#intersex media

[celluloidrainbow]

性別が、ない！インターセックス漫画家のクィアな日々 | NO GENDER! THE QUEER LIFE OF AN INTERSEX MANGA ARTIST (2018) dir. Shôgo Watanabe Up to the age 30, Sho Arai lived as a woman, but was found to be intersex after chromosome testing. Sho now lives as neither man nor woman, and creates essay manga based on the changes their body has undergone. Sho has been dispatching messages on how to live to young readers who are also struggling with their gender identity. Sho lives with their assistant, Koh, a young gay man who they met 10 years ago at a vocational school where they teaches manga. Koh has himself debuted as a manga artist and come out publicly. When Sho reveals the inner state of their mind on camera, their relationship moves in an unexpected direction. (link in title)

[renthony]

How would one go about making an intersex character

That's a big question, and I want to emphasize that I'm only one person, and I can only speak for my own personal experiences. There is no one-size-fits-all guide to this sort of thing.

My advice is therefore the same as it would be for writing any character whose identity you don't share:

Understand that you might fuck it up, but don't let it stop you from trying. No group is a monolith, and what resonates with one member of a group might be considered shitty representation by another member of that group. You're never going to make everyone happy, so instead of trying to make the "perfect representation," try to approach things with the mindset that nothing will ever be perfect. The goal is to have a wide variety of respectful representation, not create the Perfect Rep.

Engage with media created by people who share the identity you want to represent. You can't write a respectful piece of representation if you don't know how anyone in that group is representing themself.

Research activism connected to the identity you want to represent. What are the offensive stereotypes you should avoid? What kinds of sociopolitical issues affect this group of people? Are there any organizations dedicated to activism and support for this group, and have those organizations made any resources for allies?

Work with a sensitivity consultant, and preferably more than one if you can. Many people do this as a paid service, but there are plenty of people who are willing to arrange some kind of trade if financial hardship is an issue. If you absolutely cannot manage to get a consultant for whatever reason, doing your own research becomes even more important.

Since you asked about intersex representation specifically, let me help you get started with some relevant links:

InterAct's Intersex FAQ

InterAct's collection of informative brochures & guides

Intersex Human Rights Australia: Celebrating Intersex Firsts on TV

JSTOR: Intersex Narratives: Shifts in the Representation of Intersex Lives in North American Literature and Popular Culture, by Viola Amato

Human Rights Campaign: Understanding the Intersex Community

GLAAD Media Reference Guide: Intersex People

[theenbyroiderer]

Repost because original post is just gone for whatever reason.

Biology has never been binary, and gender even less so. Intersex people exist. And nonbinary people too.

[james-p-sullivan]

[gayhenrycreel]

gotta say, theres something really weird about how online queer spaces pretend that intersex people dont exist. even american queer rights orgs seem to ignore us. and then i see kiwi sites on queer communities and theres comparatively a lot of intersex stuff. i go to a local nurses office and intersex people are included in a pamphlet on representation in books. every queer rights org has a link to to sites for intersex rights. am i crazy or is america falling behind? its quite... concerning

[swivelbot]

Oh fuck pride months over…

What am I gonna do now?

[cepheusgalaxy]

(You don't know for how long I've been thinking on doing this)

LGBTQIA+ representation on media be like:

ID: The meme with an adult holding up one child in a pool while the other drowns, and underwater is a skeleton. The adult is labeled "LGBTQIA+ "representation" in media." The kid being held up is labeled "gays" with an asterisk of "sometimes, lesbians and bi people." The drowning child is labeled "Transgender and other sexualities/romantic orientations." The skeleton is labeled "Intersex people." /end ID.

(Edit: id by @aromanticsky)

[trans-axolotl]

i cannot deal with the amount of intersexism/interphobia all over social media today this shit is horrific. the amount of targeted racist and interphobic comments i've seen today directed towards Imane Khelif is so fucked up. truly wish her the best, she absolutely does not deserve worldwide harassment and people debating her intersex status like this. it's so fucked

[franknfurterstriangulardinosaur]

stop using disabled body as your idea of body horror. stop using us to be your villains. stop making us ghastly beings. stop making disabilities seem ugly and making ugly disabilities seem like a reason to disrespect them. stop treating disabled people as repulsive subhumans. stop using other people’s lives to make fantasy when that fantasy is simply stigmatising them. stop profiting over disabled hate. we are people. similarly, stop using intersex people as body horror as well. stop using us as this big horror in erotic art and other types of fiction. you have no right to demonise our bodies. respect people.

