La World Health Organization estimates that between a 0,05% and an 1,7% of the population is born with intersex traits
GAYLES.TV.- El 26th October 1996 in the city of Boston,Massachusetts, about thirty people met with the slogan «Enough of mutilations" before the American Academy of Pediatricians. Led by activists Morgan Holmes and Max Beck of the IIntersex Society of North America (ISNA), and accompanied by other organizations, they asked for the rights to decide on their bodies. Since then, October 26 he became the International Intersex Visibility Day with the aim of informing, sensitizing and raising awareness about problems, prejudices and the violation of rights.
All the people intersex are born with sexual characteristics (such as genitalia, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do not correspond to the typical binary notions on male or female bodies. Intersex is a term used to describe a wide range of natural variations in the body. In some cases, intersex traits are visible at birth, while in others they do not manifest until puberty. Some chromosomal variations of intersex people may not be physically visible at all.
La World Health Organization estimates that between a 0,05% and an 1,7% of the population is born with intersex traits; the percentage representing the upper threshold is similar to the number of people with red hair. Being intersex is related to the biological characteristics of sex. It is not a pathology or a malformation. Neither is it a gender identity or a sexual orientation. An intersex person can be heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or asexual, and can identify as female, male, both, or neither.
Childhood and intersex
The practice of subjecting intersex boys and girls to surgical and other procedures in order to make their appearance conform to binary stereotypes of sex has become commonplace. These procedures, which are often irreversible, can cause permanent infertility, pain, incontinence, loss of sexual sensitivity, and lifelong mental suffering, including depression. In addition, they are usually carried out without the full, free and informed consent of the person affected, who is usually too young to participate in decision-making, and may violate their rights to physical integrity, not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment and not be subjected to harmful practices.
Intersex people are often subjected to discrimination and abuse if they are found to be inconsistent with gender norms. Laws against discrimination do not usually prohibit discrimination against intersex people, which leaves them in a situation of vulnerability to discriminatory practices in different contexts, such as access to health services, education, public services, employment or sports.
Source: intersexday, United Nations
Photographer: United Nations
