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Tomorrow, 26 October, marks Intersex Awareness Day, first observed in 2004 to “highlight the human rights issues faced by intersex people, to raise awareness of the unwanted cosmetic medical procedures intersex infants and children are often forced to go through, and to end the shame and secrecy surrounding being intersex” (https://ifmsa.org/). The United Nations Free & Equal campaign explains that “intersex people are born with sex characteristics … that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies”. Turns out that what we learned in high school biology class about X and Y chromosomes wasn’t all there was to know.

Amnesty International reminds us that being intersex isn’t rare: “According to experts, around 1.7% of the [world’s] population is born with intersex traits – comparable to the number of people born with red hair”. This Saturday, join us in celebrating and learning more about “the diversity that being a person means” (Eves, intersex human rights activist). To start your journey, check out the 2017 Darlington Statement by Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand intersex organisations: http://darlington.org.au/statement/

#QueeringTheMuseum #QTM #IntersexAwarenessDay #intersex #humanrights #equality #bodilyautonomy