Intersex
by
I believe that it is the responsibility and duty of artists and activists to be the documentarians of their time. Activists, when leading with integrity and social responsibility, are the linchpins of our society, constantly reminding us to strive for what is just and equitable. In her book Hunger, Roxane Gay (2018) shares the story of how her body interacts with society at large and with the medical establishment in particular. After reading her memoir, I was impressed by how she put the desire for and repulsion of fat bodies into a larger theoretical framework and also how she critiqued society’s treatment and marginalization of fat people. Although intersex activism and fat positivity are separate issues, I feel that my work as an activist is to make real the experiences of intersex people who have been harmed by the medical establishment. I am intersex. I was born with one of at least thirty-five intersex traits called androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) that physically identified me as different at birth. AIS is a spectrum intersex trait where infants have varying levels of responsiveness to testosterone. As a result, infants can appear with a genital variance that encompasses typical female genitals and atypical...
This essay may be found on page 135 of the printed volume.