My Body is Not Abnormal. Please Don’t Call Me Broken.

I believe that people with intersex traits are a natural occurring variance in nature. Very few conditions of intersex cause disease and need medical attention. Being born with intersex traits is truly no different than being born with red hair, or green eyes. It is simply unique and rare.

Abnormal is used in describing a medical condition. One would never say a redhead has a medical condition. Nor should they refer to intersex as abnormal, since it is a natural occurring variance in one’s sexuality.

Shifting the Paradigm of Intersex Treatment

“Intersex is a relatively common anatomical variation from the “standard” male and female types; just as skin and hair color vary along a wide spectrum, so does sexual and reproductive anatomy. Intersex is neither a medical nor a social pathology.”

~.V.~

I don’t feel my body is abnormal. It was being told I was “abnormal” that made doctors and psychiatrists want to fix me. It was being told I was “abnormal” that made me hate my body. It was being told I was “abnormal” that took away my right to be raised my true gender. I was not allowed self-determination. I was persuaded to conform to something I never was meant to be.

Worse, it is that word “abnormal” that justifies mutilative surgeries, that take away genital sensation, fertility, and a person’s right to remain whole. It is that word “abnormal” that puts terror into the parent’s minds if their newborn is born with an intersex condition. “Abnormal”, to a surgeon, doctor, or psychiatrist, cries out: “FIX IT!”

I was never broken. I did not need fixed. It is not a medical condition if it causes no medical problem. They don’t say a redhead has a medical problem.

Plus, being called “abnormal” makes me feel wrong, it makes me feel bad. I don’t want to feel broken or bad anymore.

It is simple and easy, please just call me rare, and please don’t call me broken.