This is a question I get asked a lot\nand, to be honest, it\u2019s one of the hardest to answer. Firstly, being asked to\nsecond guess someone else\u2019s motivation is problematic. I can only guess what they\u2019re\nthinking based on their behaviour, I can\u2019t know. Secondly, I don\u2019t think it has\na simple answer, like most things in life. Still, it bears discussion, so I\u2019m\ngoing to try to explore the phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before we begin, a quick history lesson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trans people claiming to have some sort of DSD\/intersex status is\nnot a new phenomenon. I\u2019m going to illustrate his with the story of Agnes Torres<\/a>, probably\none of the most well documented cases ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1962, 20-year-old Agnes was referred to University of\nCalifornia Medical Center at Los Angeles because of \u201cprogressive feminization\u201d\nsince the age of 12. Agnes is described in science papers<\/a> as presenting\nwith \u201cfeminine body contours and hair pattern and large, well-developed breasts\ncoexisting with the normal external genitalia of a male.\u201d Medical history\nindicated that Agnes had been a typically presenting, healthy male at birth and\nhad remained so pre-puberty. Then, during puberty, a \u201cprogressive deepening of\nthe voice, phallic enlargement, development of a feminine pubic hair pattern\nand progressive breast enlargement\u201d had occurred. Agnes also expressed a desire\nto have been a woman since childhood and to have had an interest in \u201cgirls\u2019\ntoys\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agnes\u2019 case baffled doctors. Numerous tests were carried out. None provided any conclusive answers for her appearance. \u00a0She was found to have an excess of oestrogen, which explained the feminised development, but doctors could not explain why this had happened. She was eventually diagnosed with a rare form of \u2018male pseudohermaphroditism with feminizing testis\u2019, an outdated term used back then for Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agnes wanted sex reassignment surgery (SRS) to align her genitalia with the rest of her appearance. Doctors agreed, due to Agnes\u2019 hyper-feminised appearance and traits (Agnes spoke at length in psychological interviews about studying how women behaved and taking instruction form her boyfriend, Bill, on how to pass as a woman), that Agnes was \u201centitled\u201d to a vagina and so SRS was performed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Agnes stayed in touch with the doctors who had treated her and\nwritten about the case. She dropped a bombshell though when, 5 years later, she\nrevealed she had been self-medicating\nwith oestrogen<\/a> tablets, stolen from their mother, since the age of 12. This\nwas the cause of Agnes\u2019 feminisation, not a mysterious intersex condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would seem Agnes was uncomfortable with her own sexuality and\ngender non-conforming behaviour. It\u2019s impossible to think that 12-year-old\nAgnes really understood the consequences of taking female hormones. In fact, doctors\ndescribed Agnes\u2019 belief that she may become a woman as sort of magical\nthinking. It may be that she believed the medication would help that process. She\ncertainly seemed to have had no thought of the need for surgical alteration\nuntil later in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Much has been written about the case since, exploring the reasons\nthat Agnes may have chosen to lie to doctors, but also why they were so taken\nin. The main theory seems to be that doctors and Agnes felt she needed some \u201ctrue\nclaim\u201d to womanhood<\/a> to be eligible for SRS and to explain her feminine\nappearance and behaviour. Constructing an intersex narrative positioned Agnes\nas the victim of a mistake by nature that could be fixed by man. This clearly\nappealed to the doctors who could make a name for themselves by being the ones\ntreating her and reporting on the case. Agnes herself said later in life she\nhad co-operated with whatever the doctors said in the hope that this would mean\nsurgery\nwas performed as quickly as possible.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s interesting to note that many of Agnes\u2019 comments have since been\ncriticised as being homophobic\nand transphobic<\/a>. She referred to trans and homosexual people as \u201cabnormal\u201d\nand explicitly did not want to be classed with \u201cthem\u201d. Agnes is not the only\nrecorded case where a belief in being born intersex among\ntranssexuals has been found to be caused by internalised transphobia.<\/a> This\nis a common theme. As a side note, arguably, the portrayal of intersex in this\ncase is also interphobic in viewing it as a mistake that needs to be fixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve often considered this may be a reason for the claims of\nintersex status by many of the trans activists I have spoken to. In fact, it is\na motivation that has been acknowledged\nby trans activists<\/a>. It seems many feel that being intersex legitimises\ntheir access to procedures such as SRS and hormone treatments or their claims\nof feeling an incongruence with their sex. This is not a popular view in intersex\nactivism circles, who tend to be against unnecessary medical interventions, particularly\nfor children. It is, however, something intersex orgs have tackled before in\nthe shape of \u201cintersex\nbrains\u201d theory<\/a> (I will blog about this one day, but in the meantime, you\ncan hear some of my thoughts about it here<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n This argument, that being intersex will make access to medical\nprocedures easier, isn\u2019t without other contradictory problems though. In the\nUK, anecdotal evidence suggests that access to cosmetic procedures for adults\ncan be easier to access with a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, rather than a\ndiagnosis of a DSD. It would perhaps then be better to suggest that some claims\nare due to a perceived ease of access to medical procedures, rather than this being\nreality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another\nhypothesis<\/a> for why trans people may claim to be intersex is \u201cindividuals\nmay also be attracted to the novelty and perceived freakishness of being\n\u201cintersex.