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This is my take on the intersex being as common as redhead myth. As someone who arguably was born in that 0.02-0.05% range to the degree of being surgically altered as a baby and nearly put through reassignment procedures.. these will be very ugly thoughts.
To start with, Anne Fausto-Sterling wrote in an essay in 1993 that sex should be on a continuum and this continued to her publishing in 2000. She argues a case involving a 1840s individual who was reported to have a penis, testicles while also menstruating. This case isn't clear.
Levi Suydam was a 23 year old "man" in Salisbury, Connecticut, however the only records is that Levi Suydam was looked at by a doctor and was confirmed to have a penis, now given how poor technology, especially medical was back then? This claim isn't much to go off of.
Suydam was reported to be more "female-looking" then "male-looking." Reports indicate Suydam had a penis, some suggest he had testicles as well. However it seemed most of Suydam's investigation hung to him being gender-non conforming. Thankfully there is medical literature though
Suydam had a "penis," two and a half inches. The scrotum was not fully developed either being half the usual size and not pendulous. Suydam's investigation concluded he had one testicle, although the status of it was uncertain. However there's one curious part at the very end.
"made with an instrument, the opening through which he has ever since performed micturition." - Which suggests that Suydam had been subject through surgical reassignment of what nature? No one knows, whether Suydam was male or female is unsure but given he supposedly menstruated?
Suydam's case was one of the big arguments for why sex is not binary, yet on further analysis of the case Suydam had ovotesticular syndrome and likely was female while also being surgically altered at birth due to the standards at the time. The bothering part is the gender stuff.
Fausto-Sterling asserts that 1.7% of human births are intersex in nature. This figure is widely quoted and used. Fausto-Sterling argues that 1-2% of births don't fall in the tight definition of all-male, and all-female. She argues there's greater human variety then supposed.
Fausto-Sterling defines intersex as "individual who deviates from the Platonic ideal of physical dimorphism at the chromosome, genital, gonadal or hormonal levels." - This definition is too broad and it includes cases such as PCOS and artificially changing your hormone profile.
Fausto-Sterling's percentage is so absurd because she includes LOCAH, or Late-Onset Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. In terms of "intersex" I follow the idea that it's a medical umbrella related to congenital conditions of sexual development, or CCSD. In other words, within utero.
A twitter user created a graph that you've probably seen a few times now, but it lays out the percentages and statistics for CCSDs recorded.
The majority of Fausto-Sterling's myth in terms of statistics comes from the inflated statistic including LOCAH, however LOCAH in the very majority of cases is not intersex as the impact of the CCSD doesn't occur at utero. It shows up later, with many overlaps to PCOS no less.
Klinefelter[XXY] - 0.100%
Conditions that aren't XX/XY - 0.060%
Vaginal Agenesis - 0.017%
AIS - 0.008%
CAH - 0.008%
Ovotestis - 0.001%
Idiopathic - 0.001%
PAIS - 0.001%
5-ARD, Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis, PMDS, Mosaic - No Estimate.
Conditions that aren't XX/XY - 0.060%
Vaginal Agenesis - 0.017%
AIS - 0.008%
CAH - 0.008%
Ovotestis - 0.001%
Idiopathic - 0.001%
PAIS - 0.001%
5-ARD, Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis, PMDS, Mosaic - No Estimate.
The total comes to around 0.2% in actuality if we factor compatible cases but really 0.18%. Compared to Fausting-Sterling's inflated rate of 1.7%, that is if you follow a reliable definition of "intersex" by classification of congenital conditions of sexual development.
This false statistic that makes intersex people seem more common then we are? It doesn't help us. It actually muddles the water and makes it harder for us to actively gather resources and means to support those born with VSDs/CCSDs.
Treatment of individuals should not be based on their prevalence in a population. We should normalize this point, instead of citing inflated statistics some of which even normalized othering intersex bodies as "other sex classifications." Reinforcing that supposed "harmful idea"
I can also recommend Colin Wright's article on this very same topic, as well as Zach Elliot's analysis.
https://twitter.com/zaelefty/status/1254931050112917504
https://colinwright.substack.com/p/intersex-is-not-as-common-as-red
https://twitter.com/zaelefty/status/1254931050112917504
https://colinwright.substack.com/p/intersex-is-not-as-common-as-red
A response to Anne Fausto-Sterling - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00224490209552139
Medical Examination - Levi Suydam https://bit.ly/3a3lBmP
Medical Examination - Levi Suydam https://bit.ly/3a3lBmP
This is a common and harmful myth I see thrown about recklessly particularly by LGBT activists. I came across the 1.7% claim too many times to count and some have even inflated it further using PCOS or even trans people and their artificial alteration of their endocrine profile.
