Home › Identities › Intersex

Intersex

Intersex is an umbrella term for rare biological conditions of sex development (DSD). It is not a gender identity and provides no argument for a gender spectrum. It is systematically appropriated by gender activism to historically cover the creed of gender identity . Intersex organizations protest against this — and are silenced by the very lobby that claims to represent them.

Definition

A group of medical conditions in which chromosomes, gonads, or sex organs do not develop in standard male or female patterns — clinical differences of sex development (DSD). Examples: complete androgen insensitivity (CAIS), congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), 5-alpha-reductase deficiency.

Origin and distribution

\n

The term was used clinically in the twentieth century. Strict definitions give a prevalence of approximately 0.02%. The often-cited 1.7% of Fausto-Sterling includes non-intersex variation and has been methodologically refuted by Leonard Sax (2002). See chromosomes and gametes and biological sex .

Critical analysis: a DSD is not an identity

Intersex conditions are developmental disorders within the disexual system. Virtually all intersex individuals are unambiguously male or female — sex is biologically determined by which type of gamete is produced (or would be produced). An exception to a developmental trajectory does not refute a dichotomy; it indicates a disruption in it. See chromosomes and gametes and biological sex .

Gender activism systematically presents intersex as evidence for a gender spectrum — a dogma that deliberately confuses the distinction between sex and gender to historically legitimize the construct of gender identity . That is circular reasoning : a biological condition is cited as evidence for an ideological claim that itself has no measurable marker .

International intersex organizations (including InterACT and NNID in the Netherlands) explicitly oppose this incorporation. Their interest—protecting children from unnecessary cosmetic gender reassignment surgery on infants—stands in direct opposition to the trans-activist program regarding self-chosen identity and access to hormones. Mixing harms both groups, especially the children who are still being operated on under the guise of "normalization".

Damage: cosmetic surgery on infants

The actual harm to intersex people does not stem from the simultaneous rejection of the gender spectrum, but from decades of cosmetic surgery on healthy infant genitalia. Intersex organizations advocate for a delay until informed consent is possible. Gender activism has largely hijacked that struggle for its own rhetoric and thereby weakened it.

Related identities

• Non-binary — often mistakenly mentioned in the same breath.

• Transgender — categorically different claim.

• Agender — sometimes used additionally by intersex people.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is intersekse hetzelfde als transgender?

Bewijst intersekse dat er meer dan twee geslachten zijn?

Welke ingrepen zijn omstreden?

Waarom verzetten intersekse-organisaties zich tegen co-optatie?