\u201d In some cases, this may take the form of, or be akin to, a sexual\nparaphilia\u201d. This may not be as far fetched as it seems. Certainly, there are boards\non trans peer support sites, such as Susan\u2019s Place, which discuss the fetishization of \u201chermaphrodites\u201d<\/a>.\nEven in literature written by respected academics, such as this<\/a>\nfrom Anne Fausto-Sterling (the woman behind the 1.7%\nstat<\/a>) it\u2019s clear to see the idea of intersex people being reduced to a\nfantasy and fetishized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPerhaps we will come to view such children as especially blessed\nor lucky. It is not so far-fetched to think that some can become the most\ndesirable of all possible mates, able to pleasure their partners in a variety\nof ways.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I must confess, in terms of most disturbing quotes ever, Fausto-Sterling\nis a strong contender there. Worrying views about children as sexual objects\naside, I notice no thought is given to the intersex person themselves receiving\nany pleasure from sexual intercourse. They are merely positioned as the one who\nexists to please others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of modern, online intersex appropriation, it\u2019s easy to see why this prevails. There are many links to the anime community in some trans circles. Hentai, the pornographic branch of anime, has a whole genre named \u2018Futanari\u2019<\/a>. Futanari is the Japanese word for hermaphroditism, although it can also be used more broadly to mean androgyny. In hentai, however, it specifically describes characters with both primary sex characteristics, nowadays referring almost exclusively to characters who have an overall feminine body, but both female and male genitalia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As I have written before, it is not actually possible for a person to have both sets of genitalia<\/a>. In fact, as in the Yaniv<\/a> case, it is often factors like this that make it obvious that the claim of being intersex is fictitious<\/a>. \u00a0Many trans activists will make other such implausible claims, such as contradictory, multiple diagnoses, the existence of both sets of genitalia and\/or gonads and even in extreme cases tales of self-impregnation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the case of Yaniv, there is one other factor that\u2019s worth\nconsidering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trans activist Tracie O\u2019Keefe wrote an article<\/a>\nin 2010 encouraging trans people to identify as intersex as a way to \u201cmess with\nthe system\u201d. O\u2019Keefe makes it clear that the aim is to use intersex as a political\nlabel and a tool to confuse authorities by suggesting that binary classifications\nof male and female don\u2019t work. This certainly seems to be the aim of the fabled\nsex spectrum. O\u2019Keefe posits that this will make it easier for trans activists\nto push for legislative changes that give them access to the things they demand,\nsuch as changes in documentation along with the destruction of any evidence of\nformer identities. Although not an administrative matter, it\u2019s clear to see\nthis at work in the Yaniv case, where spurious claims about \u201cintersex genitalia\u201d\nare accepted almost without question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m going to wrap this up soon, but I think we also need to\nacknowledge why this is such an issue for the intersex\/DSD community. Firstly,\nintersex discussion groups can quickly become dominated by trans activists claiming\nintersex status and wanting validation for this. This over-representation means\nthat often it is these stories that make it into the mainstream media, with some trans activists<\/a> becoming\nactual spokespeople for the intersex community, despite not having the experience\nor even an interest in the issues facing those with DSDs. This leads to the\nspreading of misinformation which unfortunately, due to its proliferation, can\nend up influencing intersex\nprotocols<\/a>. As it can be easy for trans activists to claim an invasion of\nprivacy when asked to prove their credentials to speak on behalf of intersex\npeople, it is difficult to challenge these claims. This, in turn, promotes the\nunhelpful and inaccurate ideas held by the pretending individual, or poseur, while\nintersex people who dare to contradict the narrative become further\nmarginalised<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever the many and varied reasons trans activists lay claim to\nintersex status, be it an inability to accept themselves for who they are, for\nperceived status or access to medical interventions, fetishistic curiosity, or\njust to create political confusion for the advancement of their agenda, it is not\na claim that helps either group, nor is it a new phenomenon. Trans people need\nto be able to accept themselves and understand who they are without this\nconflation. Encouraging the mistaken belief that they are somehow intersex does\nnothing to help with this, all it does is shutdown discussions and muddy the\nwaters. Intersex people deserve accurate information about their differences,\nnot only to be available to them but also to fight social stigmas surrounding\nDSDs. And finally, both groups deserve their own voices and to talk about their\nown needs and reality without being political pawns in someone else\u2019s game or\nsexual fantasy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a question I get asked a lot and, to be honest, it\u2019s one of the hardest to answer. Firstly, being asked to second guess someone else\u2019s motivation is problematic. I can only guess what they\u2019re thinking based on their behaviour, I can\u2019t know. Secondly, I don\u2019t think it has a simple answer, like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4],"tags":[9,16,6,18],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gender","category-intersex","tag-dsds","tag-gender","tag-intersex","tag-trans","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions\/121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mrkhvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}