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Aug 27 min read

A Brief Collection of Thoughts for Pro-Lifers When Talking About People with Intersex Conditions


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One of the most important things to remember as you embark on this conversation is that intersex conditions do not exist unattached from living creatures: they aren’t merely hypothetical, theoretical concepts that exist floating free from ties to creation. They are conditions that humans (and all sorts of other creatures in our world) have as an integral part of their existence, from a very, very young age (if not from conception!). So when we talk about intersex conditions, it’s important to first remember that you’re going to be talking about people with intersex conditions. Take a moment to rehumanize and remember that there are individuals with hearts, minds, bodies, and souls behind every idea you might talk about here.


Next, it's both a regrettable and important thing to note that, at least in the cultural world that I exist in as a practicing Catholic, the Theology of the Body that we have access to at this time doesn’t really adequately address the experience of intersex people. We don’t really have a Theology of the Intersex Body, in large part because the scientific reality of intersex conditions is coming to light more and more every day. Though historically there was some vague theory and knowledge of so-called “hermaphrodites,” the scientific facts that underlie intersex conditions are only just being discovered and shared as our medical technology improves. This is an issue that we as pro-life people have a responsibility to wrestle with in good faith and humility, especially considering that at least 1.7% of the global population is intersex (that’s the same percentage globally as the number of natural redheads, according to the most recent research on the subject using numbers from 1955-1998). Of course, that number isn’t even fully large enough, given that a number of intersex conditions are “cryptic,” or hidden from plain view, and aren’t necessarily tested for prenatally or in infancy. 


From the page “Intersex Definitions,” by InterACT, some examples of intersex conditions include: 

  • Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH)

  • Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS)

  • 46, XY complete gonadal dysgenesis (Swyer syndrome)

  • 46, XY partial gonadal dysgenesis

  • 5 alpha reductase-3 deficiency (5 ARD deficiency) and 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-3 deficiency (17 BHSD deficiency)

  • Ovotesticular DSD

  • Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH)

  • Hypospadias and Epispadias

  • X0 Turner Syndrome (TS)

  • XXY Klinefelter syndrome

  • There are many other, more unique intersex variations that exist, so feel free to poke around the “Intersex Variations Glossary” from InterACT Advocates: https://interactadvocates.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Intersex-Variations-Glossary.pdf 


Many of these conditions are caused by genetic or chromosomal variations, and some are potentially precipitated by environmental factors such as hormones received in the womb. In the intersex community, similar to the disability community, many activists and advocates prefer to think of their conditions not as necessarily a “lack” or as a “wrongness” in their bodies, but rather as a natural form of genetic and phenotypic diversity of creation. This leads to some of these advocates’ core beliefs: firstly, that aborting a child based on their intersex condition is not acceptable, that it is a form of discriminatory violence; and secondly, that intersex bodies do not need to be “edited” in order to be good bodies, and intersex people (particularly infants) should not be subject to invasive or irrevocable medical procedures just to make their genitalia or other sex characteristic “align” more with one of the typical “standards.”


These things are worth mentioning because these acts of violent discrimination against intersex people happen all the time. Selective abortions are currently done through genetic and phenotypic testing on preborn children to kill intersex fetuses, and those intersex babies who are born are often subject to surgical mutilation, though they cannot consent to these “non-lifesaving procedures to change natural variations in genital appearance or reproductive anatomy.”


Before we dive in further, it’s important to establish that there are many different models of sex in nature. Starfish can reproduce asexually; simply by being cut into several pieces their bodies can form whole new starfish, free from the need of sexual reproduction. Snails can be bisexual (in the scientific sense of the term) and can be both male and female, both depositing sperm in their mates and simultaneously receiving sperm from their mates to fertilize their own eggs. Some fungi have over 100 different sexes involved in reproduction. I think it’s important to note this because like many animals, it seems that human sex isn’t binary (either all-male or all-female,), even though that simplistic definition might be what we were taught earlier in our lives. Human sex appears to be bimodal, essentially meaning that sex characteristics are not a bar or point graph (like the one on the left here), but rather form a statistical distribution that has two concentrations around the so-called “standards” that we think of as “all-male” or “all-female,” like this:


two graphs labeled "Bimodal distribution." The first of which says "Sex is not" and shows a clear distinction between female and male. The second graphc says "sex is more like" and shows a gradient from female to intersex to male, with peaks at the female and male points.

