#XX XY Athletics

[coochiequeens]

The TQ+ is ok with censorship if its biological women being censored

Whitney Munro | June 21, 2024

In what has become a signature move of social media companies looking to censor viewpoints that don’t fit their politics, TikTok permanently suspended the woman-owned, woman-led, and woman-designed sportswear company, XX-XY Athletics, for violating advertising policies – without naming any of the specific ads or policies in question. 

XX-XY Athletics launched in March 2024, and is the leading athletic brand that stands up for girl’s and women’s sports in a culture oversaturated with gender ideology. The brand, founded by former USA champion gymnast Jennifer Sey, had only been running ads on TikTok for two days before it was banned on June 18, 2024.

“If you think girls’ and women’s equality matter, stand up,” the ad said. “If girls’ and women’s sports matter, and you want your daughters to have the same opportunity you had, stand up. If you know that it isn’t fair, or safe, to allow males to compete in girls’ sports, because it’s, well, obvious, stand up.”

“…we deserve our own sports, privacy, fairness, safety. We deserve a chance to compete, and win. So don’t be ‘nice.’ Don’t be ‘careful.’ Be honest.  Be brave. Fight for women. We’ve come too far to give up now.” 

Sey told Independent Women’s Forum: 

“TikTok permanently banning our ads, indicating that they are offensive in some way, is why people are afraid to stand up and defend women’s sports and space. The ad is uplifting. It lifts up women’s voices. Being told our ad is too offensive to run is exactly why we need this brand. To normalize saying we deserve our own sports, and to inspire others to stand up for women. When we all stand together we can’t be canceled. Common sense will prevail.”

This is not the first time that XX-XY Athletics founder and CEO Sey had been targeted by the cancel mob, and true to her brand’s ethical guideposts, she’s not backing down. 

Sey wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Examiner: 

We are unapologetic about our goal of protecting women’s sports and spaces and standing up for truth. And the truth is male biological advantage is the single biggest determinant of athletic performance.

To allow males who say they are women to compete in women’s sports when they are stronger and faster than females is an affront to women, an erasure of the original intent of Title IX, and astonishingly misogynistic, which is why, in the ad, we say, “Don’t let men tell us how to be good girls.”

Let’s face it: It is male bullies who identify as female who are telling us to sit this one out. My answer to that is an unequivocal no.

According to TikTok, the athletic company can still access its account, but its ads will not be delivered because they may feature “offensive content.”

IWF reached out to a spokesperson at TikTok. At the time of publication, TikTok had not yet responded to our request.

Sey suspected the content TikTok didn’t like was two short video clips, one of a male athlete ripping a basketball out of a female athlete’s hands as she falls to the ground and another of a male athlete spiking a volleyball directly into a girl’s face. 

Both clips are real. TikTok didn’t appear offended that athletic associations are putting young female athletes in danger due to their woke politics –– the social media platform’s censorious decision demonstrates it’s instead concerned with women speaking up and advocating for their own safety.  

It’s hard to imagine something more offensive than a male-owned foreign company telling American women to quiet down, but here we are. 

For those interested in supporting the brand, XX-XY Athletics is offering a discount code of 15% off through the end of July. Use code IWF15 at XX-XY Athletics.

[timaeuslover001]

Shame on any Sports brand that been capitalizing on athletes for as long as they have to being SILENT On the Murder of FEMALE sports!

Shame on you!

SHAME!

[antiyourwokehomophobia2]

while i agree the other anon wasn’t particularly eloquent, they are right. AFAB, in its original definition from intersex terminology, means assigned female at birth OFTEN INCORRECTLY due to ambiguous genitalia. this happens to males more often than females because most intersex genitalia fall inbetween full penis and full vulva, and many (not all) intersex males end up being born with genitalia that appear to skew towards the female end. this doesn’t correlate 1:1 with intersex females simply because an underdeveloped vulva still looks like a vulva. to answer your question, the ones who are AMAB are still overwhelmingly male. the doctors are not purposely scheming and declaring a male baby a female baby because they see a male and decide to shake things up: they see a female baby because of the ambiguous genitalia they see. it’s a mistake, not a conspiracy.

