Essays

CATEGORY PAGE

My Wash Post essay on the Caster Semenya ruling

By Hida / May 11, 2019 /

My latest, “Stop trying to make Caster Semenya fit a narrow idea of womanhood. It’s unscientific and unethical,” in The Washington Post, explores the May 1, 2019 ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in the case of black South African track star Caster Semenya. I discuss twelve different reasons why the ruling–which…

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My Bibliography

By Hida / May 9, 2019 /

Here it is, freshly updated, an almost complete bibliography (I recently realized a few older essays from my blog Intersex & Out are still not on here) of my published intersex and non-binary perspectives on gender, embracing difference, human rights, discrimination in sports, and mainly, love & equality. Enjoy! Hida V Bibliography. (Note: I’ve been…

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Latest in OUT about news Pulaski may have been intersex

By Hida / April 9, 2019 /

My latest essay, in OUT, about what the news that Revolutionary War hero Casimir Pulaski may have been intersex says about surgeries aimed to “fix” intersex kids and the military trans ban. I also discuss California’s groundbreaking legislation SB 201, which seeks to ban these surgeries, and how doctors have used false claims to support their arguments…

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Defending Third Gender Legislation in the NY Daily News

By Hida / October 14, 2018 /

  Big thanks the my old hometown paper, the New York Daily News, for letting me address all the intersex, non-binary, and trans deniers out there who have criticized New York City’s recent birth certificate legislation.  I’m so proud to be a part of the third gender revolution and to write about it in the paper…

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My latest, The Privilege of Pleasure

By Hida / February 14, 2018 /

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I love it when I can get a line into an essay–especially a serious one–that makes most people laugh out loud. See if you can find the one in my latest, “The Privilege of Pleasure.” 🙂 Big thanks ILGA-Europe​ for their amazing advocacy work for LGBTQIA people (and yes, they actually…

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Thrilled to announce Intersex lit project with IC4E and Indolent Books!

By Hida / February 3, 2018 /

  *** FROM THE INTERSEX CAMPAIGN FOR EQUALITY (IC4E) *** 2017 was an incredible year for intersex literature. Born Both: An Intersex Life (Hachette Books), our E.D.’s groundbreaking memoir, was released to feature length, rave reviews in The New Times Book Review, The Washington Post, NPR, and more, and best new book selections by People,…

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My latest, “The Forgotten Vowel,” in INTO

By Hida / November 9, 2017 /

Really love this one, my latest essay, “The Forgotten Vowel,” about how acknowledging and including intersex people and LGBTQIA+ coalition benefits us all.:) Enjoy, and big thanks to INTO magazine–the only LGBTQ website to receive the honor of being shortlisted (this past October) for the Shorty Award in news and media–for running it! It came…

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Doctors Resort to Nonsensical Reasoning to Support Surgeries on Intersex Children

By Hida / July 28, 2017 /

  My latest, inspired by my interview on NPR yesterday about a proposed ban on Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM). “Doctors Resort to Nonsensical Reasoning to Support Surgeries on Intersex Children”

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Remember: Sex Positive = Intersex Positive

By Hida / April 6, 2017 /

    My latest essay, “Remember: Sex-Positive = Intersex-Positive,” in The Huffington Post, examines the intersectionality of feminism and intersex issues by exploring medical and social views towards clitoral reduction surgeries on intersex baby girls and future women– AND I got to use the word “hermaphrodyke” in it! Enjoy, and please share widely to educate…

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Fear of Flying–or at Least the TSA–While Intersex

By Hida / March 18, 2017 /

Big thanks to The Daily Beast for publishing my latest essay, “Fear of Flying–or at least the TSA–while intersex.” On March 6, I read that the Supreme Court had remanded the case filed by Gavin Grimm—the 17-year-old transgender student who’s fighting to use the same restroom as the other boys at his school—sending it back…

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Born Both Excerpt in OUT Magazine

By Hida / March 15, 2017 /

    I’m very grateful to the editors at OUT, the U.S.’s largest LGBT+ online magazine, for running “Intersex Activist Navigates Gendered Bathrooms, Gay Clubs in Exclusive Born Both Excerpt.” I think it’s a perfect venue for me– a long term queer activist who has at different points embodied every letter in the LGBTI acronym!…

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Why We Must Dismantle the Intersex Closet

By Hida / February 16, 2017 /

  So nice to be writing essays again after a rather long hiatus working on my memoir. Big thanks to The Advocate for running my latest, “Why We Must Dismantle the Intersex Closet.” Please share if you like to help spread awareness and make it easier for your intersex friends and their families to come…

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Essay published in Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics medical journal

By Hida / September 5, 2015 /

  My essay, “Promoting Health and Social Progress by Accepting and Depathologizing Benign Intersex Traits”, has been published in the Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics fall issue, which features a Narrative Symposium on Intersex. From the NIB website’s description of the symposium: What are the joys and heartaches faced by people diagnosed intersex? These symposium authors offer readers an honest look into their lives.…

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Stop Freaking Out About Intersex Female Athletes

By Hida / September 18, 2014 /

Well, they changed my original title – “Bullying By Any Other Name: What’s Really Behind Regulations for Women with High Testosterone” – to, “Stop Freaking Out About Female Intersex Athletes”, but otherwise I’m thrilled to have this essay run in the Advocate! (Read here: http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/09/18/op-ed-stop-freaking-out-about-female-intersex-athletes).   It elaborates on the issue in all the ways…

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Caught in the Gender Binary Blind Spot: Intersex Erasure in Cisgender Rhetoric

By Hida / August 18, 2014 /

Earlier this month, two intersex blog posts about the term “cisgender” reminded me that it’s high time we talk about how current cisgender rhetoric facilitates intersex erasure. But wait, how does it do that? you might be asking. I thought cisgender was the new rage in progressive gender terminology? Well, let me explain. For those…

