#interphobia

[estrogenism]

very very funny how intersex transfems are by far the most vocal haters of tme/tma as binary terms because of the way that perisex people use them to discredit intersex trans people's complex experiences. but sure it's just those horrible afab trans people again!!

[Plaintext: very very funny how intersex transfems are by far the most vocal haters of tme/tma as binary terms because of the way that perisex people use them to discredit intersex trans people's complex experiences. but sure it's just those horrible afab trans people again!! End Plaintext.]

(also do not fucking try to witch hunt these people. i will block you on sight, i cropped out the urls for a reason)

edit: reminder that this post was made first and foremost about intersexism, and while it's okay to discuss other forms of oppression in the tags and reblogs (especially since i tagged them as such), please stop trying to brush off the original point.

[trans-axolotl2]

I've been reading Cripping Intersex by Celeste Orr and one concept that I think is absolutely crucial and one of the best resources I've found for understanding my own experiences as an intersex person is the term Compulsory Dyadism.

Dr. Orr coins the term: "I propose the expression 'compulsory dyadism' to describe the instituted cultural mandate that people cannot violate the sex dyad, have intersex traits, or 'house the spectre of intersex' (Sparrow 2013, 29). Said spectre must be, according to the mandate, exorcised. However, trying to definitively cast out the spectre via curative violence always fails. The spectre always returns: a new intersex baby is born; one learns that they have intersex traits in adulthood; and/or medical procedures cannot cast out the spectre fully, as evidenced by life-long medical interventions, routines, or patienthood status. And the effects of compulsory dyadism haunt in the form of disabilities, scars, memories, trauma, and medical regimens (e.g., HRT routines). Compulsory dyadism, therefore, is not simply an event or a set of instituted policies but is an ongoing exorcising process and structure of pathologization, curative violence, erasure, trauma, and oppression." (Orr 19-20).

They continue on in their book to explore compulsory dyadism as it shows up in medical interventions, racializing intersex + sports sex testing, and eugenic and prenatal interventions on intersex fetuses. This term makes so much sense to me and puts words to an experience I've been struggling to comprehend--how can it be that so many endosex* people express such revulsion and fear of intersex bodies and traits, yet at the same time don't even know that intersex people exist? Why is it that people understand when I refer to my body in the terms used by freak shows, call myself a hermaphrodite, remember bearded ladies and laugh at interphobic jokes--yet do not even know that intersex people are as common as redheads? Understanding the term compulsory dyadism elucidates this for me. Endosex people might not comprehend what intersex actually is or know anything about our advocacy, but they do grow up in a cultural environment that indoctrinates them into false ideas about the sex binary and cultivates a fear of anything that lies outside of it.

From birth, compulsory dyadism affects every one of us, whether you're intersex or not. Intersex people carry the heaviest burden and often the most visible wounds that compulsory dyadism inflicts, as shown through often the very literal scars of violent, "curative" surgery, but the whole process of sex assignment at birth is a manifestation of compulsory dyadism. Ideas entrenched in the medical system that assign gender to the hormones testosterone and estrogen although neither of those hormones have anything to do with gender, a society that starts selling hair removal products to girls at puberty, and the historical legacy of things like sexual inversion theory are all manifestations of compulsory dyadism. For intersex people, facing compulsory dyadism often means that we are subjected to curative violence, institutionalized medical malpractice that sometimes includes aspects of ritualized sexual abuse, and means that we are left "haunted by, for instance, traumatic memories, acquires body-mind disabilities, an ability that was taken, or a 'paradoxical nostalgia....for all the futures that were lost' (Fisher 2013,45)." (Orr 26).

