#intersex anon

[fixing-bad-posts]

Submitted by Anon: "You don't need to credit me for these, I just want to spread intersex awareness and positivity, these were radfem posts on the main intersex/intersex positivity tags that personally upset me as an intersex person."

[yourfaveisintersex]

Jenny Becker from Our Permanent Vacation (made by @ravenlynclemens) is canonically intersex, and her variation is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)!

[startheskelaton]

H*rmaphrodite is a slur please don’t use it…

I did not know this!!! I was under the impression that it was just the scientific term.

I claim full responsibility for the mistake. I won’t go back and redo the comic as it should stay as it was, but I will not use the term anymore and just use “intersex”

Thank you for letting me know!!!

[bonefall]

i dont think people are upset that the erins "weren't creative" enough with Moonpaw, they're upset that she's just. not a chimera. thats just a longhaired tortie and they justified it with chimerism. which is extremely insensitive because chimerism is a real medical thing that can cause issues in every species, including humans for those that dont know, and thats like. a big thing.

like, yay some disability rep (depending on how they write it. it wont be good. ughh) but like. its not going to be considered a disability when it can be in some cases. they are just going to say "ohh shes so special!!" like some people say with autism in this age (the infantilization of it) and its gonna be. weirdddd

anyways. sorry for ranting in your inbox.

Hey. Woah. THIS is insensitive and I don't know where you're getting this from. NONE of the three types of natural chimerism are a disability and it is extremely rare that fusion chimerism leads to medical complications.

Do not spread misinformation about a genetic condition because you're annoyed about the writing team confusing a common tortie fur pattern with chimerism. THEIR mistake is ultimately harmless. What YOU'RE doing is stigmatizing.

Quite frankly, after seeing a bunch of posts and receiving several asks about this, I don't think half of the people who are getting mad actually know anything about chimeras. I sure as fuck hope it's just ignorance, and that you aren't out here trying to call the state of being intersex a disability.

But I can fix ignorance. No need to assume malice. I will explain what chimerism is, and why you should stop going around implying it "causes issues in every species."

Chimerism is when a single individual is comprised of cells from two or more fully fertilized zygotes. There are two BROAD types of chimerism;

Artifical

Natural

Artifical chimeras are common with the advent of modern medicine. Ever had a blood transfusion? Organ transplant? You are a chimera. Or at least were for a while.

THIS can lead to complications and can cause disability, but it's not what Moonpaw is. She would be a type of natural chimera, which in and of itself has THREE subtypes;

Micro chimerism

Blood chimerism

Fusion chimerism

Microchimerism is so common that I could make a Your Mom joke out of it. It's caused by the passage of cells between the fetus and placenta during pregnancy. Everyone who has ever been pregnant is a microchimera.

While it can lead to complications, it can also be beneficial. Pregnancy could be considered a type of temporary disability, but no one would expect disability rep from every character who had ever given birth.

Blood chimeras are common in species whose twins typically share a placenta, such as cows and marmosets, but very rare in animals like humans and cats which usually don't. It occurs when tissue between two twins is exchanged through the umbilical chord. This type of chimera often ends up with a mixed bloodtype, hence the name.

This is the cause of freemartinism in cattle, when fraternal cow twins cause a sister to share her brother's hormones and act more like a bull. A type of intersex condition, not a disability-- so I sure HOPE you aren't trying to imply THIS should be "disability rep."

And even in the other case, would you automatically expect disability rep from a character that has two blood types?? No. Just like you wouldn't automatically expect disability rep from every character that had ever been pregnant, or every character who had ever needed a blood transfusion

And lastly, the one that Moonpaw ACTUALLY is. A fusion chimera. These are created when two fully fertilized zygotes fuse into a single individual.

These are extremely rare because you can't usually TELL when an individual is a chimera. There is no obvious physical difference between the "halves," with some cases of doctors insisting that patches are just weird birthmarks. They live their entire lives with normal health problems like non-chimeras. It mostly causes complications when DNA testing results in a false negative-- because the offspring of a fusion chimera occasionally end up being their genetic nespring.

Or, the two "halves" are male and female, causing gonadal differences. These people aren't disabled, there's nothing wrong with their bodies, but they're subjected to unneccesary cosmetic surgeries as children because they are intersex.

Say it. SAY IT. INTERSEX. I N T E R S E X. IM GRABBING YOU BY THE SHIRT AND SHAKING YOU THEY ARE INTERSEX.

