Stories

Narratives, personal essays, and other works by intersex people.

  • Illustration on themes of coming out as intersex, having boundaries in advocacy. Image shows a person, numbly smiling and staring off into the distance, surrounded by hands making thumbs up gestures. The background is intersex flag colors.

Coming Out as Intersex: What I Wish I Had Known

October 18th, 2020|

How do you set boundaries when it can feel like changing the world requires laying yourself bare? When coming out as intersex and going public in the media with my own story as a teen, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Fellow intersex advocates share the tips and boundaries they wish they’d had. By

  • Is MRKH intersex? Illustration shows a person with medium-length hair in a baggy sweater reaching for floating puzzle pieces in the nearby air. The person also has puzzle piece shapes cut out from their body.

Is MRKH Intersex? Ask a Different Question Instead

October 4th, 2020|

Are people with MRKH—with mostly typical sex anatomy but born without a uterus and/or parts of the vagina—considered intersex? To get anywhere, we need to be asking completely different questions. By Maddie Rose     As a teen newly navigating dating and sexuality, I received news that turned my world upside-down: a diagnosis of Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser

  • Illustration on intersex and eating disorders - a person huddles in a bubble underwater with eyes closed, arms hugging themselves. Seaweed grabs and encloses the bubble.

When Will My Body Be Mine? On Intersex Surgery and Eating Disorders

September 30th, 2020|

Infant genital surgery made me feel like my body wasn’t mine. An eating disorder felt like a way to reclaim control. Here’s how I found my way out. By Marissa Adams Be aware: this personal essay covers infant genital surgery, medical trauma, and inpatient programs for anorexia. People with eating disorders learn to restrict

  • Illustration on surgery and congenital adrenal hyperplasia - a scalpel cuts along a dotted line, between one shape on the left that is a tangled pile of string, and another shape on the right that is an untangled string.

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia Surgery: A Mom and Nurse Busts 5 Myths

July 8th, 2020|

Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia is one of the most common medical terms associated with intersex genital differences. A mom and nurse sits down with an intersex advocate to uncover common misconceptions around genital surgery. By Hans Lindahl and Stephani Lohman   ALSO AVAILABLE IN SPANISH! "Una mamá y enfermera desmiente 5 mitos sobre la cirugía genital

  • Five intersex people with congenital adrenal hyperplasia: Allie, Jubi, Mari, Bria, and Sophia

5 Intersex People on Growing Up with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

June 12th, 2020|

June is CAH Awareness Month. Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia is the medical term given to one of the most common intersex conditions. We talked to five young people about their experiences with CAH, adrenal crisis, and growing up with intersex bodies. By Bria Brown-King   This essay is also available in Spanish, thanks to the translation

  • Glamour Photo of Jackie Green for Intersex Advocacy

Accepting Myself as an Intersex Woman

March 22nd, 2017|

My name is Jackie Green and for as long as I can remember my biggest fear in life was that someone would find out that I had XY chromosomes - a fact about me that you can’t see, feel, or sense in any way.  Yet I still found myself afraid of what others would think

What Would I Have Been Like?

February 20th, 2017|

What Would I Have Been Like? Examining hidden preconceptions & perils of the Intersex Experience (#1) by Karen Walsh This question has morphed quite a bit over the years for me. It went from common little girl fantasies of being a traditional Mom & wife, through imagining what I’d be like if I didn’t have Complete

Suffering in silence

April 11th, 2016|

Guest post by: interACT Board Member, Lynnell Stephanie Long When I was a child, and in the University of Chicago Hospital, I contemplated death more than life. At the age of 14 I was told I was infertile. The doctor told me matter of fact, and never offered any sort of emotional support. I was

My name is Robyn, and just like Lauren Cooper, I am also intersex.

April 7th, 2016|

MTV has done an amazing thing recently by adding an intersex character to "Faking It!" In said program, the character Lauren Cooper (portrayed by Bailey De Young) has Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. This means that she has XY chromosomes, developed as female, and her body no longer produces hormones so she takes estrogen pills.

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This Is A Custom Widget

This Sliding Bar can be switched on or off in theme options, and can take any widget you throw at it or even fill it with your custom HTML Code. Its perfect for grabbing the attention of your viewers. Choose between 1, 2, 3 or 4 columns, set the background color, widget divider color, activate transparency, a top border or fully disable it on desktop and mobile.