Compulsory dyadism works in tandem with concepts like compulsory able-bodiedness and compulsory heterosexuality to create mindsets and systems that tie together ideas to suggest that the only "normal" body is a cisgender one that meets capitalist standards of function, is capable of heterosexual sex and reproduction, and has chromosomes, hormones, genitalia, reproductive system, and sex traits that all line up. Part of compulsory dyadism is convincing the public that this is the only way for a body to function, erasing intersex people both by excluding us from public perception and by actively utilizing curative violence as a way to actively erasure intersex traits from our body. Compulsory dyadism works by getting both the endosex and intersex public to buy into the idea that intersex doesn't exist, and if it does exist then it needs to be treated as a freakshow, either exploiting us to put us on display as an aberration or by delegating us to the medical freakshow of experimentation and violence.

Until we all start to fully understand the many, many ways that compulsory dyadism is showing up in our lives, I don't think we're going to be able to achieve true intersex liberation. And in fact, I think many causes are tied into intersex liberation and affected by compulsory dyadism in ways that endosex people don't understand. Take the intense revulsion that some trans people express about the thought of medical transition, for example. Although transitioning does not make people intersex and never will, and the only way to be intersex is to have an intersex variation, I think that compulsory dyadism affects a lot more of that rhetoric than is expressed. The disgust I see some people talking about when they think about medical transition causing them to live in a body that has XX chromosomes, a vagina, but also more hair, a larger clitoris--I think a lot of this rhetoric is born in compulsory dyadism that teaches us to view anything that steps outside the sex dyad with intense fear and violence. I'm thinking about transphobic legislation blocking medical transition and how there's intersex exceptions in almost every one of those bills, and how having an understanding of compulsory dyadism would actually help us understand the ways in which our struggles overlap and choose to build meaningful solidarity, instead of just sitting together by default.

I have so much more to say about this topic, and will probably continue to write about it for a while, but I want to end by just saying: I think this is going to be one of the most important concepts for intersex advocacy going into the next decade. With all due respect and much love to intersex activists both current and present,I think that it's time for a new strategy, not one where we medicalize ourselves and distance ourselves from queer liberation, not one where we sort of just end up as an add on to LGBTQ community by default, not even one where we use a human rights framework, nonprofits, and try to negotiate with the government. I agree with so much of what Dr. Orr says in Cripping Intersex and I think the intersex and/as/is/with disability framework, along with these foundational ideas for understanding our own oppression with the language of compulsory dyadism and curative violence, are providing us with the tools to start laying a foundation for a truly liberatory mode of intersex community building and liberation.

*Endosex means not intersex

Endosex people, please feel free to reblog!

[acornmaybe]

is there a name for the prejudice that is the reason for both intersexism/phobia and transphobia? like the idea of only 2 sexes, sex = gender, cannot ever be wrong or changed

[transmascissues]

as an intersex woman- it'd be real nice if these people stopped throwing around the word "mutilation" and ignoring IGM (which is still practiced en mass even in "first world" countries) and our lack of bodily autonomy. a trans person (or even a cis person getting elective reconstructive surgery for a myriad of reasons, including IGM) getting bottom surgery is in no way comparable to actual mutilation against your will and it's such a slap in the face to see these people bitch about it while ignoring us. our medical records are literally hidden, destroyed, and altered for the sake of non-intersex people never having to contend with the reality of sex variations.

I bet they'd probably look at the stats on Intersex human rights and try to justify it away though, they sound like the types who want Intersex people to fit into their two perfect sex and gender boxes and never complain! thank you for not backing down, muddying the waters on mutilation- while the intersex community is still trying to fight to get IGM recognized and banned- harms IGM victims worldwide and disgusts me to my core.

Not to mention how many recent american bills banning or limiting elective trans surgeries conveniently still allow for IGM and the pushing of hormones on intersex children and adults who don't need them (again for the comfort of non-intersex people and the assumption we must be "fixed"...) very convenient for these people to ignore!

all of this! these people will act like the “western world” was totally against genital mutilation practices until the big bad trans people came along, when in reality it’s been happening right here at home the whole time.

the only reason they don’t see it (or at least act like they don’t see it) is because of intersexism and racism — intersexism that tells them that whatever’s being done to intersex people must be beneficial and medically sound because of course intersex traits should be “fixed”, and racism that validates their belief that the things happening where they live must be better than what’s happening “over there” because of course there are more human rights abuses happening in non-western places than in their good progressive home.

fearmongering about anything that changes the clitoris or vulva in any way being a form of FGM + downplaying the harms of IGM and saying it’s just good medicine = the perfect way to uphold their precious pseudoscientific sex binary for another day, i guess. as long as we’re all living with the genitals they think we should have, they don’t care who it hurts.

