Inter/Act
A place for young people with intersex conditions or DSDs to come together, express themselves, and unite their individual stories to develop a voice for a new generation. We don’t always agree with each other, and we don’t expect you will, either.
Inter/Act is funded through a grant from the Ms. Foundation.
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(photo credit: Southern Poverty Law Center)
AIC (our parent org) has just successfully filed the first ever lawsuit in defense of a child with an intersex condition. The lawsuit charges that it was a violation of the Constitution when South Carolina doctors working for the state removed the healthy genital tissue of M.C., attempting to surgically make him a girl.
In partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center and our pro bono firm partners Steptoe & Johnson, LLP; and Janet, Jenner & Suggs, the lawsuit has been filed in both state and federal courts against South Carolina Department of Social Services, Greenville Hospital System, Medical University of South Carolina and individual employees for performing an irreversible and medically unnecessary surgery on a 16-month-old child in the state’s care at the time of the surgery. This lawsuit was filed on behalf of M.C., now eight years old, by his adoptive parents, Mark and Pam Crawford.
After laying the groundwork for more than six years and developing this case over the past two, this is a landmark triumph for AIC and, above all else, M.C. and the other vulnerable children like him. No other individual or organization before AIC has ever pursued an impact litigation agenda specific to defending children with intersex conditions/DSD: the historic significance of this lawsuit and the opportunity to broadly influence legal protections is unprecedented.
Thanks to you we’re in a prime position to pursue this lawsuit as the powerful civil rights authority that AIC has become. As with all of us at AIC, I know this news will likely evoke strong emotions. Please know that you are joined by a community of others who are also committed to compassion and justice for M.C., his parents, and all our special children.
We will have more information for you soon—please check back for further details and how you can help.
Visit AIC’s website to read the complete public statement.
Click to hear an audio interview with the Crawford parent’s from the Southern Poverty Law Center http://www.splcenter.org/
In community,
Anne Tamar-Mattis
NTHABI - TO CONFORM, OR NOT TO CONFORM?
For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to fit in, to be “normal” and be a part of a clique or group of people who accepted me. There was a point in my life where my desire to be accepted by others outweighed my desire to live, a point where I gave up my values, interests and ideas— just so that I could fit in. Well I have always been different. I was the girl that listened to rock music in a Black township where most teenagers listened to house music, hip hop or Kwaito (a South African style of popular music similar to hip hop). Having taste in music that is considered “white” in an African black township is not the coolest thing to do. I was the girl that preferred to go to the library while everyone went partying; being a nerd is also not easy in the township.Being intersex just made things worse and my attempts to fit in were sabotaged by my clearly androgynous appearance. I had to deal with daily whispers and comments such as, “Is it a boy or is it a girl?” My refusal to undress in front of other girls further ignited the curiosity from others regarding my sex and gender.
Read more
Inter/Act featured in Feminists for Choice’s Feminist Conversations
Feminist Conversations is a regular series at Feminists For Choice. Today they talked to Jim Bruce, Communications and Youth Coordinator for Advocates for Informed Choice, about the program Inter/Act. Inter/Act is the first intersex youth leadership development program in the world and is a project of Advocates for Informed Choice.
Inter/Act makes the GLMA Health Digest!
“Resource: Advocates for Informed Choice Release New Brochure
Inter/Act, a new youth leadership program for young people with intersex conditions or Differences of Sex Development (DSD), proudly announces a new brochure for health professionals: “What we wish our doctors knew…”. In this groundbreaking one-page handout, young people from the intersex/DSD community talk candidly about their experiences with healthcare. This is an important tool for any health professionals working with this population, or who just want to spread awareness. Click here to download the brochure. Inter/Act is a project of Advocates for Informed Choice.”
Word is getting around!
Inter/Act in the news
Open Society Foundations - Voices
Why Are Doctors Still Performing Genital Surgery on Infants?
January 30, 2012
“Despite such conclusive findings and harrowing accounts from young people speaking out about the abuse they experienced at the hands of medical providers, involuntary genital cutting remains routine throughout the world …”
http://www.soros.org/voices/why-are-doctors-still-performing-genital-surgery-on-infants
Feminists for Choice
Feminist Conversations: Elizabeth Reis talks intersex
September 4, 2012
“… Most intersex births do not require emergency surgeries, and parents should be told that. I would like intersex teens to have a chance to meet and support each other. There’s a wonderful group of young people in the U.S. called Inter/Act that works with Advocates for Informed Choice. They just published a brochure designed for parents and doctors that is just fabulous. Mostly, I’d like to see intersex discussed more openly and honestly, and I’d like to see our understanding of what is “normal” broadened …”
AIC’s Summer 2012 Newsletter - The Youth Edition!
Shana: What Inter/Act Means to Me
In November 2010, a friend of mine asked if I might be interested in getting involved with the development of a new project. It would be an online space designed specifically for young people with intersex conditions (DSD’s) to express themselves and connect with others. I immediately agreed.
Now, a year and a half later, Inter/Act has emerged as more than I could have imagined. More than just a collection of diverse lived experiences, this groundbreaking platform projects the voices of our often-invisible community into the universe. Much of my own journey in coming to terms with my condition and identity was one of solitude. For young people living with these conditions, the opportunity to express ourselves for the whole, complex beings we are, and to read the words of others knowing we are not alone, is priceless … Read more!
Imogen: Uniting the AIS Kingdom
From across the pond Inter/Act brings you Imogen: Uniting the AIS Kingdom!
(Due to Tumblr format restrictions Inter/Act has published Imogen: Uniting the AIS Kingdom on AIC’s website.)
Second Wave Interview Series, Vol. 2: Shana & Tony Briffa, Mayor of Hobsons Bay (Melbourne, Australia)
Inter/Act’s Second Wave Interview Series, Vol. 2: Shana in conversation with Tony Briffa, Mayor of Hobsons Bay (Melbourne, Australia). Mr. Briffa is the world’s first openly intersex mayor.
Shana: You recently gained widespread notoriety for being the world’s first openly intersex mayor. What made you decide to first run for public office, and how did your intersex condition play a part in that decision? Did you expect that there would be as much international press about it as there has been? How has that experience been for you?
Mayor Briffa: I stood for public office because I know politics is a great way to make a difference and contribute to the community. I’ve always had an interest in history, politics and human rights, and being intersex - along with my experiences as a result of the clinical management of being intersex as a child - contributed to making me a strong advocate.
I didn’t expect the global media attention but I am glad my election as mayor has helped raise awareness of intersex issues. The experience has been humbling because I’ve received so much lovely emails of support from all over the world.
Shana: How do you experience your gender in relation to your intersex condition? Has this changed over your life? Do you ever get responses from the transgender community? …
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Shana: “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” – C.S. Lewis
I was born with what’s now called Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (PAIS). That means that I, like women with CAIS (Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome), have XY chromosomes and was born with internal testes.
Unlike women with CAIS, however, people with PAIS are not generally born with genitals that look completely “female.” This is because the androgens (testosterone) that are produced in fetuses’ bodies, which do nothing in those with CAIS, do cause PAIS kids to virilize resulting in so-called “ambiguous” genitalia at birth.
When I was born, as it had been for several decades prior, the standard “treatment” for such cases was to operate, and “normalize” the genitalia’s appearance. Surgical techniques had certainly become more sophisticated as technologies improved, but the general idea was the same: This child’s body does not fit into the narrow classification boxes, this inescapable categorization that defines virtually everything about someone in our society. We must fix it …
