What Intersex Is and Is Not

Back in the summer of 2020, Project Humanities hosted a Podcast Club on Intersex Rights. You can find a link to the recording here. We are grateful for our guest writer Jay Kyle Peterson, MSW, for reigniting the conversation regarding intersex and dispelling some of the myths about the "I" in 2SLGBTQIA+.

What Intersex Is Not

Intersex is a term long misunderstood. Intersex is not lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer,  asexual or pansexual (LGBTQAP+).^1,2,3 The terms intersex and transgender are often confused. They should not be conflated.⁴ 

Intersex is not your gender. Sex assigned at birth and gender identity are two different concepts and two different spectrums.^5,6 Both are central to our interactions as human beings.^2,3 The concept of gender belongs to the spectrum of core gender identity.⁶ Core gender identity is invisible at birth; it is internal, deeply felt, and an individually experienced self-awareness unique to each person’s developmental journey and expressed anytime from two years old onward i.e. I feel I am a boy/man; girl/woman; non-binary which can mean a variety of things. For example – you feel your internal core gender identity is neither a man nor a woman, or you feel it is both, gender fluid or other identities anywhere in between. You will only know someone’s core identity by asking them. You cannot make assumptions about someone’s gender identity based on personal gender expression (behavior, clothing, hairstyles, mannerisms) or roles according to Amy D’Arpino, BSW diversity expert and trainer for over 15 years in the State of Arizona.^6,7,8,9,10

Intersex is not who you are attracted to or how you express yourself, both of which are on different spectrums. Intersex is not a mental illness, not gender dysphoria, not related to the act of sex not a mutation, or abnormal. Intersex is not a disorder of sex development. Intersex is not the terms hermaphrodite or pseudo hermaphrodite. ^{1,11,12, 13}

How Many People are Born with Intersex?

We cannot be sure of the exact number of individuals with intersex traits in the human population. Recent research suggests that more than 1 in 100 people are born with intersex.² The United Nations, 2017, states between 0.05% - 1.7% have intersex traits.¹⁴ Applying 2017 UN statistics to 2022 US Government Census¹⁵ it is possible in Arizona, for example, between 3,600 – 125,000 people are born and living with one of 40 or so known variations of intersex. Maricopa County – 2,275 – 77,300 and Pima County – 528 – 17,900. There are counting challenges across the globe. For example: infanticide, multiple self-identifiers, binary birth certificate limitations, scholars differing on the definition of intersex, misunderstanding, non-consensual cosmetic ‘normalization binary’ surgery on many infants and children, data collection design challenges, shifting ideologies and indigenous and non-western language specific names for intersex. ^1,2,7,8                        

What Intersex Is                                                                                                                               

Intersex is a well-recognized medical term used to describe the physical anatomy of a human being whose inborn primary and secondary sex characteristics are not clearly male or female in the classical sense.² The term intersex is like a big umbrella under which a wide range of about 40 or so innate (inborn) variations in physical -traits including external genitalia, internal sex organs don’t fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.^16,17,18 Intersex traits can also include: chromosomal differences, hormone functions and receptors, enzymes, electrolytes, cholesterol, spermatogenesis, gene alterations and proteins each depending upon the cause. Some intersex traits are visible at birth while some are not, some don’t present until puberty and some are subtle. Some adults are unaware they were born with intersex. There are multiple causes of intersex. Intersex is complicated.^{1,4,19,20, 21}

International Support Groups (see A Comprehensive Guide to Intersex, Resources, for more)

• Accord Alliance http://www.accordalliance.org
• Africa, Uganda Support Initiative for People with atypical sex Development at: sipduganda.org
• ASIA – Gopi Shankar Madurai at: br.gopishankar@gmail.com
• Australia – Intersex Human Rights Australia https://ihra.org.au
• Canada – 2 Spirits of Toronto, Ontario 2Spirits.com
• The Houston Intersex Society USA Texas http://intersexhouston.com
• Hypospadias-Epispadias Association (HEA) heainfo.org
• Intersex Campaign for Equality https://www.intersexequality.com, http://intersex.samtokin78.is
• INTERSEXIONS PROJECT European Union intersexionsproject.eu/en/intersex-map
• Japan http://aissgjp.org
• Organization Intersex International OII Home Page of OII International.com has updated newsfeed, translation button, type in name of a country in OII URL to see if it has a support group
• Russia Association of Russian Speaking Intersex People http://www.arsintersex.org
• Ukraine https://intersexukraine.irg An NGO website with translation button
• USA Bay Area San Francisco California American Indian BAAITS baits.org AND
• Montana Two-Spirit Society, Browning, Montana https://www.mttwospirit.org

About the Author Jay Kyle Petersen, MSW

This article is peer reviewed. Jay is the author of A Comprehensive Guide To Intersex, Foreword by Christina M. Laukaitis, MD, PhD. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London, 2021, ISBN 978 1 78592 631 0. Barnes & Noble; Amazon; Arizona State University News Book Life Shelf; 340+ libraries world-wide in 15 countries. See World Catalog.Org French translation available in 2024.

Jay was born with a rare variation of intersex, specifically, Intersex Male in 1952 in a rural conservative small town county hospital in Minnesota and raised on a small family owned dairy farm nearby. He received his Master’s Degree in Social Work from Arizona State University, 2001, Master’s Degree in Philosophy/Religion from San Jose State University, 1985 and Bachelors Degree in Studio Art – Abstract Art Southwest Minnesota State University, 1991.

On April 22, 2022, Jay was the invited Guest Speaker about Intersex and his story for the Advance Seminar in LGBT Health at Brown University School of Public Health.

Citations Abbreviated – Full Bibliography Jay’s Book unless otherwise noted.

1. Petersen, A Comprehensive Guide To Intersex, 2021
2. Laukaitis, personal correspondence, 2018.
3. Moss, 2014.
4. InterACT and Lambda Legal, 2018.
5. “Sex Assigned At Birth” Clarke, Columbia Law Review Vol. 122, No. 7. 2023. https://columbialawreview.org/content/sex-assigned-at-birth/#                 
6. D’Arpino, personal interview, 2019.                                                                                            
7. Portland, Oregon Government Article, https://www.portlandoregon.gov/article/730061             
8. Phoenix Children’s Hospital, 2017.                                                                                             
9. Graham, 2017.                                                                                                                            
10. Medicine, 2022.                                                                                                                          
11. Sanbonmatsu, 2018.                                                                                                                   
12. Almarsi et al, 2018.                                                                                                                     
13. Jao, 2018.                                                                                                                                   
14. United Nations, 2017.                                                                                                                 
15. 2022 Census https://www.census.gov                                                                                        
16. Jorge, 2008.                                                                                                                               
17. Operario et al, 2017.
18. Human Rights Watch, I Want To Be Like Nature Made Me, 2017.                                             
19. InterACT, InterACT Urges Opposition To House Bill 734, 2023, https://interactadvocates.org/interact-urges-opposition-to-hr-734 
20. Audi et al, 2018.                                                                                                                          
21. Woodrums, Arizona Daily Star, Review, 2021 https://tucson.com/entertainment/books/tucson-authors-with-stories-to-tell/article_5493ed68-3b4d-11ec-856b-aba3509a7465.html

Copyright 2023, Jay Kyle Petersen

https://www.jaykylepetersen.com