In the last 15 years, activists who believe biological sex is a spectrum have begun exploiting medical conditions that affect the reproductive system and using them to create a movement around queer culture. They have taken hold of intersex, a sociopolitical term used in the 50’s to refer to people with ambiguous genitalia, and applied it just about anyone with a reproductive development condition.

They have even gone so far as to change the definition of the word intersex, to mean any type of atypical sexual or reproductive trait, even if those traits are not in fact, intersex.

As you can imagine, labeling people with a term that misrepresents their biological sex for any reason is a violation of privacy & human rights and is a cruel and selfish thing to do for political purposes. 

In 2006, doctors, armed with scientific facts and feedback from patients, made a move to discontinue the use of the term intersex for various reasons including inaccuracy & creation of stigma. They proposed calling these conditions disorders of sexual development and they broadened the term to include reproductive development conditions as well. Intersex organizations refused to adopt this more accurate and respectful terminology on the basis of not liking the factual term, disorder. 

Since then they have spread inordinate amounts of misinformation about these medical conditions and the people who have them, causing irreparable harm. Here is the full accounting:

• Mislabeling DSD conditions as intersex, when they do not possess ambiguous genitalia or a combination of male and female sex characteristics. In doing so, they have refused to acknowledge biological sex and contributed to the perception that DSD/reproductive conditions are a 3rd sex, even though most are sex specific
• Mislabeling individuals with DSD conditions as intersex despite the fact that they are. in most cases, unambiguously male or female
• Characterizing our legitimate medical conditions that cause real health problems, as “variations,” misrepresenting what they are and how they occur, essentially dismissing the impact of infertility and health woes faced by those with DSD diagnoses
• Intentionally conflating reproductive medical conditions with gender identity, without cause
• Asserting that, because our conditions affect the reproductive system, they are the domain of queer identity and then forcing the inclusion of “intersex” into the LGBTQ umbrella and flag even though the majority of ppl with DSD conditions are not LGBTQ and did not consent to it 
• Fielding corrupted research on “intersex,” inviting anyone who self identifies to be part of it, thereby opening it up to ppl who have no DSD diagnosis or any connection to DSD conditions at all. The results, usually heavily influenced by trans and non-binary people who self identify, are skewed toward the above mentioned actions, while the intersex organizations continue to claim they are about DSD conditions
• Lobbying governments, medical systems, NGO’s and corporations to support and reinforce their world view, leading to surround sound misinformation about people with DSD conditions

We can honestly say labeling whole groups of people with very different medical conditions in such an inaccurate and insensitive way was not something we could have foreseen.

If you are a person with one of these conditions, please support our right to have our sex accurately  recognized and characterized and to not be exploited for political purposes. Please enforce our insistence that these medical conditions are longer classified or referred to as “intersex” and feel free to share your own personal opinions about and experiences with this issue. 

Sign the petition and, if you’re comfortable, indicate which diagnosis you have.

Thank you