There is nothing wrong with having an intersex body, we’re just another variation of the human possibility

When The Daily Beast isn’t posting essays by Meghan McCain about her hair extensions, they sometimes actually put up some great stuff. One such example is Joseph Huff-Hannon’s piece “Don’t Call Them Hermaphrodites” on the recent flurry of press over Caster Semenya’s status as intersex:

Despite the fact that intersexuality is much more common than generally reported, however, except for brief news sensations like Semenya—and recent speculation about singer Lady Gaga—hardly ever does anyone think about intersex people. But now, perhaps for the first time ever, an intersex person is making the evening news, and intersex activists think this just might be a defining moment for their movement.

Many are using the opportunity to speak out. “Intersex bodies should not be treated as though they are a sickness that needs to be cured, nor should [Semenya] face social stigmatization for the narrow-mindedness of some,” read one typical blog post. Op-eds across the globe have condemned the public debate as snarky. And Semenya herself declared her pride in her physicality. “God made me the way I am, and I accept myself,” she told South Africa’s You magazine. “I am who I am and I’m proud of myself.”

Give the rest a read. There is a tremendous amount of power in statements in which the non-normative condition is not apologized for and is instead asserted as valuable and good and worthy of pride. While I wouldn’t call this a Stonewall moment by any measure (you kind of need a riot for that. Also, what is with our obsession with equivocating everything with a previous historical event?), that the right-wingnut-o-sphere hasn’t exploded over this minor fiasco is intriguing. Furthermore, many South Africans are rallying behind Semenya, seeing her as a hero. That’s important, because right now, intersexuality is virtually unheard of, and that has major consequences:

But perhaps the No. 1 goal of the intersex-rights movement is literally the right to exist. Every day in hospital maternity wards, intersex babies are born to freaked-out parents who’ve never even heard of such a thing, parents in a highly emotional state who are offered the immediate opportunity to surgically alter their child. Reducing the number of these surgeries is something intersex activists see as fundamental to their cause.

It’s amazing how so many battles for rights begin simply as the right to exist unmolested.