On Health Care
Our societies have accepted a binary construct between male and female which does not reflect Nature and the enormous variety of possible sexes which overlap one another in various gradations on a spectrum with male at one end and female at the other. The arbitrary division of biological sex into only two categories makes all sex assignments of an individual problematic. Neither the genitalia, nor the chromosomes helps one determine the "true" sex of an infant. The gonads, hormones and the internal reproductive organs of the infant are also not reliable indicators for determining conclusively the sex of a child. Each child is born with a unique combination of all these factors and the different possible combinations are very numerous, making all sex assignments of infants a mere conjecture.
We campaign against all non-consensual normalisation treatments of infants that are not medically necessary and favour the right of all intersexed children to determine their own sex identity once they are capable of communicating it to us. Furthermore we advise parents to respect the sex identity of their children and to do all that is necessary so that their children can live according to their choice.
Once the child has communicated clearly their own sex identity, it is crucial that the child's identity be respected both by the parents, physicians and therapists who are caring for the child. All steps should be taken to respect the child's own sense of self by being given access to all health care necessary to facilitate life in the sex the child considers most appropriate.
Therefore, we are campaigning in favour of changing the current medical paradigm concerning nonconsensual normalisation treatments and against the diagnosis of gender dysphoria or GID in intersex individuals who feel they were assigned the wrong sex. OII affirms that the true sex of the child is determined by their own inner psychological perceptions and that the right of individual intersex persons to affirm their own sex without medical or governmental interference should be a basic human right.
On a Third Sex
The creation of a new category to be designated intersex poses several problems. First of all, how do we define intersexuality? OII believes that there will be never a clear definition and at the same time, that it is not necessary to have a legal definition for intersex. We have no clear definitions for what a woman is or a man is. We only assume this to be the case.
The purpose of OII is to work in favour of human rights for the intersexed by helping people to understand that there are not just two pre-existing sexes. There is an infinite combination of possibilities on the spectrum of sex and gender.
The creation of a specific category for the intersexed risks even more marginalisation of a group which is poorly understood. We base our legal arguments on the right of every person to determine her/his own identity in the binary system in the hope that eventually there would be no attempt to impose legal sex categories on anyone.
OII-USA: Intersex and proud of it!
OII–USA is the United States affiliate of the Organisation Intersex International, a non-profit organisation incorporated in the Province of Quebec, Canada. We have members throughout the United States. OII–USA resists all efforts to make intersex invisible, including genital mutilation, medicalization and normalization without consent and offers another face to intersex lives and experience by highlighting the richness and diversity of intersex identities and culture.
OII is the largest intersex organisation in the world with members representing almost all known intersex variations. It has members in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America.
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