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melbsreads 's review for:
XOXY: A Memoir (Intersex Woman, Mother, Activist)
by Kimberly M. Zieselman
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.