[hiiragi7]

"PCOS is not intersex, it's a female condition. Only females get PCOS, it's not intersex" Wow, thanks for showing off how little you know about intersex conditions and openly admitting those you think are 'hermaphrodites' are the only 'valid' intersex people in your eyes. I guess.

[mangedog]

there's a post i reblogged recently about trans people and reproductive disorders and forced outing, and it reminded me of my own experiences as a trans man with a “female” reproductive disorder.

very long rant disguised as an info post below the cut:

so, i have polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). it's a horribly named syndrome because polycystic ovaries - which are just one symptom of PCOS - aren't required to have PCOS, and you can have polycystic ovaries without having PCOS.

it's also badly named because it shifts the focus immediately to the “female” reproductive system, when PCOS is a complex, genetic, multi-system syndrome that affects the neuroendocrine, immune, digestive and metabolic systems. it's actually primarily a disorder of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis... not a disorder of the ovaries. i mean, i don't have ovaries anymore, and i never had cysts, but i still have PCOS.

it has a lot of subtypes and varieties (some researchers think it's actually different disorders all being misdiagnosed & lumped under the PCOS label), some of which can be considered intersex variations.

the other reason it's so badly named? dyadic cisgender men can have PCOS too.

and yet... absolutely no one recognises this. only (some) researchers actually acknowledge that PCOS isn't just a reproductive disorder and that anyone can have it and that its intersex. and the people who ignore it the most are the women with PCOS.

(yes, women with PCOS, because it's [almost] always the cis 'wouldn't touch the intersex label with a ten foot pole' (white) women who push the PCOS female reproductive disorder narrative the most)

PCOS spaces are almost invariably full of stories from women who are upset at their 'lack of femininity' and 'losing their bodies' to become fat, hairy un-women. the kind of people who go on 800 calories per day diets because they're so desperate to lose weight, even though PCOS itself makes this near impossible (as a metabolic disorder). and there are so so many snake oil websites (that are always pink and flowery) that are selling the magic cure for weight loss - hirsuitism - femininity all rolled into one.

all these PCOS women reassure each other that they're still women, even though they're fat and hairy and can't get pregnant - which , sure, if that's what you need to hear then there's no shame in that. but... not all people with PCOS are women. some are trans men, some are cis men, some are nonbinary, some are intersex women or men or nonbinary people... and sure. i don't expect every person looking for community support with their PCOS to read scientific papers on cis male PCOS, or to be aware of the existence of nonbinary people or trans men (though if they have an internet connection i'm sure they've heard something lol), but some thought would be nice.

i mean. the r/pcos subreddit explicitly states they're inclusive of LGBT people with PCOS but every second post begins with "ladies" or "cysters"... and there have been many posts and comments outraged at the notion of PCOS as intersex. (many supportive, too, but the overall vibe is definitely the latter). that's just one space on one social media website, and there will be spaces that are better than r/pcos ... and spaces that will be worse.

my point is, PCOS is a very complex syndrome that is terribly named, not restricted to the reproductive system or dyadic cis women, and community spaces need to reflect that.

[nonbinarymlm]

It’s passed time to accept that transphobes who harass and misgender intersex people aren’t doing it out of misplaced transphobia, but because they will be cruel to anyone who doesn’t fit into their boxes. They’re happy to be intersexist. And yes, it does really reveals how full of shit all of their excuses about “choices” and what’s “natural” or “biology” are. They’re just hateful and believe so deeply in gender roles that they’ll harass anyone who falls outside of the lines in their mind - including intersex people.