in the cases of Caster Semenya, and likely Imane Khelif, most intersex males in sports are essentially fully male but with internal gonads due to their condition, which makes their genitalia just appear as a vulva at birth. that’s why they’re raised as female. and it’s common knowledge that it’s easy to mistake the sex of prepubescent children outside of straight up looking at their genitalia because the sexual dimorphic traits that we can see from a distance don’t begin to really show until after puberty. this same thing happened to a swiss skiier in 1966, Erik(a) Schinegger, who accepted the reality of his male sex and even tried to return the medal he won to the woman he beat in the Womens Downhill Run Ski World Championship. Caster Semenya has fathered children and has every single sexually dimorphic trait as perisex men, the ONLY difference is that he was born with ambiguous genitalia that got labelled as female at birth.

i think you have your heart in the right place, but listening to what’s actually being argued in regards to Imane and intersex males (especially those with confirmed 5ar2d) is crucial. it’s very likely, if not guaranteed, he’s male and knows it. multiple boxing organizations have now come out to say he is. they cannot release private medical information (only Imane can, and he knows that if he’s asked to prove his sex and refute the claims it’ll show that he is in fact male) but they can say he did not pass a test that determines if XX chromosomes are present in the dna of the athletes, which by process of elimination means he does have XY.

i say all this in factual matter by the way. i have empathy for intersex males who grew up fully believing they are female until they underwent puberty, especially in Imane’s case where his home country is extremely misogynistic and anti-LGBT. however, it’s still completely unfair to the perisex female athletes who have to compete against males who are AWARE of their male sex, and are far more at risk of injury or death due to the nature of boxing. personally, i choose to put the safety of women over the hurt feelings of men who are just being told they can’t compete with women. no they didn’t ask to be born that way, but neither did perisex women.

the ioc is also complicit in muddying the waters of this situation too. they were the ones who let Laurel Hubbard compete, they are the ones who refuse to do sex testing to ensure fairness and instead go off of editable documents, and they are the ones insistent on making feminists look evil by intentionally conflating intersex men with intersex women. even women with pcos and hyperandrogenism do not have HALF the levels of natural testosterone as the LOWEST LIMIT of testosterone of males, including intersex males. the ioc allows intersex males to compete in the womens catsgory with higher levels of testosterone than women who are banned by DOPING WITH TESTOSTERONE. literally, trans men who take T are not allowed even if they still have lower testosterone than intersex males. this is why we’re frustrated with the ioc and with the situation with Imane.

I see. I'm not too proud to admit that I can be wrong. My honest answer to this whole situation is that I do not know enough about it. I did not know all of this. Thank you for sharing. I'm interested to know what others have to say in favor/opposition to this.

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

New Hampshire Parents punished for silently expressing that they don't want their daughters XX getting killed playing sports against boys XY

"Male access to sports teams and spaces previously reserved for biological women and girls is opposed by GOP presidential candidate Donald J. Trump. However, President Joe Biden and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris are pushing hard to make “gender identity” rather than biological sex a protected class."

"...the pink armbands were deemed a violation of the school’s policy against threatening, harassing, or intimidating any person.”

"In August, a federal judge also ruled a Virginia school district could not prevent a male from playing against girls’ middle school tennis teams."

"Several parents have been issued “No Trespass” after protesting a male student being allowed to play in a girls’ soccer game. The parents attended the game wearing pink armbands marked “XX” in protest against the inclusion of a transgender player on the opposing team, aiming to support their daughters from Bow High School, New Hampshire.The parents had previously expressed concerns to the school’s athletic director regarding their daughters playing against a male in a physical sport like soccer. However, they were told that the school could not take action due to a federal judge ruling that the term “girl” includes males who identify as female.In response, several parents donned pink armbands to show their objection. This led to their receiving “No Trespassing” orders enforced by the police. “My daughter’s playing in the homecoming game this weekend, and I’m banned until the 23rd,” parent Anthony Foote told local media. I can’t watch her play in homecoming—which is ridiculous.”

According to the order signed by the district’s superintendent, Marcy Kelley, the pink armbands were deemed a violation of the school’s policy against “threatening, harassing, or intimidating any person.” However, videos from the match reportedly show that people upset by the armbands caused the only disruptions.

