Sean Saifa Wall

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Sean Saifa Wall
Alma mater Williams College
Occupation(s)Intersex activist and researcher
Known forIntersex and HIV advocacy
Website seansaifa.com

Sean Saifa Wall is an African-American researcher, and long-time advocate for intersex rights. [1] He is a queer, transgender, and intersex man of color and former president of Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth. [2] [3] He approaches his work to end intersex oppression through an intersectional lens. [4]

Contents

External videos
Nuvola apps kaboodle.svg " What It’s Like To Be Intersex", Lizz Warner, BuzzFeed

Early life and career

Sean Saifa Wall has described growing up in the Bronx in the 1980s in a family with other intersex members. In an interview by Pidgeon Pagonis, he describes how an uncle of his was forced to sleep outside on the porch of his hospital after a surgery, and how his intersex and black identities are inseparable. [5] Drawing parallels, Wall has stated, "Although seemingly different subjects, they share the same common denominator, state-sponsored violence against marginalized individuals". [6] Diagnosed with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome, he was subjected to a gonadectomy at age 13, necessitating lifelong hormone replacement therapy. [6]

Wall volunteered for Gay Men's Health Crisis at age 14, prior to studying at Williams College. He later travelled to Cuba with Pastors for Peace, documenting the local health system. [7]

Activism

Wall served as president of Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth for three years. [7] During that time, Interact filed a lawsuit, M.C. v. Medical University of South Carolina, in the County of Richmond, South Carolina, in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center. [8] [9]

In 2015, Wall joined an international advisory board for a first philanthropic Intersex Human Rights Fund established by the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. [10] He has also developed an art project entitled EMERGE. [7]

As part of his advocacy work, Wall has been interviewed by Nightline, in a segment where he also confronted his childhood surgeon, [11] BuzzFeed, [12] [13] HuffPost Live, [14] and written for The Advocate [3] and Quartz . [15] Wall spoke at TEDxGrandRapids in May 2015. [16]

Personal life

Wall has written of being a former Catholic. [17]

Selected bibliography

References

  1. Jaffe, Nigel. "Sean Saifa M. Wall '01 reflects on time as intersex activist".
  2. Wall, Sean Saifa (2015). "Standing at the Intersections: Navigating Life as a Black Intersex Man" . Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics . 5 (2): 117–119. doi:10.1353/nib.2015.0046. PMID   26300141. S2CID   31637580.
  3. 1 2 Wall, Sean Saifa; Davis, Georgiann (February 26, 2014). "Op-ed: Hey, Fox News, Intersex Is Not A Punchline". The Advocate . Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  4. "Celebrating Black History Month: Sean Saifa Wall – Intersex Campaign for Equality" . Retrieved 2019-04-27.
  5. Pagonis, Pidgeon (June 3, 2016). "6 Things Intersex Folks Need to Know About How We Perpetuate Anti-Black Racism". Everyday Feminism. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  6. 1 2 Wall, Sean Saifa (November 8, 2016). "Love, complexity and inter-sectionality". Intersex Day . Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  7. 1 2 3 "About Sean Saifa Wall". EMERGE. Archived from the original on 2018-02-27. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  8. Southern Poverty Law Center (2013-05-14), "Groundbreaking SPLC lawsuit accuses South Carolina, doctors and hospitals of unnecessary surgery on infant", Southern Poverty Law Center
  9. "Turning the Lens Inward: Sean Saifa Wall". Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth . October 15, 2014. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  10. "Introducing the Intersex Fund team at Astraea!". Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice . Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. June 16, 2015. Archived from the original on July 3, 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-02.
  11. Murray, Ross (March 11, 2015). "Intersex advocates correct and clarify Nightline news report". GLAAD . Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
  12. "What It's Like To Be Intersex". BuzzFeed . March 29, 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  13. "This Video Explains What It's Like — And What It Isn't Like — To Be Intersex". Mic.com . March 30, 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  14. Bolles, Alexandra (April 22, 2014). "VIDEO: Intersex advocates talk stigma, health care, & family support on HuffPost Live". GLAAD . Archived from the original on 2018-07-30. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  15. Wall, Sean Saifa (April 26, 2015). "American surgeons are still mutilating children who don't look "normal"". Quartz . Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  16. "Theme: Constant / Change". TEDxGrandRapids. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  17. Wall, Sean Saifa (2018-02-13). "Finding life through loss". Scalawag. Retrieved 2024-02-04.