What it means to be intersex — and how the false sex binary harms us | Susannah Temko

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4.1 • 11.9K Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2020

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For intersex people -- those born with sex characteristics outside the traditional definitions of female and male -- the stakes to appear "normal" are high. Drawing on her personal experience, Susannah Temko reveals the shame, prejudice and harm faced by the intersex community, as they're forced to conform to a binary understanding of sex that ultimately hinders their health and well-being. She calls on us all to discard outdated notions of biological sex and accept the complexity within humanity.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, it's Elise Hugh with TED Talks Daily. Today, communications expert Susanna Temko,
0:09.2	like almost 2% of the human population, she is intersex, born with biology that doesn't fit
0:15.3	the traditional conception of male or female bodies. In her talk from TEDx London in 2019,
0:22.3	Susanna says the world doesn't seem to know much about intersex people or really see them.
0:27.7	Her passionate talk encourages us to think about the very real costs of prejudice
0:32.0	against those who were born different.
0:35.0	And how trying to erase our differences builds shame.
0:41.0	I have a confession to make right off the bat. I don't know what you were doing at 16,
0:48.1	but I'm a really big fan of Harry Potter and was waiting way too long to receive my letter,
0:55.6	inviting me to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I could have gone for Sixth Form. I was also waiting for an invitation
1:02.6	to the Jedi Temple or a tap on the shoulder to invite me to the X-Men. I was that kid. When I was 16 years old, I got my wish.
1:17.1	I was taken into a doctor's office and told that I am, in fact, part of a group of people who
1:24.5	are still largely invisible and misunderstood.
1:30.6	I am intersex.
1:33.3	That's my superpower.
1:35.7	For many of you in this room, it'll be the first time you've even heard the word intersex.
1:41.1	Intersex is anatomy.
1:43.5	It refers to people who are born with one or more of a variation of sex characteristics.
1:50.0	That's your genitals, your hormones, your chromosomes,
1:54.0	that fall outside of the traditional conceptions of male and female bodies.
2:00.0	In other words,
2:02.6	the most basic assumption we've made about our species,
	...

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