[romantic-musings]

How are trans men real men, and how are trans women real women?

before i answer i'd like to mention that i have a degree in biology, so i know what i'm talking about.

sex and gender are two different things. biological sex is not as cut-and-dry as many people think. sex is determined by both genotypic (chromosomes) and phenotypic (genitalia) expressions. most people with XX chromosomes have internal and external female genitalia, and most people with XY chromosomes have internal and external male genitalia. but there is not an insignificant number of people who don't fall into either camp. it's estimated that about 1% of the population is intersex, but we don't have an exact number because so many intersex conditions are purely genotypic. many people aren't even aware that they're intersex. there are XX people with internal and external female genitalia who have a genetic mutation that causes them to produce higher levels of male hormones, there are XX people with female genitalia who have the SRY gene (typically only found on the Y chromosome) who have small testes, there are X people with internal and external female genitalia who are missing a chromosome and have limited development during puberty, there are XY people with penises and testes who have a genetic mutation that results in them also having a uterus and ovaries, there are XY people who have a genetic mutation that causes low dihydrotestosterone which can result in either male internal and external genitalia or female external and male internal genitalia, there are XXY people who have an extra chromosome and present along a spectrum of male and female genitalia. here's a diagram that shows just how complicated biological sex really is:

(to read the article this is from and zoom in on the diagram click here).

and that's just sex! we haven't even touched on gender yet! gender is a combination of personal identity, expression, and cultural norms. many things you would consider to be exclusively feminine or masculine traits are unique to western (or just anglican) culture. in many cultures hair length has nothing to do with gender. men all over the world wear what some would consider dresses. in ancient and modern tribal societies all around the globe, child care is everyone's duty, not just women's. everyone hunts, not just men. men are expected to dress extravagantly and paint their faces to impress women. cooking, cleaning, and other domestic chores are done communally. in hunter-gatherer societies, both ancient and modern, gendered division of labor depends on latitude-- the closer to the equator, the more there is to forage, so everyone gathers, not just women. the idea that there are inherent biological traits (such as tendency for violence or care giving) that each gender has comes straight from white supremacy and their racist belief that the more civilized the society, the more pronounced eurocentric gender roles are. this is why women of color, especially black women, have their womanhood questioned and scrutinized, and why they're often characterized as brutish, violent, and mannish. it's why black female athletes are far more likely to be singled out for transphobic accusations and "gender confirmation" tests. and, by the way, there's no such thing as a male brain or female brain.

so to answer your question: trans men are real men and trans women are real women because sex =/= gender, and gender is not as rigid or well-defined as you think. neither is biological sex, for that matter. and before someone says "but 1% is so small, why should we count them?" australia holds only 0.33% of the world's population, but they still matter.

[yellow-lemon-lime]

probably a hot take, but I honestly think Imane Khelif should sue IBA as well. hear me out: Imane's genetic make-up and/or testosterone levels are still only alligations but let's imagine that they were proven and she did actually have XY chromosomes it is extremely unethical (and illegal) to disclose a person's health status without their consent. IBA may refuse to release the results because of medical confidentiality, but the moment that even started talking about it, they did a very bad thing. if she actually had XY chromosomes she could be in danger because someone decided to tell something that was confidential. IOC do not recognize IBA anymore, so it wouldn't have made a difference if her chromosomes were different from typical XX, but if IOC had done the test and determined that Imane had XY or higher than normal testosterone levels (which may or may not give her an "unfair" avantage, because surprise everyone, there are full-on biological women who have more testosterone than average, still doesn't make them men or giving them unfair advantages) and they decided to tell the world (with or without result papers) they would be breaking medical confidientality too

if IOC had been the ones banning Imane, because they found XY chromosomes, they could have made a general statement saying an athlete had been banned from competing, without disclosing any medical information (although I do think they did once ban an intersex athlete although I don't remember her name unfortunately)

bottom line is since not everyone reacts in a kind way, highly personal information should and must never be shared without the person's consent, no matter how true or false the information is the only time another person should have the right to know about a person's medical conditions is in regard to STDs if they're going to sleep together. not even in situations like blood donation do they tell the patients that they had to throw out John's blood because they found out John had hepatitis. they just wouldn't use John's blood if a person wants to tell "hey I'm trans or gay or intersex" or whatever, it should be their call alone to tell if and when they want to

[notasapleasure]

This whole shit show stems from a unilateral and non-transparent decision made by the discredited leader of the IBA at the world championship.

