Intersex

Introduction
General Information
Medical Experiences
Glossary
Intersex Flag
External Links: Intersex Organizations
External Links: Books/Journals/Studies/etc
External Links: Additional Resources

Introduction

While intersex people are not inherently considered to be transgender, many do identify as being transgender. It is not uncommon for intersex people to have complex relationships regarding gender. What an intersex person will identify with or as varies from person to person. All that being said, intersex people are often brought up in conversations regarding transgender people, so this page exists to clear up some misconceptions. On a similar note, intersex people are not inherently considered to be nonbinary, though some intersex people will identify as nonbinary (or another gender other than male or female). This will vary from person to person, as everyone has their own unique experiences.

Intersex is an umbrella term reffering to variations in sexual characteristics that fall outside of what is typically considered "male" or "female." There is a massive range of intersex conditions including but not limited to hormonal, internal, external, and physical variations.

Before we continue, no, intersex people and animals are not "biologically nonbinary." Biological intersex variations ≠ human nonbinary gender identity. No, you cannot transition to become intersex (the words you may be looking for could be "altersex" or "salmacian").

General Information

While intersex people are commonly thought of as people who have mixed/ambiguous genitalia, this is not the case for all or most intersex people. Intersex variations cover a wide variety of conditions that do not all present as distinct genital differences. Intersex children are often subject to IGM and grow up being medicalized and exposed to intersexism. Some intersex people are forced to undergo HRT as children, others willingly go on it at older ages.

Medical Experiences

It is not uncommon for intersex infants to undergo surgeries or hormonal treatments to appear as though they are not intersex. These procedures are often unnecessary, harmful, and overall traumatizing.

Due to the general desire of doctors to hide 'less noticable' intersex conditions or alter babies with 'more noticable' intersex conditions; many intersex people grow up not even realizing that they are intersex. Some don't find out until adulthood, and others never find out. Some intersex conditions don't present themselves in a noticable way until puberty or adulthood.

It can be hard to determing how many people are, in fact, intersex; due to underdiagnosis and medical abuse.

Glossary

Note that some additional terms can be find in the primary definition tabs of The Transgender Dictionary.

Amalgagender - A gender that is affected by or mixed into one’s intersex identity.

C.A.F.A.B. - Coercively Assigned Female At Birth

C.A.G.A.B. - Coercively Assigned Gender At Birth

C.A.M.A.B. - Coercively Assigned Male At Birth

Duogender - A gender that is a combination of male and female as a result one’s intersexuality.

D.S.D. - An abbreviation meaning either “difference of sexual development” or “disorder of sexual development.” The latter is generally considered stigmatizing.

Dyadism - The belief that being dyadic is normal, correct, the default, etc., and that intersex people are unnatural, wrong, diseased/deformed, insignificant, etc. Also referred to as perisexism, endosexism, or juxtasexism.

F.A.F.A.B. - Forcibly Assigned Female At Birth

F.A.M.A.B. - Forcibly Assigned Male At Birth

Forced/Coerced H.R.T. - Unwanted H.R.T. given to intersex people to make them appear Dyadic. Often given as a result of IGM.

I.A.F.A.B. - Intersex Assigned Female At Birth

I.A.M.A.B. - Intersex Assigned Male At Birth

I.G.M. - Infant/Intersex Genital Mutilation

Inter-Aligned - A gender alignment for nonbinary intersex people whose gender is aligned with being intersex instead of or alongside being masc-aligned or fem-aligned.

Interandrogyne - A form of Androgyne that is connected or influenced by one’s intersexuality.

Ipsofeminine/Ipsofem - Intersex people who are of a feminine gender identity or are transitioning femininely.

Ipsogender/Ipso - Intersex people who identify as the gender they were assigned. They may or may not identify as cisgender.

Ipsomasculine/Ipsomasc - Intersex people who are of a masculine gender identity or are transitioning masculinely.

Transgender-Intersex/Trans-Intersex - A term for an intersex person whose gender identity does not match the one decided on by their doctors and/or parents at birth, and identifies as transgender and intersex at the same time.

Ulterfeminine/Ulterfem - Ultergender people who are of a feminine gender identity or transitioning femininely.