Can some intersex conditions cause disabilities? YES. Are intersex conditions inherently disabilities? NO. Even when you're discussing infertility as a disability, tread VERY CAREFULLY because intersex people are fighting very hard to lift the stigma over their bodies.

Speak with care. Do not equate being intersex with being disabled. They are two different things.

You can be both and sometimes one could contribute to the other, but BEING intersex IS NOT a disability.

VERY rarely, even MORE rare than standard chimeras which are already very very rare and massively underreported because they are so unremarkable, a fusion chimera will happen LATE in utero. THIS can contribute to a chronic autoimmune condition where the cells reject each other, which is a disability.

And by rare I mean one case. Literally one. Of the 50 reported fusion chimeras in the review I'm referencing, Taylor Muhl was the only one with this. 4 were discovered via congenital abnormalities (unknown if connected to the chimerism b/c they were only tested because something was already wrong), 17 had fertility issues, and the remaining 28 didn't report immune conditions or birth defects but INTERSEXUALITY.

ANOTHER condition is often lumped in with chimerism, by people who do not know what chimerism is, which is mosaicism. Mosaicism, when there are two different sets of genes resulting from the same zygote, is NOT chimerism. MOSAICISM can be a cause of disability. CHIMERISM is usually not.

(Read the review in depth, as it includes mosaic cases for the sake of completion.)

They can both be fertilization errors, but are not the same thing. Follow me, I'm only going to woefully simplify a complicated topic once,

CHIMERA = Two zygotes in one body

MOSAIC = Two bodies in one zygote

CHIMERA = usually fine

MOSAIC = usually bad

And the last possible places you could be getting the idea that chimerism "causes disability" from, to my knowledge, is 1. This study that says the loss of a twin in early pregnancy increases the chance of congenital defects in the survivors (has barely anything to do with chimerism, this link is tangential, vanishing twin syndrome does not necessarily mean it was absorbed by its sibling)

Or, 2, this study of several animals where they correlated rates of benign tumors to % of chimerism based on SPECIES. BLOOD chimeras. It's COWS AND MARMOSETS AGAIN. The study ITSELF calls for further targeted research of chimerism cause of susceptibility to cancer.

It couldn't even link new growths or malignant tumors to chimerism in the mammals of its study. WE'RE mammals.

Correlation does not equal causation. Statistics 101.

So no. That's not "a big thing." Chimerism is fine, they're just very likely to be intersex if they're a fusion chimera of a male and a female zygote. Do not imply intersexuality is a disability. Please get mad about the actual ableism in the series, not the team being clueless about tortie patterns.

Also everyone say you're sorry to intersex Moonpaw. I better see you people making intersex Moonpaw pride flag edits as penance IMMEDIATELY.

UPDATE: Anon apologized! Growth! I still think this is an important post, especially in the context of the wider fandom conversation, so I'm leaving it as-is. Please feel free to reblog.

UPDATE 2: Clarification on infertility as a disability because I didn't word myself very well in one section!

[brella-boi]

the gynandromorphic angel beetle pin is absolutely sick, i love it!

i do apologise for the question lol, but would you ever consider also giving it an intersex colourway, since you're considering a nonbinary one? i just think that would be neat as an intersex person myself!

Anon I am grabbing you by the cheeks and giving you a forehead smooch

If people want an intersex flag coloured beetle I shall make it real!!

This beetle is near and dear my heart and it can cover such a wide variety of identities that yes absolutely I hear you guys yelling from the rooftops!!

I'll have to figure out how to make the intersex one and the enby one different from each other though, since they pretty much have the same colour minus the white and grey.

I was considering doing that for pride month really, however I'll leave it up for a vote!

Old mockups from concept colourways

[the-intersex-experience]

I just want perisex people to leave intersex transfem and intersex transmasc people alone.

Just because you don't understand us/we don't conform to your terms that didn't include us in the first place doesn't mean we're not who we say we are.

We don't have to have this perfectly perisex-adjacent backstory to be valid as a transfem or transmasc person.

We are who we say we are. We're intersex and we are transfem/transmasc. Period.

.

[lyn-yeah-that-one]

Your PCOS is intersex post is great and I kind of want to add on since some people seem to not be understanding it.