[celluloidrainbow]

MANI'S STORY (2002) dir. John Keir The life of intersex activist Mani Bruce Mitchell. Assigned male at birth, at the age of one they were taken off to specialists who reassigned them as female. Renamed Margaret, the rural New Zealand community where they lived held a meeting to discuss the decision and to encourage everyone to keep the family's secret. At eight, without explanation, they were given the surgery that "feminised" them. This documentary charts their discovery of the truth, choosing to own their sense of self as neither male nor female, and follows their journey to Milwaukee to present a paper with fellow activist David Vandertie. (link in title)

[blusical]

Idk how to properly explain it, but the amount of attacks against Imane Khelif aren't only misogynistic, racist and transphobic, but they also *reek* of intersexism. (Also, comparing a woman with high testosterone levels throwing a punch in boxing to literal domestic abuse is fucking weirdo behavior)

[chronicbeans]

New Headcanon, based on the fact that I've seen two other depictions of Lucifer/The Devil as intersex: Lucifer is intersex, but with his ability to shape shift, he's able to hide his more feminine features a little. Also, I headcanon that many of the archangels are probably intersex, too. That comes from my idea that while God created Adam, Eve, and Lilith in His own image, He created the archangels in a version of His image He felt humans would not understand. He didn't believe they'd understand, since when He created humanity, they didn't have free will or knowledge. After they ate the forbidden fruit, though, humanity began to gain the knowledge to understand what being intersex is, so He began to create intersex humans.

Lol excuse my long tangent. I just wanted to drop this thought before I forgot it. My brain is a bit loopy rn lol.

[seraphim777s]

acts of cruelty towards whole families

[thembones07]

i just watched it and I can't believe the 1985 movie Enemy Mine isn't more popular on Tumblr. it's what you freaks live for.

it seems like a normal alien movie at first but it gets wild. it's about a human and a member of the alien species humans are at war with getting stranded together on a deserted planet and overcoming their differences.

it's also contains...

an enemies to friends to partners storyline

intersex and nonbinary aliens, as well as other cool alien life

feral single fathers

commentary on discrimination (especially ethnic and racial) and colonisation

mikey mouse as humanity's supreme scholar

and last but DEFINITELY not least...

canon mpreg

please go watch it. now. it is for the queers and the monsterfuckers and we need to revive it. the gay stuff is technically not canonical but it is sure close to it.

PLEASE I BEG YOU

[rxt-attack]

In light of ..... recent events, I thought it best to remake that recommendations post I did quite a while back. This is a playlist put together by Hbomberguy and it has quite a number of excellent queer video essayists + some people James Somerton plagiarized. I wanted to add a few people to the list.

Jessie Gender - I cannot recommend her enough. She covers issues facing women as well as trans, nonbinary, and autistic people. She also discusses other marginalized communities (Got this info from her YouTube bio). She analyzes media through these lenses while remaining empathetic and often delivering a nuanced take. HOWEVER, that's not all. Jessie does insanely well researched videos about Sci-fi (shout out Star Trek) and other "geeky" topics. She's working on a short film right now so the channel has kinda flatlined. Go give her some views!

Yhara Zayd - I haven't watched them in a bit but Zayd does videos analyzing media, often through the lens of race. Special shout-out to their "The Day Rue 'Became' Black" vid! Their work is eloquent, well researched, and you can find their sources listed in the bio of vids.

Philosophy Tube - Do I even need to say anything??? Go check out the play she wrote, "The Prince." You can find a recording of it on Nebula. I haven't watched it yet but I plan to.

Anyway these creators (and the ones of the playlist) are only a few of the great people analyzing media, talking about queer history, and more. These lists don't even include the numerous writers from whom James stole from. They all deserve support and I hope they get it. If you have any more reccs (including articles), list them below!