Ultergender/Ulter - Intersex people who do not identify as the gender they were assigned. They may or may not identify as transgender.

Ultermasculine/Ultermasc - Ultergender people who are of a masculine gender identity or transitioning masculinely.

Ulterneutral - Ultergender people who are of a neutral/both masc and fem gender identity or transitioning neutrally.

XTF - A term for intersex people who are transitioning femininely, regardless of whether they’re cis, trans, etc.

XTM - A term for IS people who are transitioning masculinely, regardless of whether they’re cis, trans, etc.

XTX - A term for IS people who are transitioning towards gender neutrality, both masculinity & femininity, back to their "natural" bodies, or a variety of other manners, whether they're cis, trans, etc.

Intersex Flag

The colors yellow and purple were chosen for the intersex flag because they were seen as being free from gendered associations.

The circle is described as "unbroken and unornamented, symbolizing wholeness and completeness, and our potentialities."

Intersex Organizations

InterACT - Advocates for Intersex Youth
Intersex Human Rights Australia
Intersex Society of North America

Books/Journals/Studies/etc

bogireadstheworld - intersex in our own voices books
Davis, G. (2015). Contesting intersex: The dubious diagnosis (Vol. 10). NYU Press. - Davis, Georgiann. Contesting Intersex: The Dubious Diagnosis. NYU Press, 2015. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt15zc7ht. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
Holmes, M. (Ed.). (2016). Critical intersex. Routledge. - Holmes, M. (Ed.). (2009). Critical Intersex (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315575018
Horlacher, S. (2016). Transgender and intersex: Theoretical, practical, and artistic perspectives (pp. 1-27). Palgrave Macmillan US.
Lock Swarr, A. (2023). Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine (p. 245). Duke University Press. - Reis, E. Envisioning African Intersex: Challenging Colonial and Racist Legacies in South African Medicine, by Amanda Lock Swarr. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2023. J Med Humanit 44, 581–583 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-023-09794-1
Orr, C. E. (2022). Cripping Intersex. UBC Press.
Reis, E. (2021). Bodies in doubt: An American history of intersex. JHU Press.
Viola Amato (2016) JSTOR: Intersex Narratives: Shifts in the Representation of Intersex Lives in North American Literature and Popular Culture - Amato, Viola. Intersex Narratives: Shifts in the Representation of Intersex Lives in North American Literature and Popular Culture. transcript Verlag, 2016. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1xxrsz. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.

Additional Resources

American Progress: Caroline Medina, Lindsay Mahowald: 10/26/2021: Key Issues Facing People With Intersex Traits
GLAAD Media Reference Guide – In Focus: Intersex People
HRC - Understanding the Intersex Community
itch.io - 404luxio - tiny pixel pride flags
Our Bodies Ourselves - Genital Variation: The Myth of Binary
Reddit - r/intersex
The Intersex Roadshow: 04/29/2011: Intersex Genitalia Illustrated and Explained
The Trevor Project: 12/03/2021: The Mental Health and Well-being of LGBTQ Youth who are Intersex
Trans Language Primer - “Disorder of Sex Development” (DSD)
Trans Language Primer - Endosex / Dyadic / Perisex
Trans Language Primer - Infant Genital Mutilation (IGM)
Trans Language Primer - Intersex
Trans Language Primer - Intersex Erasure
Trans Language Primer - Ipsogender
Trans Language Primer - Intergender
tumblr: gonyadaldysgenesis: 03/27/2025: link to google drive regarding non-graphic examples of long term effects of intersex IGM scarring
tumblr: intersexfairy: 01/13/2021: Intersex Terminology Masterpost
tumblr - intersex-support - FAQ
tumblr - ipso-faculty - Intersex Resources List
Wikipedia - Disorders of Sex Development
Wikipedia - Gynecomastia
Wikipedia - Intersex
YouTube Playlist: 1989 - An Interview with intersex and nonbinary people
YouTube Video: hi, hello, hans: 05/28/2019: Intersex explained (Part 1) [+CC Español, Türkçe]

Additional Resources (explicit!)

12/26/2017: Approach to DSD (Ambiguous genitalia)
06/16/2017: Intersex Presentation

The Transgender Dictionary