I have a dear friend of mine who is an intersex survivor. His name is Jeffrey A. Benedict, and he has allowed me to share this with you today. Like many of us intersex people, he has had those moments where he felt like the only one.
This world wants you to think we are rare. We have been forced into shame, secrecy and taught to hide in the closet even. One day, Jeffrey wanted to know if it was true. So with Google one day, he came up with what you will read below and proved it is a myth to believe intersex is rare. We are not rare! The “I” will not stand for invisible anymore.
According to current statistics Intersex effects 1.7% of the world’s population. This means we are as common as people with red hair. So, everyone has met an intersex person, you just might not have known you have.
The world’s population is 7.5 Billion, so 1.7% of 7.5 Billion equals out to 127,500,000.00. People!
So there are 127.5 Million people on this planet that were born Intersex.
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In others words, it would be as if everyone in China’s three largest cities was born Intersex. Guanqzhou pop: 44,294,245 Shandhi pop: 35,965,403 Chongqing pop: 30,165,000 Total 110,424,648
And we still got room for 10 million more here ( in other words 10 million short).
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I could also be as if everyone in India’s four largest cities was born Intersex. Mumbai pop: 12,442,373 Delhi pop: 11,034,555 Bengaluru pop: 4,301,326 Hyderabad pop: 6,731,790 Total 34,510,044, and this does not even come close. In fact, you would need all of the twenty-five most populated cities in India to be born Intersex to equal the actual number of 127.5 million!
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It would also be as if everyone in America’s most populated States was born Intersex. California pop: 39,250,017, Texas pop: 27,862,596, Florida pop: 20,612,439, New York pop: 19,745,289. Which is a total 107,470,341, so there is still 20 million Intersex people left over (20 million short).
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As if every person in Japan were born intersex population: 126,670,000 (and we would still be about a million short).
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As if every person born in Mexico were born Intersex population 123,364,426
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As if every person in the Philippines was born Intersex population 104,718,00
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As if every person in Germany was born Intersex population 82,800,000
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As if every person in Iran was born Intersex population 80,493,700
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Last, it is as if every person in Russia was born Intersex as long as you don’t count the Crimean peninsula which the Ukraine claims to be theirs.
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There you have it. We are not rare!
Thank you, Jeffrey, for putting this in a perspective that anyone can wrap their mind around. You can read about Jeffrey’s intersex story here: Learning I Am Intersex 5 Years Later
Here is the United Nations Intersex Fact Sheet.
~.V.~
Mx. Anunnaki Ray Marquez 