Since Rio and accusations of rigged matches, the IOC have refused to deal with the IBA and they're seeking a new body to manage boxing in LA '28.

Both [Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan] were disqualified from the 2023 World Championships in New Delhi, which was run by the International Boxing Association (IBA).

Khelif was disqualified hours before her gold-medal fight, while Lin was stripped of her bronze.

In a statement yesterday, the IBA said the “disqualification was a result of their failure to meet the eligibility criteria for participating in the women’s competition, as set and laid out in the IBA Regulations”.

These regulations state that only people with XX sex chromosomes can compete in women categories.

The IBA regulations add that “boxers can be submitted to a random and/or targeted gender test to confirm the above”.

Women typically have XX chromosome pairs, and men typically have XY pairs.

IBA president, Russia’s Umar Kremlev, previously said in a post to Telegram post that DNA tests had “proved they had XY chromosomes and were thus excluded”.

This detail was not included in yesterday’s statement by the IBA, which said the “specifics” of the tests undertaken by both boxers “remain confidential”.

So whatever this test was, the IBA feel they can chat about it on social media but not include it in their official statements? Or, not even the IBA, but Umar Kremlev, who has links to the Russian state and who the IOC demanded step down after Rio if the IBA was to continue working with the Olympics.

“These two athletes were the victims of a sudden and arbitrary decision by the IBA. Towards the end of the IBA World Championships in 2023, they were suddenly disqualified without any due process.

“According to the IBA minutes available on their website, this decision was initially taken solely by the IBA Secretary General and CEO. The IBA Board only ratified it afterwards and only subsequently requested that a procedure to follow in similar cases in the future be established and reflected in the IBA Regulations. The minutes also say that the IBA should “establish a clear procedure on gender testing.

“The current aggression against these two athletes is based entirely on this arbitrary decision, which was taken without any proper procedure – especially considering that these athletes had been competing in top-level competition for many years.

So this whole thing is playing off and whipping up transphobia, intersexism and racism, but afaik neither of the women involved have made any statement about even being intersex. I recommend caution applying this term until we hear anything from the women concerned, not least given the bizarre lack of transparency around the tests conducted by the IBA. Think of Caster Semenya, who does not choose to use the word intersex to describe herself, who has been through hell having her identity pored over and defined over her wishes in public, and be fucking careful with your language <3

[gendiebrainrotreceipts]

thank you for speaking out on the boxing thing. I don’t understand why it’s hard to understand that facts matter and conspiratorial thinking and dishonesty is wrong even when feminists do it. We need to base our view on the facts available. Not have a view and try to look for facts that fit it. I’m a rad fem myself and I’ve had it—I’m taking a break from all social media indefinitely. This whole debacle has been so disgusting to witness. Why has everything we say about intersex people when it’s to refute TRA’s gone out the window? We have NO concrete evidence of anything, everyone is just repeating tweets! People refuse to fact check! And since WHEN is a female (xx bona fide female) with above average testosterone considered intersex and not TRULY female??? All they are doing right now is giving the TRA’s fuel about how they say rad fems can’t actually define a woman and are conservative and racist. Embarrassing. I’ve really lost any hope. The rad fems AND the TRAs are just immature chronically online haters who don’t read, just pretend they do, don’t help people in real life, just pretend they do.

I think it’s worth mentioning she does apparently have xy chromosomes(so probably has something like swyer syndrome) and possibly elevated testosterone, but otherwise I completely agree the whole conversation around this athlete is needlessly toxic and full of misinformation. I admit I’m personally not fully settled on whether she does have an unfair advantage or not, but it’s truly a shame we can’t even discuss it without making baseless claims and lashing out. This subject requires nuance, sensitivity and careful thought and consideration, not just calling a (probable) intersex woman a man and being done with it

[obaewankenope]

