Intersex Day of Remembrance

Last updated
Intersex Day of Remembrance
Also calledIntersex Solidarity Day
Observed by Intersex community
TypeInternational
Date November 8
Next timeNovember 8, 2023 (2023-11-08)
Frequencyannual
First timeNovember 8, 2005
Related to Intersex Awareness Day

Intersex Day of Remembrance, also known as Intersex Solidarity Day, is an internationally observed civil awareness day designed to highlight issues faced by intersex people. It marks the birthday of Herculine Barbin, a French intersex person whose memoirs were later published by Michel Foucault in Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-century French Hermaphrodite.

Contents

History

The event appears to have begun on November 8, 2005, as Intersex Solidarity Day, following an invitation issued by Joëlle-Circé Laramée, then Canadian spokeswoman for Organisation Intersex International. [1] The Organisation invited organisations and groups and individuals to show solidarity by marking: the life of Herculine Barbin, or discussing intersex genital mutilation, "the violence of the binary sex and gender system" and/or "the sexism implicit within the binary construct of sex and gender". [1]

Observance

While Intersex Awareness Day on October 26 appears to be celebrated more in English-speaking countries, particularly in North America, Intersex Day of Remembrance has been marked mostly in Europe. Some countries, such as Australia and South Africa, mark both events and the days between as "14 days of intersex". [2] [3]

Notable observances

In 2012, the New South Wales Parliament acknowledged the day. Linda Burney, a Member of the Legislative Assembly, also commended Organisation Intersex International Australia as part of a motion noting the day. [4]

In 2014, Literaturhaus Salzburg, Austria, is the venue for an Intersex Solidarity Day event. [5] [6] A similar event was held at University of Salzburg in 2013. [7] On Intersex Solidarity Day 2016, OII Europe launched a new visibility website, InterVisibility.eu, with material on intersex in 23 European languages. [8] [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

Herculine Adélaïde Barbin, later known as Abel Barbin, was a French intersex person who was assigned female at birth and raised in a convent, but was later reclassified as male by a court of law, after an affair and physical examination. She is known for her memoir, Herculine Barbin, which was studied by Michel Foucault.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organisation Intersex International</span>

The Organisation Intersex International (OII) is a global advocacy and support group for people with intersex traits. According to Milton Diamond, it is the world's largest organization of intersex persons. A decentralised network, OII was founded in 2003 by Curtis Hinkle. Upon Hinkle's retirement, American intersex activist Hida Viloria served as Chairperson/President elect from April 2011 through November 2017, when they resigned in order to focus on OII's American affiliate, OII-USA's transition into the independent American non-profit, the Intersex Campaign for Equality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex</span> Atypical congenital variations of sex characteristics

Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".

<i>Herculine Barbin</i> (memoir)

Herculine Barbin: Being the Recently Discovered Memoirs of a Nineteenth-century French Hermaphrodite is a 1980 English-language translation of Herculine Barbin's nineteenth-century memoirs, which were originally written in French. The book contains an introduction by Michel Foucault, which only appears in the English-language translation of the memoirs. Foucault discovered Barbin's memoirs during his research about hermaphroditism for The History of Sexuality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex Awareness Day</span> Awareness day observed annually on October 26

Intersex Awareness Day is an internationally observed awareness day each October 26, designed to highlight human rights issues faced by intersex people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex Human Rights Australia</span> Intersex organization in Australia

Intersex Human Rights Australia (IHRA) is a voluntary organisation for intersex people that promotes the human rights and bodily autonomy of intersex people in Australia, and provides education and information services. Established in 2009 and incorporated as a charitable company in 2010, it was formerly known as Organisation Intersex International Australia, or OII Australia. It is recognised as a Public Benevolent Institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex civil society organizations</span> Intersex Human Rights Organizations: Worldwide

Intersex civil society organizations have existed since at least the mid-1980s. They include peer support groups and advocacy organizations active on health and medical issues, human rights, legal recognition, and peer and family support. Some groups, including the earliest, were open to people with specific intersex traits, while others are open to people with many different kinds of intersex traits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Intersex Forum</span>

The International Intersex Forum is an annual event organised, then later supported, by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe that and organisations from multiple regions of the world, and it is believed to be the first and only such intersex event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OII Europe</span> Intersex human rights organization

OII Europe is the umbrella organisation of European human rights-based intersex organisations. It is a non-governmental organization (NGO) which is working for the protection and full implementation of intersex people's human rights in Europe.

