Am I intersexed? Who cares!

[Shana A]

Am I intersexed? Who cares!
Filed by: Austen Crowder
December 3, 2009 3:00 PM

http://www.bilerico.com/2009/12/am_i_intersexed_who_cares.php#more

Did you get a genetic test to see if you're intersex?

I get the question once every few months, usually from a well-meaning and honestly curious person. It's an interesting question, as well as a bit of a hot-button issue within the transgender community. I mean, who wouldn't want to know if there was a genetic reason for their transgender feelings, right? Being intersexed is no big deal, after all, and is just another part of the tapestry we call gender. Getting tested wouldn't do anything to affect my status as a woman.

However, I take a different tack when answering this question, mostly because I sometimes doubt the reason behind it. This innocent question carries with it the idea that transgender identities must be pathologized, categorized, and explained in scientific terms. Since most transgender people are by necessity self-diagnosed, there is always a shadow of doubt cast upon the process. "Are they really transgender, or are they lying to themselves?" The question never really goes away, and people are always seeking an answer that falls within their own prejudices.

[Debra]

For me I want to find out if I'm intersexed simply to prove something to my parents who have disowned me because they think I'm choosing to be like this.

[rejennyrated]

Of course if you have my luck you don't find out that you were intersexed until it's way too late to make any practical difference whatsoever.

But perhaps more importantly I have subsequently observed that, amongst intersexed people, I seem to be in something of a minority as most of them are not trans and have no desire to be so.

Personally I don't care whether I am or indeed you are. I certainly don't think it makes anyone any more or less genuine. I think it's just one of those red-herrings that people, who don't understand how our self identity is really constructed, come up with. We aren't just bodies after all.