RE: Intersex Awareness Day

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As most schools still don't teach children about Nature's gender continuum (either during sex education classes, or biology, or even e.g. sociology), many people think that the various forms of hermaphroditism are extremely rare and not worthy of any meaningful consideration, BUT, as the Latin-American intersex activist Hida Viloria says:

Which means it's possible that approx. 1,360 ( / 80,000) members of Wrong Planet's family are intersex.

I decided to share this info (& the following web-links) today because non LGBTI members might not have understood why some of their WP co-members raise the issue of gender identity.
And i wanted to make sure all WP members understood why the "LGBT" section of WP is, by definition, un-welcoming to intersexual aspies, and how depressing +/ infuriating the compulsory registration of WP member's biological sex is when there are only 2 options available.
(apologies to Alex if those problems have been dealt with on the ?new & improved? site!)

I hope you will support today?s Intersex Awareness campaigns by at least watching [and "liking"] the following youtube clips, & by sharing details of any celebratory intersex books and films (etc) that you know of (as well as any awareness day events that are happening in your area) in WP?s LGBT[I] section.

The 1st youtube clip presented here contains part of an interview between Oprah and Hida Viloria; the 2nd is by someone explaining why communities identifying as LGBT should be using the more inclusive title LGBTI; and the 3rd discusses some of the problems caused by doctors who decide to assign male / female identities to intersex babies and children.
NB; the latter clip might distress anyone who (like me) can?t stand hospital-related conversations.

Hida on Oprah
http://youtu.be/Q8LyyNvY6e4?list=PLJAOg ... Ya-BrAWFWj

&
NICHE IDAHO Campaign: "I", Tony (Your Story)
http://youtu.be/fFtXJOIxtPQ

&
XXXY (2000)
http://youtu.be/8dZ1cUk6-vk

(NB: the full Oprah Show episode actually contains conversations with 3 intersex individuals and is well worth viewing, but important parts of Hida?s conversation were [accidently?] dubbed over in that full length clip ?which is called:
?Growing up intersex Oprah Show - You Tube?
and can be watched via this link:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO4LSx_dKkg

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Intersex Awareness Day is an internationally observed civil rights day dedicated to counteracting the medical profession's insistence that human gender is strictly binary, & to protecting the bodies of intersex babies from unnecessary genital cosmetic surgery.

This awareness day started in 1996, when intersex activists and their allies protested outside a Boston building which was hosting one of the American Academy of Pediatrics? annual conferences, but the fight for social acceptance / political recognition has been going on for as long as humans have lived / protested on this planet.
Support makes change happen quicker than it otherwize might ~ if you have the time and energy, please help speed things along. Many thanks, T
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Until a few years ago when I read a fiction (murder mystery) whose main aim was actually to raise awareness of intersexuality and the problems faced by intersex people, I didn't even know the term "intersex" and how commonly it occurs. The book was written by a medical doctor. The author insisted (through his intersex characters) that the parents and doctors should not assign a physical sex to an intersex child. It should be left up to the intersex individual to decide. He also mentioned the importance of support and mental care. It was a very educational and informative book as well as being a good murder mystery. Unfortunately it is not in English and there is no point in giving the title of the book here.



The 2007 film "XXY" (dir: Lucía Puenzo) also allows the intersex character to decide for themself ~ it seems that children whose parents are doctors have a better chance of not being messed with by the medical profession ...in any way. 



as english is not the first language of all WP members, and as good murder mysteries are (as far as i'm concerned ) as rare as books portraying intersex people as complete human beings, i have to hope you still remember the title and will now provide it ...besides, if it's spanish it might be a good one to use for improving my spanish reading skills. 


With all of the coursework and administrative B.S. that teachers already have to put up with nowadays, it's no wonder that teachers don't spend any time on topics of interest to only 1.7% of the population.

Even if the time to teach was in proportion to percentage of interest, a teacher could spend only 51 seconds out of a 50-minute classroom period on the topic of "Intersex Awareness".

It would seem that most people (~98.3%) just aren't all that interested.

Teachers can only 'justifiably' spend time on things included in the syllabus ~ it is the syllabus, and [therefore] the attitudes of those who decide which details any given subject should cover, which is the problem. If teachers could get away with skipping the BS (assuming they even recognize the fact that there is some BS) they would create more time to elaborate on the important stuff ...which of course includes minority issues ~ hence they're monitored closely and social progress is slower than it otherwize might be. The ones running things do know what they're doing ...that's what makes being a minority person a risky business.