We perisex trans folks and allies need to stop acting like intersex people are a gotcha argument or just collateral damage. When intersexist laws in sport are passed, it's not just because of transphobia. When intersex people are harassed, it's not just because of transphobia. Intersex people are another oppressed minority group that we need to be allies to, not tools or arguments. It's good to bring up the fact that intersex people exist and face their own struggles because we should acknowledge and support them, not as gatchas.

And we can't forget about intersex people when they complicate our arguments. There are children who undergo genital surgery and nonconsensual hormones: intersex children. Interphobes and transphobes won't support intersex children. Transphobic legislation is specifically written to also be intersexist and allow intersex children to keep undergoing these questionable medical interventions without even their knowledge. Bigots aren't suddenly reasonably simply because intersex people are (provably and obviously) naturally born that way. We need to be their allies and stand with them.

[serialreblogger]

fun fact! did u know the batman villain "mad hatter" is a villain because he has an intersex condition, and taking testosterone shots "permanently damaged his mental stability" making him psychotic and therefore evil?

comic books are great bc i can't think of a quicker summary of how queerness, intersex, neurodivergence, drug use & disability are all lumped together in a world that wants us dead

[antiterf]

TW: Interphobia, Intersexism, medical abuse

"I'm going to shave down your clitoris, and I'm going to create a cavity inside of you." Is one of the few things Sean mentioned in this video as he talks about his experience as an intersex person.

The video has less than 6000 views. The top comments are all shitty.

I found this video off of InterACT, a group that's taken after the Intersex Society of North America. If you can I would suggest donating or at least going to look through their website.

I know that a lot of my followers here are trans, and if you're perisex and trans, please know that the transphobic backlash against us impacts intersex people a lot too, they simply don't have the same visibility.

If you're intersex, whether trans or cis, hello! I hate when I'm treated as someone who "definitely doesn't exist" in the room yet still talked about. If you want to add your own experiences please do so, or look into this stuff yourself if you're not too sure either.

And honestly if you know any other good intersex organizations, grassroots groups, or even websites and blogs run by intersex people who talk about intersex advocacy and their life experiences, add them.

Like I'm still doing research on intersex prejudice and discrimination and it makes me sick knowing that there's little to know visibility or support from the rest of the LGBTQ community.

[atypical-transfem]

The limitations of dyadics understanding of gender

It’s a weird feeling when you’re intersex and gender diverse. It's hard to find progressive spaces that are aware of the unique experience, whether we’re cis, trans, nonbinary, GNC, etc.

When you’re intersex, society typically treats you as a freak for not conforming into a flawed + arbitrary sex binary. You have no control over how you are born as, but interphobes will make it their mission to change you into a pink/blue box. And it doesn’t matter if you’re fine with said box, they will still see you as a freak. And if you try to find your way out of the box, they will rudely remind you of your “binary” existence. What I mean by that is, if dyadics  see you as “pink enough” they will constantly, often violently, remind you that you are “really” female. If dyadics see you as “blue enough” they will constantly, most likely violently, remind you that you are “really” male.

Being gender diverse is hard enough, regardless of your gender label. Being cisgender and not conforming to the (often European) beauty standards and gender roles will place a target on you. Being trans, nonbinary, and/or GNC is an automatic target because you were supposed to stay in your box without any alterations. 

This is amplified if you’re a person of color. Because you already failed at the European beauty standard, your punishment is (often) amplified. Of course, it depends on your race, but your efforts to conform to these standards will always be lackluster. 

But to be all of this seems like a death sentence. 

