The below message was posted in a yahoo group & got a bit of discussion..



I recently saw a flyer for an event, a fundraiser & was curious about
it. Based on the flyer, I was not certain who is or is not welcome.

Which got me to thinking further on this issue, as it pertains to me
(and people like me). You see, I am Intersexed. Approximately 1% of
the population is intersexed (source: ISNA website). So we are in
fact out there in far more numbers than many folks realise.

I know that the society I live in is a Gendered society. I had to
select a gender to have a Yahoo email address. But they only offered
male or female. I am neither.

I am not a man, I am not a woman, I am not Trans. I am Intersexed.
I am genetically intersexed. Furthermore, I as identify as an
intersexed person. I see my orientation as Queer. Indeed, I don't
actually see it as possible for me to be homosexual, hetrosexual or
bisexual.

There are Men's Events. Women's events. Trans events. I am none of
these things. I don't want to be a man. I don't want to be a woman.
I don't want to Transition. I am happy as I am. Both male and female.

I respect that different spaces & different parties have different
rules. And I do not want to make anyone else uncomfortable.

So.. where do I fit? Where do I belong. Where would I be imposing?


I thank you all in advance for your thoughts or input.

Max
posted by:
Max
offline Max
SF Bay Area
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  • Spark
    Spark
    online 114

    Re: Queer & Intersexed - Where are they welcome? Where should they be welcome? Where would they be imposing?

    Wed, April 18, 2007 - 7:01 PM
    I've been thinking about this post for a while,and I would actually say the same thing that I would say to all trannies and queers and non-trannies and non-queers with regards to gender and sexuality:

    It's not your fault that our culture insists on a gender label for the most basic of necessities. If the rules for the labels don't include you, you have no obligation to obey those rules. Go where you feel you belong and let other people deal with it. They'll either respond favorably or they won't. Either way, it raises awareness and makes it easier for the next person.

    I know my path would be a lot harder if I wasn't following behind a large number of smart and capable genderfucks (which is my happy niche in the gender queer universe).
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    • ike
      ike
      offline 136

      Re: Queer & Intersexed - Where are they welcome? Where should they be welcome? Where would they be imposing?

      Wed, April 18, 2007 - 11:38 PM
      Shortly after the Defense of Marriage Act was proposed I wrote a "letter" about how the existance of intersexed people in the world completely blows apart any argument for DOMA. I ended up sending it to a mailing list but never sent it to any congressmen or anything -- it felt good to express it although I wasn't convinced it would have an impact on congress. I may still have it laying around on my machine here somewhere. I'm not sure if I'm unusual in this regard, but I've had at least 3 different people I knew personally inform me that they were born intersexed. Two of them were in various stages of gender reassignment to become female, although both of them had also been physically modified by doctors after birth with tenuous or questionable consent. But all of them volunteered the information and I hadn't been looking for them, so I've known personally for a long time that it's more common than is generally known... and that probably sometime between 1900 and 1950 it had become common practice for obstetricians to try and "cover it up" by acquiring questionable consent or no consent and surgically altering the baby, making it even more common than is generally known. I'm guessing a lot of people know someone(s) who's intersexed and is unaware of it. And although I identify personally as bisexual and I haven't specifically saught out intersexed people I'd be fine with having a romantic relationship with an intersexed person -- entirely asside from the "novelty" of it. I'm just not that concerned about how a person's equipment is shaped -- I'm much more interested in a person's personality, likes, dislikes, sense of humor. If there's anything I can do to help spread awareness I'm happy to help. :)
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