You know... All this hatred Jk Rowling has for transfolks and her doubling-down on gender being an X or Y science thing... It would be beyond hilarious if Rowling did the chromosome test and found out she had one of those rare chromosomal variations (like Klinefelter Syndrome: XXY chromosomes, or Swyer Syndrome: females with XY chromosomes) that meant she wasn't a "real" woman by her own standards of XX only lmao

Like, I feel like that would be fitting for the woman who stirs up so much transphobia and goes on and on about male on female violence about the Olympics and then tries to double-down on it not being about the athlete directly but "obviously" it's a more general thing and how it looks and blah blah

Just... Hey Joanne. Joanne, hey. Why don't you do the DNA test and release the results and show us your chromosomes? Give us that very private information in a public sphere on the internet where nothing really dies to prove you're really a womanly woman. Hmm... No? Odd how you don't want to do that but demand someone else should.

Gods I fuckin hate her

[cryptidjeepers]

I feel like im going fucking insane. Was i the only one that took grade 12 bio where we literally learned that xx and xy chromosomes arent the only combinations and that a biological woman (with female genitals and a working reproduction system) can have a y chromosome. Like i literally learned that in school what the fuck are yall on. Transphobes keep creating these woman goalposts and then when it doesn't cover their bigotry, the move the goalpost even further. They want athletes to have their gentials checked (HUH???) but if theyre actually the "right" gentials then its something else. Im losing my fucking mind

[pinkrabbitsbythenational]

terfs are so violently racist towards black intersex athletes and they also defeat their own logic whilst doing it. they say having high testosterone levels (even if they have XX chromosomes) makes them male but when it comes to trans woman on estrogen “hormones don’t decide your sex it’s whether you’re XX or XY” make up your damn minds!

[queer-advice-hotline]

Ok, are my parents transphobic?

They explicitly said they don't think trans women should be in women's sports (my dad also misgendered an athlete purposelly to emphasise his point on this), said you can identify (they put enphasis on identify) as whatever you want, but you're either XX or XY, some dropped comments I don't specifically remember, but know were made, and ignored me both (first as lesbian, and agender lesbian 2 years later, I identify as triflux lesbian now) times I came out and tried to convince me I wasn't queer.

I am not sure if this can be considered transphobia or if I am overreacting.

(Sorry for the grammar, english isn't my first languange and sorry if this is random)

You’re not overreacting, they certainly sound transphobic.

[wingsofhcpe]

anyway my hot take is that segregating sports by gender is dumb as barnacles because your chromosomes alone say JACKSHIT about your skill and potential. Height, weight, training- all of that say more in sports than your "XX or XY" (not to mention this division alienates intersex athletes, as this whole debacle has shown).

Unless you're trying to tell me a "biological man" will always win against a "biological woman" when they have the same weight, height and training hours, because "the biological male is always stronger than the poor uwu woman"? Well then you're just a plain old misogynist, not a "radical feminist", and honestly I wouldn't trust you to hold my tea while I tied my shoelaces, let alone speak for me and other afab people & women worldwide.

Kindly take the L, shove it where no light shines, learn basic biology, and then maybe we can talk again.

[missinconsistent]

To anyone crying "b-but her chromosomes!"

There is no evidence that Imane Khelif has XY chromosomes. That rumor was started after she was disqualified from a tournament after taking an UNSPECIFIED "gender test." The legitimacy of said test, which was conducted by Russia, is suspected to have been rigged so Imane wouldn't wipe the floor with the Russian competitors. The tournament that disqualified Imane would also later lose its relations with other boxing organizations because its leadership was shady. So why trust what they say?

There is no public record of Imane being intersex or even having higher-than-average levels of testosterone. There IS record of her being born female on her passport and birth certificate. She has lived her life as a woman. Identifies as a woman. And has been eligible to fight in many women's boxing tournaments, including the Paris Olympics and the previous Tokyo Olympics, with no issue. If she were trans, she wouldn't have ever been capable of transitioning nor appearing in the women's sport, considering being transgender is illegal in her country.

And even if she was intersex, that wouldn't make her a man. The people crying about her possibly having XY chromosomes are the same transphobes who say sex should be determined by your genitals. But now that's been thrown at the window, they're resorting to middle-school-level thinking that XY = male and XX = female regardless of someone's biological body at birth. Which is logic they would NEVER grant actual trans-identifying people with.

