Fuck Yeah, Intersex!

It depends.  A lot of girls find out because they're 20 or older and still have never had a period.

People who had an infant assignment surgery usually figure out what the scars are about.

Unless it's really obvious, a lot of people don't find out until they're adults and manage their own health care.

Okay, so there are male people, female people and intersex people.

It gets a bit odd because the plural of 'intersex' is still 'intersex'.  So it works out like this...

Works:  A new scholarship is available to females.WTF No!:  A new scholarship is available to intersexes.Works (I guess):  A new scholarship is available to intersex.Best: A new scholarship is available to female students.Best: A new scholarship is available to intersex students.

Nouns objectify us whereas adjectives describe us.  Objectification can often 'other' us when intersex people just want to live our daily lives just like anyone else.

Also never use the '-ual' suffix.  It drives me nuts to hear 'intersexual' because the '-ual' suffix describes orientations, not people.  People can be homosexual or heterosexual but 'intersexual' is not an orientation.  The study of intersex people is just that, and not the study of 'intersexuals.'

Then again, intersex can be a topic.  If you're doing research on how AIS bodies differ from CAH bodies, you could write, "I am researching intersex."  That's really no different than writing, "I am researching chromosomes," or, "I am researching genetics," and is fine.

I'll try my best at this one because this one gets tricky.  I apologize in advance if I get some of it wrong.

Of the XXY people I've talked to, about half identify as female and the other half as male.

As far as I know, XXY people can produce sperm but very often in such low quantity to actually get a girl pregnant.  There was an episode of Baby Story on Discovery Channel about two weeks ago where a XXY guy was able to get his wife pregnant but it took some medical help to find enough of them to inseminate his wife's egg.

Don't really pay attention to the Y chromosome.  Studies often show up that XXY people end up XX dominant and are ordinary reproductive females, and also of females who test as being XY but are completely reproductive girls.

Imy shares her five best things about having CAIS.

Intersex activist Del LaGrace Volcano asks people what they think makes them men or women.

Intersex 101, by Del LaGrace Volcano

On Saturday, June 11, stop by Camp Betty for Intersex 101.

A new and awesome blog.  I've been following it for a few days now.  She writes this: