I'm going to begin my thread with a post that I believe was written by @Vickie1701 on Facebook.

#IntersexDayOfSolidarityAndRemembrance

Intersex people don't always find out about being intersex in infancy or early childhood. Sometimes people find out in their teens, 20's, 40's, and so on.

For those who discover their differences later, there is often some "oh, well, that explains *this*" moment, but each of us

Has a story, so there's no one "intersex narrative/story".

That's important to remember.

It is also important to remember that one intersex person isn't "more intersex" than another. That's not how it works. At all.

So what is intersex?

The easiest definition is perhaps found in the easily accessible information at @interACT_adv

“Intersex” refers to people who are born with any of a range of sex characteristics that may not fit a doctor’s notions of binary “male” or “female” bodies. https://interactadvocates.org/intersex-definitions/

Being born with an intersex body doesn't always mean medical crisis (but it's important to acknowledge that some variations of intersex do come with health challenges that MUST find their way into our discussions, because their needs must be heard, and many feel they're not)

But being born visibility intersex (having genital variations) is ALWAYS treated as if it's a medical emergency instead of a social one

That's right! The demand for Intersex Genital Mutilation, sterilization, forced hormone therapy, social erasure, and so on is driven by society

This need, this awful, heartbreaking, evil clinging to the gender binary has real-life costs for intersex people.

Incredibly high costs.

The most talked about costs are
IGM, or Intersex Genital Mutilation
- castration
- clitorectomy
- gonadectomy
- clitoral reduction (repurposing of clitorectomy to be "less violent")
- "fixing" where an infant/child urinates from because it's in the "wrong spot", not for flow

Then there are the sex/gender markers
- intersex people may or may not be assigned to the "right" category, as it's really done arbitrarily.

For instance, my parents were given three days to decide if they wanted to label me a boy or girl.

Sounds... legit...

Hospitals now use an "advanced" method of "treatment teams"... that includes anyone but intersex people!
Urologist
Endocrinologist
Pediatrician
Mental health therapist (for the parents... but this person's job is to bully the parents into agreeing to IGM)
And other specialists,

ALL OF WHOM HAVE AN ECONOMIC INTEREST IN MAINTAINING CONTROL OF THE INTERSEX INFANTS BODY.

Did I say that loud enough?

Urologists make loads of money from unnecessary cosmetic surgeries to "fix" where a child pees.

Not because of flow issue, but because the urethra isn't in

The "right" spot.

But what they don't tell the parents is that the "once and done" surgery is anything but.

There will be years of surgery, infection, pain, often resulting in the need for removal in adulthood. (Removal: castration).

Again, these surgeries are unnecessary

In 99% of cases.

Then there are endocrinologists!

They make a buck from IGM, as well.

If they can convince parents to remove their infants/childs gonads, they have a LIFELONG patient who will rely on them for tests to check hormones, the hormones themselves, and

Health issues related to gonadectomy.

*****these health issues are NOT to be confused with medically requested and closely monitored endosex (non-intersex) transition care. Do NOT use the medical abuse of intersex people to damage the rights and medical access of transgender

Individuals. I will shut you down in a second if I see it.

I'm going to issue a content warning for the rest of this thread, as it will deal with the very painful health costs of mutilation, ongoing torture, ostracizing, shaming, and erasure that we face as intersex people.

Let's begin with the concerns for REPEATED use of anesthesia in infants/toddlers.

I know, nearly every doctor out there will be screaming "anesthesia is safer now!" But that's for once-and-done surgeries, and doesn't take into account the warnings and evidence that frequent

Use of anesthesia has an impact on brain development.

This impact can lead to mental illnesses, learning disabilities, executive dysfunction, and so on. This isn't something that should just be set aside as if it has no effect or no reason to be considered.

Then there are the horrible moments when a surgery "fix" fails and a person is in intense pain, bleeding, torn, and finding themselves having to face another surgery that will fail... leading to more surgeries later.

This happens far too often with vaginoplasty, ESPECIALLY

when the person subjected to a vaginoplasty is an infant or toddler. #HumanRightsViolations

AGAIN, let me make it clear that these surgeries are NOT to be compared to the fully-informed, consented to, requested medical care for endosex transgender women.

So what do we need?

Freedom from forced Genital Mutilation (non-consensual sex "conformation" surgery) in childhood and infancy.

If an intersex person is able to make FULLY INFORMED decisions about their own body, I will fully support any decision they make.

We need freedom from forced removal of gonads (often in infancy or childhood)

We need full access to our medical records (and full disclosure of our records. I have mine, but they're so redacted that even my new doctor can't see most of my childhood records)

Freedom from Repeated Genital Surgeries, often to correct botched surgeries that happened when a child was too young to consent or to remove scar tissue that is causing pain

Freedom from unnecessary pelvic exams

Freedom from NON-CONSENSUAL MEDICAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Gaining bodily autonomy will protect us from
* sexual dysfunction caused by IGM
* PTSD/Trust Issues
* Urinary Problems
* Brain Damage (repeated use of anesthesia before the age
of 5)
* Loss of body parts
* The need for exogenous hormones for life
* Osteoporosis
* Osteopenia

* Joint Pain
* Extreme Body weathering from forced removal of HEALTHY
atypical hormone producing organs
* Vaginal dilation after surgery (doctors won't be doing this,
so intersex girls grow up with their parents doing this)
* Urethra dilation ("fixing" urination location)

* Attempts to suppress anger
* eating disorders
* suicide ideology
* self-harm
* depression
* anxiety
* other mental distress
* Social disorders
* Panic/Anxiety disorders
*Disassociation disorders

I'm going to take a moment and remind everyone reading this thread that the current module of "treatment" has been classified as TORTURE by the United Nations. The UN is going country by country issuing condemnation of the current "treatment" module.

https://www.unfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/UNFE-Intersex.pdf

All of these are related to:
* Disenfranchisement by the medical community
* doctors/specialists
* mental health professionals
* insurance providers
* ZERO protections in society (even Title X can fail, as
MANY decision-makers don't believe intersex exists

* Schools only teaching xx and xy (in their anticipated forms)
* Mentions of intersex being relegated to
* rare
* disorder
* "medical emergency"
* Medical Establishment making money from our bodies
* Government subsidies for these human rights violations

* Government subsidies: IGM costs taxpayers MILLIONS
every year. Write your politicians!

Not accepting intersex people is a financial burden on all of society.

This thread doesn't even touch on de-selection of intersex traits/chromosomes in PDG, infanticide, murder, abandonment, shaming, legal erasure, and stigma,

but frankly, there's only so much a person can lay out at one moment. Emotional labor is real.

Emotional labor is labor.

If you're so inclined or able, my PayPal and CashApp info is in my bio.

Currently unemployed intersex, transgender, non-binary, gay, man.

Hi, I'm back to add to this thread.

Last year, I talked about IGM, and this year I'm going to add in about MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION.

YEP, INTERSEX PEOPLE ARE OFTEN SUBJECTED TO NONCONSENSUAL MEDICAL EXPERIMENTATION.

Yep, I yelled that, because I'm angry.

I'm gonna get real

Personal for a moment and describe what I'm dealing with as an adult in my 40's who was medically experimented on.

Remember that I, and everyone else who has faced this myriad of #humanrightsviolations have zero ability to seek legal recourse.

We can't go after our abusers