Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (such as sexual anatomy, reproductive organs, hormonal patterns and/or chromosomal patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. Experts estimate that up to 1.7 percent of the population are born with intersex traits.
Intersex people may have any gender identity or sexual orientation. Continue reading from The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
There are many different ways someone can be intersex. Some intersex people have genitals or internal sex organs that fall outside the male/female categories — such as a person with both ovarian and testicular tissues. Other intersex people have combinations of chromosomes that are different than XY ( usually associated with male) and XX (usually associated with female), like XXY. And some people are born with external genitals that fall into the typical male/female categories, but their internal organs or hormones don’t.
If a person’s genitals look different from what doctors and nurses expect when they’re born, someone might be identified as intersex from birth. Other times, someone might not know they’re intersex until later in life, like when they go through puberty. Sometimes a person can live their whole life without ever discovering that they’re intersex. Continue reading from Planned Parenthood
Starting in the 1950s, the prevailing medical approach to treating intersex infants and children emerged as an attempt to “correct” the appearance and function of atypical genitalia. Surgeries also aimed to prevent the possibility of a child growing up to have non-heterosexual relationships. [...]
In many cases, providers have concealed medical information about intersex patients from these patients and their families. In previous decades, it was not uncommon for doctors to not even inform parents of the reason why their newborns were being operated on. Continue reading from Fenway Health
