Intersex Rights: History, Myths, and the Fight for Bodily Autonomy

When we talk about intersex rights, the movement to protect people born with sex characteristics that don’t fit typical male or female definitions. Also known as DSD (Disorders of Sex Development) advocacy, it’s not about labeling bodies—it’s about stopping non-consensual surgeries, ending shame, and letting people decide what happens to their own skin. This isn’t new. For decades, doctors in the U.S. and Europe cut, stitched, and hid intersex bodies in the name of "normalcy." Parents were told their child was "abnormal" and needed fixing—often before they could even speak. These procedures weren’t medical emergencies. They were cultural ones.

The real issue isn’t biology—it’s control. bodily autonomy, the right to make decisions about your own body without coercion. Also known as self-determination in medicine, it’s the foundation of every human rights movement—from abortion access to gender-affirming care. Intersex people have been denied this for generations. Hospitals performed clitoral reductions, testicular removals, and vaginal reconstructions on infants without consent, often leaving lifelong pain, infertility, and trauma. The medical community called it "correction." Intersex activists call it violence. And now, countries like Malta, Portugal, and Germany are starting to ban these procedures on minors. The U.S. still lags behind.

medical ethics, the principles guiding how healthcare should be delivered with respect, honesty, and consent. Also known as informed consent in pediatric care, it’s where the fight for intersex rights meets the law. If a doctor can’t get consent from a patient, they shouldn’t operate. Yet, for decades, intersex babies were operated on based on a doctor’s guess about gender, not science. Today, we know gender identity isn’t determined by anatomy at birth. We also know that many intersex people grow up to identify as men, women, non-binary, or something else entirely—and none of that should have been decided for them in a hospital nursery.

The stories you’ll find here don’t just talk about rights—they show how silence, shame, and science have shaped the lives of real people. You’ll read about how intersex identities were erased from medical records, how activists fought to get their experiences documented, and how the same systems that pathologized female pleasure or criminalized homosexuality also targeted intersex bodies. These aren’t abstract debates. They’re about people who were told their bodies were wrong—and who are now demanding to be seen, heard, and left alone.