[hfepro]

Hey I'm not sure if you're still taking responses for the intersex wordpress article, but I have something:

I need perisex trans people to realize that so much transphobic rethoric and ideas (ie: predators in bathrooms, people mutilating their bodies, there only being two sexes/genders) also directly affect intersex people. Intersex people are targeted with transphobia fuled intersexism of all kinds constantly. I'm your experiences with these types of bigotry are not unique and you all need to do a bette r job of actively including intersex people (yes, even cis ones) in your conversations about gender and sex based oppression.

thank you for your response, anon! i've patched it in.

that's what i wrote this article for: to get perisex people thinking better about actively including intersex people in these conversations. you'd think, having been left out of conversations forever about issues that affect us, perisex trans and nonbinary people would be a bit better about this, but unfortunately people are all too eager to pull the ladder up behind them.

or just not realize there's a ladder at all.

[wronggalaxy]

It doesn't matter if you're not talking about a specific group, if it hurts them, you're being discriminatory towards them.

I don't care if Michael isn't disabled, making fun of him for smelling bad is still ableist.

I don't care if you're talking about cis men when making fun of small penisis, it's still body shaming, transphobic, and interphobic.

I don't care if Lisa is a size 5, calling her a pig because she eats a lot is still fatphobic.

Stop making excuses to hurt people, and do better.

[noirblueeyes]

unpacking and discussing intersexism, interphobia, inter-misogyny and inter-misogynoir in black cis and radical feminist and black radical conservative groups that people aren't talking about: an essay:

I've been thinking about my post about my disillusionment with female friendships a few days ago and how the place I'm in opinion wise regarding female friendships has really gotten extremely dark and fractured at this point; and I think that me being biologically intersex and of color, and seeing a lot of intersexist and interphobic biases in both casual black cis feminist and black radical feminist online spaces really plays a huge part in so much of the alienation and heartache I feel. And seeing a lot of repackaged, rigid cisnormativity and patriarchal, sexist, misogynistic, colonialist, eugenicist and eurocentric notions of womanhood and femininity have only been slippery slopes for intersexism and interphobia as well as inter-misogyny and inter-misogynoir.

Cause being black is challenging enough. Then being black and female is even more challenging. Then being black, female and neurodivergent and autistic is even more challenging. Then being black and biologically intersex while feminine presenting and having to navigate standards of femininity and womanhood as well as blackness, black womanhood and femininity, intersex womanhood and femininity and black intersex womanhood and femininity are all extremely complex, nuanced, complicated and at times messy intersections to navigate. And me being autistic and neurodivergent further makes this complicated as a lot of black cis feminists and black radical feminists' insistence on gatekeeping womanhood and femininity is rooted in neurotypical desirability politics. Then mix neurotypical desirability politics with white supremacy and white colonialist patriarchal mindsets with capitalist eugenics, it's a bad combination and seeing a larger chunk of black women regurgitate these attitudes is depressing.

And when push comes to shove, all of these are slippery slopes to what political radical conservative patriarchal Pollyannas like Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly, Pearly Things, Abby Shapiro and Amala Ekpunoni try to re normalize. Which now goes to my next point-- a lot of women in both of these online spaces hate us with a passion, and with different nuanced reasons: radical conservative /redpill women hate biological intersex women and femmes because we don't fit manmade, rigid cisnormative and colonialist boxes of womanhood and femininity that they deem acceptable. And we disrupt radconservative women's chances of being seen as one of the good ones in the eyes of men with patriarchal, sexist, misogynistic, chauvinistic and ultimately intersexist and interphobic biases.

Radical feminists also hate us for reasons that radical conservative/redpill women hate us, but with other nuances:

- due to devilish pathological misandrist fearmongering that's so prevalent in radical feminist groups, the fact that anything about us that's male adjacent (despite the fact that, y'know, we biological intersex folk can't help how we're born!) is automatically evil to them.

- And considering that PCOS is now being widely acknowledged as an objective intersex condition and intersex people with covert conditions are being destigmatized next to radical feminists' record of hijacking PCOS from intersex people to push repackaged patriarchal and eugenics based notions of womanhood as a form of a band aid for what I believe is a lot of radical feminists' unresolved competitive jealousy and insecurity, and then people acknowledging PCOS as an objective intersex condition shattering that illusion, incites radfems' anger, hatred, bile, rage and disdain towards us for the exact reasons I listed.