Even if Imane was born in a woman's body with XY chromosomes, what could she do about it? What exactly do these people want her to do? Identify as a male even though she was born in a female body? So they'd call her trans no matter what??

And the argument that women's sports shouldn't allow intersex women or women with higher-than-average levels of testosterone are fucking ridiculous. Many female athletes have higher levels of testosterone. Policing women on if they're "female enough" to compete in a sport is disgusting and totalitarian.

News flash: the Olympics are meant to display athletes who are exceptional at the sport. Many Olympians have natural advantages, so why is it only an issue when it concerns gender? Saying that it is unfair to let women with high testosterone compete with other women is the same as saying it's unfair for taller than average basketball players to compete with other men. The Olympics aren't for your average joe. Plus, there are plenty of athletes, such as Michael Phelps, who have rare genetic conditions that aid them in their sport.

But that's not to discount that these Olympians, including Imane, EARNED their spot in the Olympic stadium. Imane has been a boxer for years. She had her fair share of losses, including the Tokyo Olympics, which no one had any issue with. It's disrespectful and misogynist to assume that the only reason Imane could have won that one match was purely because she's allegedly intersex, and not because she hasn't trained like hell to be an expert at the sport.

There are surely other women in the world who are intersex or have high testosterone who don't come close to the athleticism of Imane or any other Olympian, either. So, the argument of testosterone being an unfair natural advantage further proves itself to be baseless.

We should be able to celebrate the accomplishments of female athletes without bringing their femininity into question. We already mistreat female athletes as it is, we don't need any absurd reason to prevent exceptionally skilled women from competing over their hormone levels they have no control of.

Men aren't being tested on their testosterone levels, or if they happen to be born with XX chromosomes. Even though testosterone levels vary between men as well, and for all we know, maybe some of the male Olympians have XX chromosomes despite being born male. But it's only concern if the person in questiom is a woman. One who is not white nor traditionally feminine by Western standards.

The harrassment against Imane is not some honest attempt to protect womens sports or female athletes. It's a vain attempt to police women by pushing harmful, transphobic, and uneducated ideals on what women should be like.

[female-malice]

Thoughts on ban against Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi?

The DSD Regulations do not apply to 46 XX female athletes, none of whom (even those with polycystic ovary syndrome) would ever have testosterone levels above 5nmol/L’, wrote a World Athletics spokesperson in an email. ‘These 46 XY athletes have DSDs which mean that their testes are internal, and their lack of male external genitalia caused them to be assigned a female gender rather than male gender at birth. ‘From puberty onwards, their internal testes produce the same levels of testosterone (7.7 to 29.4 nmol/L) as are produced 46 XY males who do not have DSDs. And provided they have functioning androgen receptors, and so their bodies are able to utilise that testosterone (another condition that has to be met for the DSD Regulations to apply), those male testosterone levels give them exactly the same physiological advantages over 46 XX females as the 46 XY males without DSDs enjoy.

The DSD Regs only apply to Relevant Athletes, i.e. athletes who meet the criteria set out at 2.2(a)’, confirmed Jonathan Taylor, one of the authors of the Regulations. ‘And only 46 XY DSD athletes will meet those criteria. A 46 XX athlete could have an ovotesticular DSD, but she would not have enough testicular tissue to produce testosterone anywhere near 5 nmol/L.

World Athletics has in fact done a longitudinal study comparing performance of biologically female and biologically male athletes, which we call the world records’, continued the World Athletics spokesperson. ‘Over decades, these prove time and again that there is substantial difference between the best-performing male and female athletes (8-12% across different athletics disciplines, much more in other sports). The scientific consensus is that this is due to the substantial differences in size and strength of muscles, bones, the heart and the lungs (which drive strength and power) and in serum haemoglobin (which drives endurance) caused by the enormous sex difference in levels of circulating testosterone between females (46XX) and males (46XY), which emerge during puberty.

–

A country's DSD medical practices determine how many 46 XY DSD infants are operated on and raised as women.

Let's say country A raises 46 XY DSD infants as men and country B raises them as women. Should country B get more gold medals than country A?

