Personal comment (page 1 of 5)

Personal opinions

IDAHOBIT Day 2023

It is telling that when we open emails about IDAHOBIT day we see a variety of interpretations of the name. As a day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Transphobia, we see a variety of other terms tacked on the end. Words like ‘interphobia’, ‘intersexphobia’, ‘intersexism’, or intersex discrimination get thrown around, if intersex is acknowledged at all….
Read more →

IDAHOBIT Day 2022

A short reflection on the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia and what it means to people with innate variations of sex characteristics in 2022.

IHRA logotype

Statement on 10 News Reporting on Intersex Women in Sport

At the heart of violence against the intersex community are people who feel they get to police and fix other people’s bodies. Caster Semenya, born a woman, raised a woman, who has demonstrated nothing but hard-earned excellence in her field is harmed by irresponsible reporting. Sporting codes that are intended to accommodate transgender women in…
Read more →

YOUth & I publication, on a wooden table, accompanied by a cup of coffee

YOUth & I intersex youth publication

In YOUth & I, intersex youth tell their own stories, how they want to and in their own way. YOUth & I is an Australian publication created and edited by Steph Lum, and supported by the ACT Capital of Equality grants program. Download a free copy.

Steph Lum, photo by Georgia Andrews. Glasses by Irene Kuzemko

Steph Lum: “Intersex self-love”

Steph Lum has won a prize for the poem “Intersex self-love”, in the Canberra SpringOut essay competition. Congratulations, Steph! Here’s the poem in its entirety.

Reproductive Health Matters Journal: "Intersex human rights: clinical self-regulation has failed"

Morgan Carpenter: “Clinical self-regulation has failed”

  On invitation, Morgan Carpenter has written a blog post for the journal Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters: “Intersex human rights: clinical self-regulation has failed”. Here’s an extract: There is neither clinical consensus nor clinical evidence to support current coercive practices [8]. Clinical bodies face multiple challenges in constructing evidence to support these clinical practices….
Read more →

Hippocrates - statue

Tony Briffa: “The Hippocratic Oath, Western Medicine, and the Children of Hermes and Aphrodite”

Tony Briffa has written on being intersex and Maltese Australian in the book Living and Loving in Diversity: An anthology of Australian multicultural queer adventures (chief editor Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli, Wakefield Press). The book was launched at the 2018 Australian GLBTIQ Multicultural Council conference, “Living Loving Diversity”, and an edited extract has been published by Archer…
Read more →

Miraculous thinking

We’ve had interviews like this piece, by Prospekt Magazine. Telling our personal stories is always challenging, bringing old wounds back to the surface. Alexander Berezkin, the interviewee in this article by Tatiana Kondratenko about intersex people in Russia, is to be congratulated. The problem with interviews like this is that Alexander’s story is incidental to…
Read more →

photo of many of the ICD discussions participants

Publication of joint ICD submission

Mauro Cabral of GATE has announced, via the Intersex Day project, publication of a 2014 community submission to the World Health Organization on reform of the International Classification of Diseases.

Small Luk

Intersex Day project commentaries for Intersex Awareness Day

A new Intersex Day project promoting human rights actions around Intersex Awareness Day and Intersex Day of Solidarity is presenting long-read commentary works by Morgan Holmes, Betsy Driver, Small Luk and more, as well as a compilation of events for the two intersex days around the world. Morgan Holmes is the only surviving intersex participant…
Read more →