And it's fear and terror that PCOS being an intersex condition rips away radfems and especially black radfems' notions of fitting manmade binaries of womanhood and femininity that white colonialist and patriarchal capitalism's indoctrinated these women with. Especially when you consider the way society's been historically unkind to black women and robbed black women of any chance to comfortably own our femininity and womanhood due to these exact antiblack, colorist, colonialist, patriarchal and eugenicist social norms.

And yet these are the exact social norms black radconservative women and black cis feminists and black radical feminists are internalizing and regurgitating as some form of assimilation and survival, and trying to pass off as patriotic and heroic or rebellious and radical.

- This in turn means fear and terror radfems have over them seeing PCOS objectively counting as an intersex condition impacting how they feel about themselves and seeing themselves as less feminine and less womanly and not achieving social desirability. Which in turn reflects radfems' bigoted views about intersex women and femmes/feminine presenting intersex people they refuse to acknowledge, which ultimately stems from how normalized stigmatizing fearmongering and prejudice towards intersex people is.

This in turn reflects cult like and pathological misandrist hatred of men and masculinity that's very prevalent in radical feminist groups, which in turn results in equally pathological intersexist, interphobic, inter-misogynistic and inter-misogynoir fueled hatred towards us. Radfems' hatred of us ranks both in terms of misandry and pathological insecurity passing off as feminism, as well as some ironic misogyny, generalized intersexism, interphobia, inter-misogyny and inter-misogynoir. With political radical conservative women it's blatant whereas with radical feminists, it's more subtle.

All of this is very messy and complicated but it's important to point out if we want to destigmatize intersex people and intersex women/femme's right to be visible and eradicate devilish intersexism, interphobia, inter-misogyny and inter-misogynoir. And in this regard, accountability and self awareness as well as a willingness to unpack and unlearn these devilish prejudices is a must if we want more unity amongst female collective communities (especially black communities). Which is why Candace Owens, Tasha K, Jess Hilarious, Amala Ekpunoni, Alice Walker and all these women, whether radical conservative or radical feminists aren't heroes at all and we need to stop hyping them up as if they are.

Cause ultimately, intersex women and femmes are biological but radconservatives and radfems erase, bully, shut down, talk over, talk down to, dehumanize and silence us constantly, which in turn shows their claims of fighting for biological womanood are selective, shallow, hypocritical and performative, and all for a grift, and they don't care about women or womanhood at all. It's about upholding a devilish system of bigotry, fascism, patriarchy, eugenics and rigid cisnormativity that's historically hurt us time and time again and continues to hurt and exploit us; and women on each side, radconservative or radfem, that regurgitate these views are just puppets and psy-ops for systems of devilish euro patriarchal fascism that's just rubbing its hands together laughing at us. Cause this ultimately leaves intersex people and black intersex women and femmes of color like me at risk of being hidden away back in the closet, pathologized, stigmatized, demonized or at risk of re-alienation. (Or in extreme cases, devilish persecution and hate crime murders.)

[hiiragi7]

A transintersex person is supposed to mean an intersex person who is also trans, not a perisex person "transitioning to intersex" and I really fucking hate how it's being used right now.

[boywithbear]

i've noticed how like every hyperandrogenic intersex person has their own horror story about shaving and its both kind of interesting and also horribly sad

[nonbinarymlm]

Shout out to all marginalized people who've been treated as "Bad Rep." Who have been told that stories showing experiences of oppression and identity like yours aren't worth being told or are inherently offensive. Who have been erased or spat on for not fitting a dominant or politically convenient narrative. Who has been subject to rants or "correction" for your own personal labels or experiences. Who fit too well or too little into stereotypes. Who have failed to be the marginalized angel martyr

This post is for you