PCOS can be misdiagnosed as CAH, which is a medically recognized intersex condition. These people who say PCOS isn't intersex really makes it feel like someone who goes 20, 30, even 40 years being diagnosed with CAH, only to later find out it was PCOS MUST have the intersex label revoked.

Or how about people who have CAH and were misdiagnosed as PCOS for years and then find out they're intersex and the amount of identity confusion that could cause?

If PCOS can be so easily misdiagnosed as CAH and vice versa, how is one intersex and the other isn't? I've seen so many stories of them being misdiagnosed (both ways, might I add) and I'm sorry, but if they're that easy to misdiagnose as each other, then I don't understand how one is intersex and another isn't.

I don't have much to say outside of preach sister

(gender neutral version of sister. Sibling doesn't have the same ring. Brother doesn't either)

[intersexcat-tboy]

Looks transandrophobia is real because we're trans but can you stop tagging things with cringe ass shit like "menslib", cis men are already liberated and need to be taken down a notch

This ask was received a few minutes after this (link) was posted from queue

The flattening of intersex men's experiences to just be of those of "cis men" is not lost on me

Disabled, unhoused, neurodivergent, queer, and moc all need liberation. Men's lib includes trans men as well. The patriarchy holds us ALL captive

So, no 💖

[twinkfrottage]

can i request goblincore or like. forest grunge blinkies or stamps!! i love your intersex stamps sm waahh

TIP JAR | CASH APP

[yourfaveisintersex]

Stevonnie from Steven Universe is canonically intersex, non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns!

[moliathh]

Happy Lunar New Year of the Snake 2025 Ất Tỵ 🥳🎉🐍

[midnight-soulless-system]

hey so shinigami eyes is showing you as red when you weren't before :(

I mean shinigami is intersexist and transandrophobic/transandromisiast so really it was only a matter of when. Thanks for letting me know!

[the-intersex-experience]

transfem intersex experience is feeling really ashamed of having gynecomastia and wanting surgery to make it flat and then realizing youre transfem and actually growing to love it

.

[wc-confessions]

wtf is "intersex" and why are people shouting that certain cats (or sometimes ALL CATS??) are it???? Is this a gender thing that I'm ignorant of? Cuz that's cool I'd be happy to learn- but google says intersex relates to the actual physical body parts, and I'm just- Why do people care about this??????

Gender is one thing- affirming that shit correctly is SUPER important and I love the different hc's and interpretations there in ALL fandoms tbh, not just wc. But the actual physical body parts- how is that relevant. Why does anyone care. What are you using that info for. Why are people thinking about different body parts for these cats????.... Like why does a calico like Redtail HAVE to be intersex- does that mean something OTHER than Redtail having both male and female body parts??????? AND WHY IS THAT IN MY HEAD. I've never heard of an intersex pet cat in reality, even after working at the vet, is this just a genetics thing????

Like sure being able to have children can sometimes distinguish a character in terms of whether they will adopt or carry kits- but otherwise... why do people care what's swinging between the legs? What value is that info? Are these people DRAWING GENITALS OR SOMETHING??????

(Sorry if this ask is kinda iffy. I 100% understand if this ask gets deleted)

male calico cats are all considered intersex. the calico coat pattern is directly linked to two x chromosomes, which is why most calicos are usually female. male calicos have the xxy chromosomes which makes them intersex. redtail is intersex.

-mod ashensky

[sister-lucifer]

💸⭐anon again!

Intersex flag dividers, please :) the yellow flag with the purple circle :D

I love the one that's in a post with your Wales one but I adore variety

💜💛Intersex Dividers💛💜

please like, reblog, & credit if you use!

[DIVIDER REQUESTS ARE OPEN!]

DNI: TERFS, endo, proship, pro ana, nazi, MAPs, zoophiles

tag list: @ghostboneswrites2 @savanaclaw1996 @lordhavemercyyyyy @odysseuscore @bloodythornsandskulls @und3ad-mutt

[if you’d like to be on the tag list for dividers, please leave a message in my inbox]

[intersexfairy]

would a castrato/eunuch be intersex by nowadays standards?

idk i just live here. i dont know enough about the history. and i dont quite like applying modern terms to roles & identities meant to be understood in the social framework of their time + culture.

but as a related thought. if a change in sex characteristics is like... a genuine choice made my someone, i feel that fits more under the trans umbrella. if not, intersex umbrella. or maybe a third more nuanced thing not yet popularized. this is a general POV, nuance exists, and i am just one person and can be wrong.