SecondUniverse (she/her/they)Don't let people know they are intersex, they'll turn gay. This was the whole rationale for surgery-at-birth and secrecy-for-life.
Intersex Genital Mutilation is literally a form of conversion therapy. "Helping" people have more binary bodies so they don't get any queer ideas.
I had normalizing surgery at the age of three I was supposed to have forgotten about, but instead my earliest memory is surgical gauze down below.
I had a nonfunctional testicle that was left in me to bolster my sense of masculinity. I was warned about the cancer risk, but the full man feeling was more important. Compare that to people with complete androgen insensitivity and assigned female at birth. In their case the testicles work and are a source of estrogen essential to physical health, but they are often removed. In their case, the "risk of cancer" is much more important.
Vivian, Venus Pirate 🏳️⚧️@SecondUniverse <sits nearby for company>
I had real health issues from being intersex, which did not include anxiety about being a proper man. I had hypogonadism and severe joint issues that should have had treatment as part of my condition, but the same medical ideology that got me operated when I was little also required glossing over any issues later in life. After all, a frank conversation about my endocrine problems could have undermined my carefully constructed masculinity.
Mary Starbuck@SecondUniverse I'm sorry you were treated so badly and how difficult things have been.
F3715H@SecondUniverse forced genital mutilation should be criminalized as a crime against humanity, just like forced sterilization, rape and forced abortions!
- Because at it's core it's genocide against #Intersex people…