Genital modifications are forms of body modifications applied to the human sexual organs, such as piercings, circumcision, or labiaplasty.
The Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) was a non-profit advocacy group founded in 1993 by Cheryl Chase to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries. Other notable members included Morgan Holmes, Max Beck, Howard (Tiger) Devore, Esther Morris Leidolf and Alice Dreger. The organization closed in June 2008, and has been succeeded by a number of health, civil and human rights organizations including interACT.
XXY is a 2007 Argentine drama film written and directed by Lucía Puenzo and starring Ricardo Darín, Valeria Bertuccelli, Inés Efron and Martín Piroyansky. Based on the short story Cinismo (Cynicism), included in the book Chicos (Boys) by author Sergio Bizzio, the film tells the story of a 15-year-old intersex person, the way her family copes with her condition and the ultimate decision that she must eventually make as she struggles to define her own gender identity within a society that expects certain behaviors from every individual.
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".
Intersex Awareness Day is an internationally observed awareness day each October 26, designed to highlight human rights issues faced by intersex people.
Tiger Devore, previously known as Howard Devore and Tiger Howard Devore, is an American clinical psychologist, sex therapist, and spokesperson on intersex issues. He was a member of the defunct Intersex Society of North America. Historian Alice Dreger credits him with starting the work of the intersex movement.
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". Intersex is a part of nature and that is reflected in some representations of intersex in film and other media.
Iain Morland is a British music technologist and author. He formerly lectured in cultural criticism at Cardiff University. His writings focus on issues of gender and sexuality, medical ethics, and science. In 2005, Times Higher Education described Morland as a leading academic in the field of sex research. He has edited an edition of the journal GLQ, and co-authored Fuckology, a critical analysis of the writings and practices of John Money. With Lih-Mei Liao, Morland co-founded in 2002 Critical Sexology, a continuing interdisciplinary seminar series on gender and sexuality. His audio work includes audio editing, sound design and programming.
Sean Saifa Wall is an African-American researcher, and long-time advocate for intersex rights. He is a queer, transgender, and intersex man of color and former president of Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth. He approaches his work to end intersex oppression through an intersectional lens.
Pidgeon Pagonis is an American intersex activist, writer, artist, and consultant. They are an advocate for intersex human rights and against nonconsensual intersex medical interventions.
Max Beck was an American intersex advocate, who was active in the now-defunct Intersex Society of North America (ISNA). On October 26, 1996 in Boston, Beck participated in the first known public demonstration against human rights violations on intersex people. The event is now annually commemorated and recognized as Intersex Awareness Day.
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.
Intersex people in the United States have some of the same rights as other people, but with significant gaps, particularly in protection from non-consensual cosmetic medical interventions and violence, and protection from discrimination. Actions by intersex civil society organizations aim to eliminate harmful practices, promote social acceptance, and equality. In recent years, intersex activists have also secured some forms of legal recognition. Since April 11, 2022 US Passports give the sex/gender options of male, female and X by self determination.
Intersex people in the United Kingdom face significant gaps in legal protections, particularly in protection from non-consensual medical interventions, and protection from discrimination. Actions by intersex civil society organisations aim to eliminate unnecessary medical interventions and harmful practices, promote social acceptance, and equality in line with Council of Europe and United Nations demands. Intersex civil society organisations campaign for greater social acceptance, understanding of issues of bodily autonomy, and recognition of the human rights of intersex people.
In 1999, the Constitutional Court of Colombia became the first court to consider the human rights implications of medical interventions to alter the sex characteristics of intersex children. The Court restricted the age at which intersex children could be the subjects of surgical interventions.
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.
Military service of intersex people varies greatly by country. Some armed forces such as the Australian fully embrace intersex people in modern-day while others have vague rules or policies or treat the subject on a case by case basis, such as the United States.
The regulations regarding the service of intersex people in the United States Armed Forces are vague and inconsistent due to the broad nature of humans with intersex conditions. The United States Armed Forces as a whole does not officially ban intersex people from service but does exclude many based on the form of their status. Policies regarding all intersex people are not addressed formally although depending on the type of sex variation some intersex people are allowed to serve. The United States military and their requirements for service makes it so they are frequently in a unique predicament when it comes to intersex bodies. With their position of needing to discern between male and female bodies, they are exposed to a broad variety of people, such as those who are intersex whose bodies may not match either classification and are more difficult to make decisions on. This ambiguity leads to confusion regarding military medical, behavioral, and legal laws.
Anick Soni is a British Asian intersex human rights activist, creative consultant and researcher in childhood and children's rights, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2020, he co-founded an intersex charity in the UK named InterconnectedUK (iCONUK).
Ellie Kim, artist name SuperKnova, is a singer, activist, physician and musician. She has released two studio albums, American Queers and, most recently, superuniverse. She is noted for speaking out publicly against non-consensual intersex surgery in infants while working at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
