The way we think about biological sex is wrong | Emily Quinn

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2019

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Did you know that almost 150 million people worldwide are born intersex -- with biology that doesn't fit the standard definition of male or female? (That's as many as the population of Russia.) At age 10, Emily Quinn found out she was intersex, and in this wise, funny talk, she shares eye-opening lessons from a life spent navigating society's thoughtless expectations, doctors who demanded she get unnecessary surgery -- and advocating for herself and the incredible variety that humans come in. (Contains mature language)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This TED Talk features artist, activist, and author Emily Quinn, recorded live at TED Women 2018.
0:09.1	This talk contains mature language.
0:13.5	I have a vagina.
0:16.0	She thought you should know.
0:18.5	That might not come as a surprise to some of you.
0:21.5	I look like a woman,
0:23.9	dressed like one, I guess.
0:26.5	The thing is, I also have balls.
0:29.8	And it does take a lot of nerve to come up here
0:33.1	and talk to you about my genitalia.
0:35.7	Just a little.
0:37.1	But I'm not talking about bravery or courage.
0:40.3	I mean literally, I have balls.
0:42.3	Right here, right where a lot of you have ovaries.
0:46.3	I'm not male or female. I'm intersex.
0:50.3	Most people assume that you're biologically either a man or a woman,
0:55.0	but it's actually a lot more complex than that.
0:59.0	There's so many ways somebody could be intersex,
1:02.0	and in my case it means I was born with XY chromosomes,
1:05.0	which you probably know as male chromosomes,
1:07.0	and I was born with a vagina and balls inside my body.
1:12.3	I don't respond to testosterone, so during puberty, I grew breasts,
	...

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