INTERSEX: WHAT IT MEANS TO BE INTERSEX

Today we often hear about "fluidity"linked to the sexual sphere. Concepts such as that of gender fluid they are finding many supporters at the expense of a cultural heritage that is still hard to eliminate. However, since childhood, we are used to seeing the world filtered by categories, starting with the label of the genre. Male or female, man or woman: no other choice. Doing so, however, excludes all those people known as intersex or intersex.

What does "intersex" mean?

Intersex individuals are people who have internal and external sexual characteristics that do not fit into the traditional gender differentiation between male or female. Such "contrasting" characters may involve chromosomes, gonads (such as ovaries and testes), genitals and sex hormones. According to the "United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, intersex people have a body that" does not correspond to the typical definition of male or female bodies ".

We can understand how this topic is particularly delicate and complex. First of all, because intersex occurs in different forms and not all of them are visible externally from birth. For example, hormonal intersex usually manifests itself in the age of puberty, while the chromosomal one can only be attested thanks to the appropriate medical tests. Therefore, some intersex people may not even know they are.

According to experts, individuals with intersex traits would be between 0.5% and 1.7% of the population. This means that there are approximately 30,000,000 intersex people in the world.

Intersex is not a sexual orientation

Although compared to previous years there is a "considerable opening on issues related to sexuality, such as that of" gender identity or fluidity, it often happens to confuse some concepts. Intersex is a variation that concerns the realm of biological sex. A person does not choose to be intersex: he is born into it. This means that intersex people can be heterosexual, homosexual, pansexual, and so on. Intersex does not preclude them from a certain sexual orientation or push them in a specific direction.

Likewise, being intersex does not convey a certain gender identity. Intersex people, like everyone, can be cis-gender, that is, at ease with the gender assigned to them at birth, or transgender and therefore have a different gender identity from the one they were born with.

The difficulties of intersexuals

Reading various statements from intersex individuals, one aspect turns out to be really important: except in certain cases, intersexuals have no health problems with their body. Especially during childhood, when the question of sex and the theme of sexuality are still shrouded in a halo of mystery, these children do not perceive any difference between them and the others. Many intesexes only discover their particular biological situation in adolescence, when they can begin to fully understand the concepts of chromosomes, hormones and gender variation.

In reality, it is precisely from this moment that difficulties usually begin. Most intersexuals are treated surgically and / or with hormonal therapies above all to bring their sexual characteristics into that traditional category we mentioned earlier: either male or female, without a third option. From such operations, traumas can arise that affect various aspects of life, including those related to the sexual sphere. As we have said, intersex does not determine an orientation, but intersex people can take longer to have a satisfying sex life due to the medical stigma they have endured.

In addition to this, many intersexuals admit that they have experienced their condition as a kind of taboo even within their own family. It is not uncommon for parents of intersexuals to try to keep the biological situation of their children a secret. , on the other hand, mothers and fathers tend not to even talk about it with those directly concerned, as if that "topic were too dangerous to deal with. A bit like it happens to so many LGBT people after doing coming out within the home.

Circumstances like these push young intersex people to isolate themselves from the outside world. They feel different from their peers in an aspect of their body over which they have no control or power and which does not harm themselves or the society around them. Therefore, intersex may not bring too many difficulties on a physical level, but, due to the still rampant ignorance on the subject, it leads to not indifferent psychological traumas.

How to accept your intersexuality

There is no manual that makes us recognize a diversity of our body not as a mutilation but as something unique, which is part of us and which must not be condemned. However, most intersex people admit that the best way to accept yourself and finally feel good about yourself is to talk about it. Usually, the first step is to start a journey with a psychotherapist or support group who knows how to put the condition of intersexuality under the right perspective.

Then, it's a great help not to keep this particular aspect of yourself a secret from friends and people you trust the most. Very often where we think we find hatred and discrimination is precisely the place where understanding and love reign. For this reason many intersex individuals have not only decided to "come out" with respect to their situation in their circle of friends but also to bear the testimony of their history around the world.

There are many associations that support and protect the rights of intersex people. In Italy intersex exists, which tries to bring to the attention of all the existence of intersex individuals, with their stories and their past, making their voices heard.