[feelkindadizzy]

ID from ALT:

1. A purple and yellow infographic with an intersex flag that says: Intersex Awareness Week. Intersex people are born with variations in their sex traits or reproductive anatomy that do not fit traditional conceptions about male and female bodies. Learn the facts. On the right side of the image, there are two people faced away from the camera. One has an intersex flag yarmulke and long dark curly hair with a yellow shirt covered in clouds and rainbows. The other has a yellow knitted bandana reading “intersex” over their dark hair braids while wearing a purple t-shirt.

2. A purple and yellow infographic. It says, "Intersex is more common than you think. Nearly 2% of all people are intersex. If you’ve met 50 people, chances are you’ve met an intersex person." There is a photograph of a white intersex person named Kassie. She has short, dark hair and is giving a peace sign hand sign. She is wearing goose earrings and a pink sweater.

3. A purple and yellow infographic. It says, "Intersex is not a disorder. While some intersex people may have additional health needs, there’s nothing wrong with bodies looking a little different. Hormones, gonads, genitals, and even chromosomes exist on a spectrum. Intersex is beautiful!". There is a photograph of a white intersex person named Courtney, who has long ombre blonde hair and glasses. They are wearing a tank top with the colors of the intersex flag.

4. A purple and yellow infographic. It says, "Intersex Describes a person’s body. Intersex is usually used to describe innate physical traits, not gender. Like anyone, intersex people can have any gender and any sexual orientation. There are intersex men, women, nonbinary people, and others!". There is a photograph of an East Asian intersex man named Justin. He has short dark hair and rests his chin on his hand, wearing a red t-shirt.

5. A purple and yellow infographic that says, "Intersex people deserve control over their bodies. Despite opposition from healthcare and human rights groups, surgeries to “normalize” children’s bodies based on stereotypes continue today. They often result in complications, loss of sensation & sterilization. Let kids grow up and decide for themselves!". There is a photograph of a Black intersex person named Desmond. They have dark, curly hair pulled back, glasses, and facial hair. They wear a mostly black outfit with many details of color, and stand at the beach with a forearm crutch.

6. A purple and yellow infographic. It says, "Intersex allyship is EASY. E: Educate others about intersex people through social media, in hospitals and classrooms, and with friends and family. A: Adapt your language to avoid unscientific gendering of body parts. “XY and XX” are not “male and female chromosomes.” S: Speak up to question stereotypes about people—”real womens’ bodies do this” or “real men don’t look like that.” Y: You can be an advocate for respect and equality in schools and workplaces, and gendered spaces like restrooms and athletics."

7. A purple and yellow infographic. It says, "Learn about intersex people. Covers of books, movie posters and images for: 1 “Every Body” on Prime Video 2) “Nobody Needs to Know” memoir 3) “Inverse Cowgirl” memoir 4) “What’s it like to be intersex” Buzzfeed video 5) “Youth Stories on interACTadvocates.org"

END ID

Happy Intersex Awareness Week! (October 21st-26th)

On Intersex Awareness Day, we ask the world to support intersex people in our right to live authentically and unapologetically. But one day hasn’t been enough—so welcome to #IntersexAwarenessWeek!

Intersex Awareness Day, October 26th, marks a historic day in the start of the intersex movement. A group of intersex people and their allies protested at an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) meeting nearly thirty years ago, to oppose the medical abuse and discrimination they’d endured.

Today, we are still fighting for that bodily autonomy. We're fighting for our freedom to exist as we are, beyond the stereotypical sex binary.  We're fighting against the belief that doctors' opinions of how our bodies look matter more than ours do.

But we are also visible. The intersex-inclusive flag is flown across the country. Intersex people's bodies are starting to be taught in health classes and across medical schools. Intersex people are featured in films, memoirs, runways and on the morning news. We are here, and we're not hiding again.

Learn more & educate others! Look through our images and share them far and wide! Linked below is our Intersex FAQ for all the basic questions, and we'll be sharing new resources and tips to be an ally all week long! (We will only be blazing this post, however!)

We also suggest checking out other United States intersex organizations such as Intersex Awareness, Intersex Justice Project, Club Intersex, TIGERRS, The Houston Intersex Society, and InterConnect!

For those not in the USA, here is a list of international intersex organizations!