By Susannah Temko
Originally published on The Debrief and republished in everyday feminism on April 16, 2016 with the author’s permission.
1 in 200 people, 0.5% of the world’s population.
What springs to mind? That’s a greater number than the world’s Jewish population. That’s nearly as common as red hair or twins.
Those numbers refer to a population of people known today under the umbrella term of intersex. I am one of them.
Let’s Knock Some Definitions Out First. So – What Is Intersex?
‘Intersex’ is used as an umbrella term to denote a number of variations in a person’s bodily characteristics that do not match strict medical definitions of male or female.
Intersex is NOT a medical condition but stands for the spectrum of variations of sex characteristics that naturally occur within the human species.
These characteristics may be chromosomal, hormonal and/or anatomical and may be present to differing degrees. Many of these characteristics are immediately detected at birth and sometimes these variants become evident only at later stages in life, often during puberty.
Most intersex people are healthy, and only a very small percentage may have medical conditions, which might be life-threatening, if not treated.
So far, so simple – if challenging.
So How Is It Different From Being Transgender? Is It Anything to Do With Your Gender or Sexuality?
Gender is one’s identity of being male, female, non-binary, and the many other gender identities we have come to be more aware of.
Sexuality is whom you are attracted to.
Sex refers to your biology, the body you are born into, which is where the term intersex fits. So intersex is distinct from one’s gender identity or sexuality as it relates to one’s anatomy or biology.
But what does it mean to be intersex? Or rather, what is it like?
I am intersex so I could tell you what it’s like for me but as with everything else in this world, while there are patterns in the experiences of intersex people, it would be wrong to make generalizations based on my life alone.
The experiences and lives of intersex people are as diverse as everyone else in this world. But here are some lessons I have learned…