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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I'm really glad I read this book and learned more about intersex experiences. The book itself could have used another round of editing, with a few repetitive sections and more detail about conferences and organization names than an average reader would care about. However, this book is a great primer on a vastly misunderstood topic. I found it engaging and easy to read, I was angry and emotional right along with the author.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical trauma
This memoir is one woman’s discvery in her 40s that her medical providers have been lying to her since childhood. She had several surgeries and one as a teen she was told to be potentially cancerous malformed female organs when in fact they were removing healthy internal testes. As she learned more about her condition and met others like her she realized they needed an advocate. Thus her journey began to bring awareness to the mainstream of the harm caused to those who are born different when they’re not accepted by the mainstream.
The technical defination of Intersex is a body that has characters of more than 1 gender and it is estimated to occur in 1 out of every 2,000 people. It can be physically developing as one while internally having organs or chromosones of the other. This author developed physically as female to some extent but was born without a uterus or ovaries and chromosone testing came back with an XY result. However, there are many that do not consider themselves Intersex even if they fit the technical defination. Mostly this is due to the association of Intersex as part of the LGBTQI+ community. This is especially true in countries where being queer or homosexual is illegal. The author believes the prejudice against this community contributes to closed minds of those that do not accept.
You learn how words matter. That by the medical community calling it a disorder it lends the belief that they need to be “fixed” or made to fit the one gender mold. Much of this mindset can find it’s roots in homophobia and the belief that a person can only have one sex characteristic. This is often done to infants and young children who are not given an option to avoid unnecessary surgeries that sometimes cause life long problems for them afterwards. She is the first to say that every Intersex person is different and there are a few that need surgery for medical reason but many surgeries are purely cosmetic in nature. It’s still an ongoing fight with many in the medical industry refusing to believe that their practice is wrong and causes mental anguish to many. This book is insightful and she’s honest about her own failings in her attempts to become an advocate as well as expressing the view of many. Most of all she wishes the conversation to exist in the forefront where people take their concerns seriously in the hopes that future children do not have to suffer. However, while she’s had some success including the U.S. State Department admitting that many face forced medical surgies at a young age as well as a small group of physicians citing it’s harm there’s still significant resistance by the medical community to change. This book very much emphasized that the world would be a better place if we could accept the natural differences in others instead of viewing those differences as something that needs to be “cured” or “fixed”.
Here’s links to some of the articles and videos mentioned in the book.
Buzzfeed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUDKEI4QKI
Physicians for Human Rights statement: Unnecessary Surgery on Intersex Children Must Stop
https://ihra.org.au/31680/clinical-surgery-opponents-increase/
Hanne Gaby Odiel, model and intersex activist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86cNy7tN04k
U.S. Department of State: Intersex Awareness Day 2016: https://intersexday.org/en/state-dept-recognition-2016/
“. . . We recognize that intersex persons face violence, discrimination, stigma, harassment, and persecution on account of their sex characteristics, which do not fit binary notions of typical male or female bodies.
Intersex persons routinely face forced medical surgeries that are conducted at a young age without free or informed consent. These interventions jeopardize their physical integrity and ability to live free. . . “
2017 USA Today opinion piece penned by the author https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/09/intersex-children-no-surgery-without-consent-zieselman-column/539853001/
“Working with intersex youth every day, I can tell you these kids are perfect as they are — and they are telling us that their bodies aren't shameful and don’t need to be “fixed.”
The technical defination of Intersex is a body that has characters of more than 1 gender and it is estimated to occur in 1 out of every 2,000 people. It can be physically developing as one while internally having organs or chromosones of the other. This author developed physically as female to some extent but was born without a uterus or ovaries and chromosone testing came back with an XY result. However, there are many that do not consider themselves Intersex even if they fit the technical defination. Mostly this is due to the association of Intersex as part of the LGBTQI+ community. This is especially true in countries where being queer or homosexual is illegal. The author believes the prejudice against this community contributes to closed minds of those that do not accept.
