W
Three individuals in the United States, with a lighthearted and giving attitude, share their stories with filmmaker Julie Cohen about their efforts to advocate for intersex rights and representation. They also discuss their perspectives on coming of age during a time when intersex minors were often forced to undergo surgery without consent, in an attempt to conform to societal norms. This surgical procedure, which was purely cosmetic and carried risks and pain like any other surgery, was rooted in a fear of the reality of being intersex.
This movie is educational and thought-provoking, but some questions may remain unanswered. Sean Saifa Wall, an African American researcher and activist, underwent a gonadectomy at the age of 13. Alicia Roth Weigel, an intersex advocate, was assigned female at birth but did not have a uterus or ovaries. River Gallo, an artist and intersex performer, screened their film Ponyboi at BFI Flare in London. Each individual is passionate and compelling, sharing difficult experiences from their childhoods of feeling like societal taboos.
The dominant belief in the medical field during their upbringing was heavily influenced by Dr. John Money, a sexologist from New Zealand. Dr. Money performed surgeries on intersex infants to make their genitalia appear more “normal.” He gained notoriety for the case of David Reimer, a baby boy from Canada who underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1966 after his penis was damaged in an accident. Dr. Money subscribed to the idea that gender identity is shaped by society, and convinced David’s mother to raise him as a girl with disastrous consequences.
Some may find certain aspects of this film to be contradictory in the ongoing discussion about gender identity. However, the film emphasizes the significance of consent and self-acceptance. A debatable point is Weigel’s claim that the existence of intersex individuals challenges the idea of binary sexes. In one scene, she becomes frustrated with a conservative interviewer who suggests that the biological abnormality of webbed toes contradicts the concept of “feet”. While this comparison may seem trivial, it may be more productive to examine whether people of mixed racial backgrounds challenge the concept of race. Nonetheless, the film is a compassionate and timely exploration of this subject.
Source: theguardian.com
