For Parents/Families/Birth Professionals
U.S. finally begins to acknowledge “Intersex Genital Mutilation”!
We are very pleased and excited to see this recent piece titled, “Infant Intersex Surgery: Genital Mutilation in the U.S.?“, in Law Street Media! OII-USA, along with other advocates, has always considered medically unnecessary, non-consensual, “normalizing” genital surgeries and medical treatments of intersex people to be a human rights violation akin to Female Genital Mutilation…
Read MoreWatch Outstanding New Zealand Documentary INTERSEXION
If you haven’t caught it yet, the New Zealand intersex documentary Intersexion (Ponsby Films, 2012) is a must see, and is now available online on You Tube! It speaks with a diverse group of intersex community members from around the world to explore the human rights violation of nonconsensual, medically unnecessary “normalizing” surgeries — a.k.a. Intersex Genital Mutilation…
Read MoreWorld Health Organization: Sexual Health, Human Rights and the Law
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a report titled, Sexual Health, Human Rights and the Law, which examines medically unnecessary medical surgeries on intersex children, a.k.a. Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM). The report calls for a deferment of IGM until intersex persons areole enough to make decisions, if any, for themselves. It also calls for…
Read MoreUN Report Calls for Ban on Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Intersex Infants and Minors!
On June 1, 2015, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report on human rights violations against individuals based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. The report, titled, Discrimination and violence against individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, is the second ever official UN report on the subject –…
Read MoreViloria presenting May 1st at BirthKeeper Summit
Hida VIoria will be jointly presenting, “Protecting Genital Autonomy and Children’s Rights”, with Marilyn Milos (Executive Director at NOCIRC), J. Steven Svoboda (Executive Director at ARC), and Soraya Miré (Executive Director at Persistent Productions), on May 1st at the annual BirthKeeper Summit, “Healing Birth is Healing Our Earth”. The Summit is a fantastic three day…
Read MoreOII-USA’s Viloria in Oxford U Press college textbook!
We are thrilled to report that OII-USA/ICE Executive Director Hida Viloria’s May 2014 essay, “What’s in a Name: Intersex and Identity,” will be published by Oxford University Press this December in the college textbook, QUEER: A Reader for Writers, by Jason Schneiderman. The essay elaborates on the importance of de-pathologization and using “intersex” rhetoric for attaining…
Read MoreWords from Malta, the first nation to ban Intersex Genital Mutilation/IGM!
“I am very proud to be from a country that has from now on the most comprehensive and respectful laws when it comes to the rights of trans and intersex people. No one should be declared mentally ill, undergo forced surgery or [be] forced to go through a divorce, in order to be recognised as…
Read MoreHow Common is Intersex? An Explanation of the Stats.
The most thorough existing research finds intersex people to constitute an estimated 1.7% of the population*, which makes being intersex about as common as having red hair (1%-2%). However, popularly misinterpretted, much referenced statistics would have you believe are numbers are much lower. Here’s why. Some groups use an old prevalence statistic that says we…
Read MoreNew study confirms OII’s message: we are “Intersex”, not “DSDs”!
A recent study published in the International Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology (March 16, 2015), titled, “Congenital adrenal hyperplasia patient perception of ‘disorders of sex development’ nomenclature”, found that: “71.0% disliked or strongly disliked the term DSD. 83.6% stated they did not identify with the term DSD. 76.0% felt that the term DSD has a negative…
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