I'm thinking about The Orville and Topa again.
A lot of people criticize her storyline as a representation of trans people because she was born traditionally female, forcibly altered to present as male, and then chose to transition back to female after learning about this. I've heard that the portrayal of her feelings while she's forced to live as a boy are very accurately portrayed, but the fact that she was initially born female makes it somehow not a trans experience, or bioessentialist.
I've also heard that her story, being born female to an alien species where being female is uncommon and considered a deformity, and having her sex altered in infancy without her knowledge or consent, is a better allegory for intersex people and IGM. But my question is: why are these things considered mutually exclusive?
I think a lot of people don't realize that many intersex people ARE trans. Many intersex people have to medically transition TO the sex they were assigned at birth because their hormones during puberty do not follow the typical patterns associated with it. And, relevant to this conversation, many intersex people have to transition away from the sex that was forced upon them because they were medically altered as a child without their consent and often without even being made aware of it.
Is it "bioessentialist" for one to do this? Is a person "not trans" because they identify with the gender associated with their genetics, or their AGAB, or the appearance of their genitalia at birth, regardless of what they must go through physically and socially in order to present with this identity?
Absolutely fucking not! Topa's story can be about both the intersex AND trans experience, because many intersex people are trans!! And I think it's important we don't forget that.
Also, it's important to note that Klyden, who was also born female, DOES identify as male. He did identify with the sex he was altered to, and this is the case with some intersex people as well (although it in no way justifies intersex genital mutilation). Intersex people are not a monolith, there are many intersex conditions, experiences, and identities. But I think the Orville did a perfectly serviceable job portraying a character coded as both intersex and trans. And acting like this is somehow bioessentialist or fails to adequately portray the trans experience is a myopic interpretation that excludes an important and often-overlooked part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