You learn how words matter. That by the medical community calling it a disorder it lends the belief that they need to be “fixed” or made to fit the one gender mold. Much of this mindset can find it’s roots in homophobia and the belief that a person can only have one sex characteristic. This is often done to infants and young children who are not given an option to avoid unnecessary surgeries that sometimes cause life long problems for them afterwards. She is the first to say that every Intersex person is different and there are a few that need surgery for medical reason but many surgeries are purely cosmetic in nature. It’s still an ongoing fight with many in the medical industry refusing to believe that their practice is wrong and causes mental anguish to many. This book is insightful and she’s honest about her own failings in her attempts to become an advocate as well as expressing the view of many. Most of all she wishes the conversation to exist in the forefront where people take their concerns seriously in the hopes that future children do not have to suffer. However, while she’s had some success including the U.S. State Department admitting that many face forced medical surgies at a young age as well as a small group of physicians citing it’s harm there’s still significant resistance by the medical community to change. This book very much emphasized that the world would be a better place if we could accept the natural differences in others instead of viewing those differences as something that needs to be “cured” or “fixed”.
Here’s links to some of the articles and videos mentioned in the book.
Buzzfeed video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUDKEI4QKI
Physicians for Human Rights statement: Unnecessary Surgery on Intersex Children Must Stop
https://ihra.org.au/31680/clinical-surgery-opponents-increase/
Hanne Gaby Odiel, model and intersex activist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86cNy7tN04k
U.S. Department of State: Intersex Awareness Day 2016: https://intersexday.org/en/state-dept-recognition-2016/
“. . . We recognize that intersex persons face violence, discrimination, stigma, harassment, and persecution on account of their sex characteristics, which do not fit binary notions of typical male or female bodies.
Intersex persons routinely face forced medical surgeries that are conducted at a young age without free or informed consent. These interventions jeopardize their physical integrity and ability to live free. . . “
2017 USA Today opinion piece penned by the author https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/08/09/intersex-children-no-surgery-without-consent-zieselman-column/539853001/
“Working with intersex youth every day, I can tell you these kids are perfect as they are — and they are telling us that their bodies aren't shameful and don’t need to be “fixed.”
emotional
informative
fast-paced
Content warnings: medical gaslighting, medical procedures without informed consent, medical trauma, sexism
Kimberly's story is honestly horrifying - after suffering multiple hernias as a child, she was told at 16 that she had to have a complete hysterectomy to avoid developing cancer in the future. In actuality, she's intersex and the surgery was to remove her testicles. Neither she nor her parents were told the truth. She's been on hormone replacement therapy ever since, but for many years the hormones weren't prescribed at an appropriate level. Her primary doctor was implicit in this for decades.
She learnt the truth in her early 40s and promptly turned her skills to activism, fighting to prevent the same thing that happened to her - and thousands of others - from happening to future generations of intersex children. It's a powerful story and while it didn't entirely play out the way I anticipated, I'm still glad I read it.
Kimberly's story is honestly horrifying - after suffering multiple hernias as a child, she was told at 16 that she had to have a complete hysterectomy to avoid developing cancer in the future. In actuality, she's intersex and the surgery was to remove her testicles. Neither she nor her parents were told the truth. She's been on hormone replacement therapy ever since, but for many years the hormones weren't prescribed at an appropriate level. Her primary doctor was implicit in this for decades.
She learnt the truth in her early 40s and promptly turned her skills to activism, fighting to prevent the same thing that happened to her - and thousands of others - from happening to future generations of intersex children. It's a powerful story and while it didn't entirely play out the way I anticipated, I'm still glad I read it.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Zieselman is a fantastic writer with a very personal, approachable style. She is not afraid to get deep and as a result, this memoir is a beautiful rollercoaster of emotions. There is so much anger and sadness that follows after hearing detailed descriptions of the resistance so many medical professionals have towards treating intersex individuals with respect. That said, this book also contains so much joy, as Zieselman takes readers through her journey coming into her own as a mother, activist, and advocate. Furthermore, Zieselman uses these highly personal feelings and experiences as a jumping point to highlight the many varied experiences of other intersex people she has encountered in her time as an activist. I think that this book is a great entry-point for anyone looking to learn more about the intersex experience for this reason, as Zieselman masterfully illustrates just how unique, but resonant these experiences can be.
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Informative about the other and her topic, I enjoyed how facts were interspersed through the story
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Transphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
There were incredibly moving and powerful parts of this book that I absolutely inhaled, but also sections that read like a history textbook and were incredibly difficult for me to focus through, especially because of how many different organizations and acronyms were mentioned. I think if this section had been pared down a little it would have been easier to read, and i don't think the author's main points would have lost any punch.