On this graph on the right, you can see the middle says “intersex,” which is the section of humans who have sex characteristics that don’t align solely with either “mode.” Essentially, intersexuality is a biological condition in which at least one of the sex characteristics doesn’t “align” with the standard bimodal presentation of sex characteristics. These different sex characteristics include genetics, gonads, gametes, genitalia, other sex organs, and secondary sex characteristics like facial hair, voice box, body composition, chest hair, breast tissue, and potentially even aspects like brain chemistry and more. 


There is a deep-seated phobia of “non-normative” bodies and of intersex people that perhaps stems from the way that their existence challenges social perceptions of gender and sex. This fear often leads to support for and use of “intersex normalization surgery” on babies and children. If you or someone close to you is carrying or has given birth to a child known to have intersex traits, I entreat you not to speak in a way that would normalize such an unnecessary and invasive surgery. These procedures can result in a child’s long-term loss of fertility, sexual function, and emotional well-being, all out of a parent’s desire to raise a “normal” child. Most intersex conditions are not life-threatening and do not require immediate surgery. I encourage you to remind any family you encounter who has an intersex child (in the womb or already born) that every child is precious and worthy of dignity and bodily autonomy; when the child comes of age, the family should let that child determine what (if any) non-necessary surgical interventions are used on their one precious body.


On a similar note, many intersex advocates are passionate about letting intersex kids learn more about themselves as they grow and letting them determine their gender identity on their own timing and on their own terms. Sex is biological (genetic and phenotypic) and bimodal, as I’ve mentioned above; but gender identity is based on social norms around what it means to be a “man” or a “woman” (or other diverse experiences of social presentation). For many intersex people, the gender norms of “man” or “woman” don’t serve or fit them well, and the mismatch resulting from trying to fit them in a box they don't belong in could lead to mental health issues like depression, anxiety, and even DID (dissociative identity disorder). Therefore, encouraging parents who conceive and bear intersex children to allow these kids to use any pronouns and also change the name they’re called by is a way to accommodate the non-binary reality of their lived experience and also avoid unnecessary surgeries or processes that seek to pigeon-hole them into the normative expectations of a binary way of thinking about sex and gender that simply doesn’t fit their lives.


In this vein, I encourage the pro-life people that I meet to embrace a posture of humility and grace when it comes to how we encounter people who don’t fit strict gender norms, or who use diverse pronouns, or who even identify as trans. The thing that my husband and I often share with more conservative pro-lifers who balk at this suggestion is that ultimately, we are not God, nor are we anyone’s physician — it’s impossible for us to know (nor is it our business to ask) about all of the complex intricacies that make up another human’s experience of genetic or phenotypic sex. I don’t deserve to know and it’s not my business to know what’s in another person’s pants, or chromosomes, or gonads, or brain chemistry, etc. Therefore, making hostile judgments to “deadname” or intentionally use pronouns contrary to what a person tells us theirs are is both inhospitable and presumptuous. There was at least one example I saw recently of a trans woman (aka someone assigned male at birth who identifies as a woman) discovering in her 30s that she actually had XX chromosomes all along, making her intersex. I think her story just goes to show that we can’t know everything, and I think we often have to trust that people are giving us the best information that they currently know about themselves, including the gender they identify best with, whether that’s “man,” “woman,” “non-binary,” “gender fluid,” or none of the above.


All of this information and iterative mulling points back to the responsibility we have to be kind, gracious, humble, generous, understanding, and loving towards everyone that we meet, particularly vulnerable, marginalized people in the LGBTQIA+ community who have often been given the impression that there isn’t room for them in our movement, in our churches, and in our lives. Our movement and our community spaces should be open and welcoming to anyone who sincerely seeks to uphold human dignity in all circumstances, and it's on us to make that a reality.


Further resources on intersex conditions and lived experience

(Disclaimer: I don’t necessarily agree with the authors on everything, but reading from a place of humility to learn and understand is important, even if we don’t agree on everything)

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Disclaimer: The views presented in the Rehumanize Blog do not necessarily represent the views of all members, contributors, or donors. We exist to present a forum for discussion within the Consistent Life Ethic, to promote discourse and present an opportunity for peer review and dialogue.

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