. He was assigned male at birth, he identifies as cis male and heterosexual. He didn't know he was intersex until he had his chromosomes checked, but he doesn't identify with it. I only hear intersex being brought up in LGBT when trans people are trying to make a point like "sex is socially constructed". Most intersex people are very offended by trans people doing this. It's also bullshit since a lot of intersex people look like binary sexes (such as having a penis and other visible MALE features, with an invisible XX chromosome). That doesn't mean trans people should be treated like their sex, it just means that sex really isn't as socially constructed as you think. Everyone has either only X or Y chromosomes, even if they have more than two.
So like 2 days ago I saw this on Laverne Cox's ig: It's a tiny bit off topic, but I found that really interesting. And it is related in that infants are looked at and 2 questions are asked, "where's the hole" and "how long is the bit". If an infant's 'bit' is longer than .9cm and shorter than 2.5cm, you're intersex. But these are no where near all the questions that should be asked to accurately determine sex. I'm honestly interested in the intersex condition as well. We learned a lot about it in a few of my university classes but I've never met anyone that I know of with it. I also have done some research on the "third genders" of other cultures (which is really not the best/most accurate term) and they are really cool as well! As to the 'adoption' thing, I agree with what SystemGlitch said.