<i>Human Rights between the Sexes</i>

Human Rights between the Sexes is an analysis of the human rights of intersex people in 12 countries. It was written by Dan Christian Ghattas of the Internationalen Vereinigung Intergeschlechtlicher Menschen and published in October 2013 by the Heinrich Böll Foundation. The countries studied were Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, New Zealand, Serbia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine and Uruguay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literature about intersex</span>

Intersex, in humans and other animals, describes variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex human rights</span> Human rights for intersex people

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, or genitals, that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex and LGBT</span> Relationship between different sex and gender minorities

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) than the non-intersex population, with an estimated 52% identifying as non-heterosexual and 8.5% to 20% experiencing gender dysphoria. Although many intersex people are heterosexual and cisgender, this overlap and "shared experiences of harm arising from dominant societal sex and gender norms" has led to intersex people often being included under the LGBT umbrella, with the acronym sometimes expanded to LGBTI. Some intersex activists and organisations have criticised this inclusion as distracting from intersex-specific issues such as involuntary medical interventions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of intersex history</span> Overview of notable events in the timeline of intersex history

The following is a timeline of intersex history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malta declaration (International Intersex Forum)</span> Statement of the Third International Intersex Forum, which took place in Valletta, Malta, in 2013

The Malta declaration is the statement of the Third International Intersex Forum, which took place in Valletta, Malta, in 2013. The event was supported by the ILGA and ILGA-Europe and brought together 34 people representing 30 organisations from multiple regions of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in Germany</span> Overview of intersex peoples rights in Germany

Intersex people in Germany have legal recognition of their rights to physical integrity and bodily autonomy, with exceptions, but no specific protections from discrimination on the basis of sex characteristics. In response to an inquiry by the German Ethics Council in 2012, the government passed legislation in 2013 designed to classify some intersex infants to a de facto third category. The legislation has been criticized by civil society and human rights organizations as misguided.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex rights in France</span> Intersex peoples rights in France

Intersex people in France face significant gaps in protection from non-consensual medical interventions and protection from discrimination. The birth of Herculine Barbin, a nineteenth-century intersex woman, is marked in Intersex Day of Remembrance. Barbin may have been the first intersex person to write a memoir, later published by Michel Foucault.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intersex human rights reports</span>

Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, gonads, hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". Such variations may involve genital ambiguity, and combinations of chromosomal genotype and sexual phenotype other than XY-male and XX-female.

References

  1. 1 2 "Solidarity-Events". Organisation Intersex International . Archived from the original on 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2017-01-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. Intersex Awareness Day calls for equality and end to bigotry Archived 2013-12-31 at the Wayback Machine , Gay Star News, 26 October 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  3. The 14 days of intersex Archived 2017-06-11 at the Wayback Machine , Star Observer, 25 October 2011.
  4. Intersex Day of Remembrance Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine , New South Wales Parliament, 29 May 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  5. (in German) 1. Inter*Tagung Salzburg 7. und 8.11.2014 Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine , HOSI. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  6. Intersex Solidarity Day 2014 Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine , Official Salzburg Travel Guide. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  7. (in German) 8. November: Intersex Solidarity Day Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine , HOSI, 4 November 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  8. "Intervisibility European project launched". Intersex Day . November 8, 2016. Archived from the original on January 11, 2017.
  9. "InterVisibility European Intersex Visibility Works!". OII Europe . 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-11-14.