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What’s In A Name: Intersex & Identity

By Hida / May 14, 2014 /

My latest blog post/essay —  What’s in a Name: Intersex and Identity — discusses the history of society deeming people who are different as innately inferior, how this is currently happening to intersex people, and how this language does not support equality. Hope you like it, & thanks to the Advocate for running it! http://www.advocate.com/commentary/2014/05/14/op-ed-whats-name-intersex-and-identity

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Germany’s Third-Gender Law Fails on Equality, in The Advocate

By Hida / November 6, 2013 /

  Yes, there’s more to say about Germany’s new third gender law, especially to readers that understand the LGBTI perspective and the issues that affect us.  Also, I got to correct inaccurate press statements about Australia’s third gender law applying to intersex babies, which it doesn’t, just adults who want it. Read “Germany’s Third Gender…

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Germany’s Third Gender Law: Not What Intersex People Most Need

By Hida / November 5, 2013 /

    Please read my essay Germany’s Third Gender Law: Not What Intersex People Most Need to find out the truth about Germany’s new third gender law.  I interviewed several German activists for this piece, and am very happy for the opportunity to get correct information about the law, and why intersex Germans are unhappy…

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Why We Must Protect Intersex Babies, in The Advocate

By Hida / September 28, 2013 /

    I spoke so much in the 90’s and the first decade of the 21st century about the serious harms caused by medically unnecessary cosmetic genital surgeries on intersex babies — which I and other intersex people call “intersex genital mutilation”, or IGM — that my essays in the past few years have focused…

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3 Reasons This Intersex Lesbian Loved GOLDEN BOY

By Hida / August 6, 2013 /

    The novel Golden Boy, by Abigail Tartellin, features what is, by far, my favorite fictional portrayal of an intersex character. Read my review in Autostraddle to find out why. http://www.autostraddle.com/three-reasons-this-intersex-lesbian-184477/

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Intersex: The Final Coming Out Frontier

By Hida / June 12, 2013 /

  I’m thrilled to have one of my blog essays, “Intersex: The Final Coming Out Frontier“,  published in The Advocate, the US’s oldest, largest LGBT (hopefully soon to be LGBTI) publication. Yay for inclusion! (Even if they did use the dorkiest picture of me ever, lol!)   

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Your Beautiful Child: Information for Parents

By Hida / May 16, 2013 /

I am touched and excited to announce my new free resource for parents of intersex newborns: Your Beautiful Child: Information for Parents. It is available in two versions: — Your Beautiful Child Tri-fold Brochure — Your Beautiful Child One-Sheet Version This project was a labor of love, inspired by the many mothers who have asked…

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Zero Tolerance to FGM — Unless They’re Intersex (aka US Ban on Female Genital Mutilation Mired in Racism and Fear)

By Hida / February 7, 2013 /

  Note: This article is based on my blog post Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation — Unless They’re Intersex I’m happy to report that it was re-published in The Global Herald, but note that they changed the title, unfortunately, to: “US Ban on Female Genital Mutilation Mired in Racism and Fear.” /http://theglobalherald.com/u-s-ban-on-female-genital-mutilation-mired-in-racism-and-fear/29098/

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Discriminatory Views Create Discriminatory Medical Treatment

By Hida / December 16, 2012 /

Discriminatory Views Create Discriminatory Medical Treatment Author: Hida Viloria, Chairperson, Organisation Intersex International (OII), Director OII USA http://oiiinternational.com/oiiusa/intersex-information/intersex-people-and-medical-treatment/ Note: A small percentage of intersex variations sometimes require medical attention for immediate health reasons.  This treatment is necessary, and is not what I am referring to below. People who promote nonconsensual genital surgeries and/or hormone therapy for…

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My Letter to the United Nations regarding human rights for intersex people!

By Hida / December 10, 2012 /

  SOOO honored and thrilled to have contacted the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UN OHCHR) about including intersex people in their human rights efforts. With ILGA, ILGA-Europe, and all participants of the 2nd International Intesex Forum (in Stockholm) signing in support, it’s the first global call by and for…

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Hida for The Global Herald on the abuse of intersex Indian athlete Pinki Pramanik

By Hida / December 10, 2012 /

Criminalized Because of One’s Sex? – Hida Viloria By Hida Viloria; published on December 10, 2012 at 9:34 pm On June 14th, Indian gold medal winner Pinki Pramanik was arrested following accusations of rape and “being male” by her live-in partner.  She was suspended from her job, detained in a male ward, and an MMS of…

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“Brief Guidelines for Intersex Allies,” by Claudia Astorino & Hida Viloria

By Hida / October 27, 2012 /

  Brief Guidelines for Intersex Allies, co-written with OII USA’s Assoc. Director Claudia Astorino, was published yesterday in honor of Intersex Awareness Day, and is available on the OII-USA website free of charge.  If want to spread awareness about intersex but don’t feel like you have all the info, this is the document for you!…

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Olympics’ New Hormone Regulations: Judged by How You Look, in Ms. Magazine

By Hida / July 30, 2012 /

  I’m honored to have an article in Ms.–co-authored with ny intersex colleague and friend Georgiann Davis, PhD– about why the Olympics’ Testosterone regulations for Women are anti-intersex & unfair. Enjoy! Read the story online>>

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My Letter to the Sports Editor of the New York Times

By Hida / June 24, 2012 /

  Click here to see the original posting at the NYT  >> To the Sports Editor: Re “No Clear Option for Testing,” June 18: At the 2010 Winter Olympics, a sportscaster said, in reference to the figure skater Johnny Weir, “We should make him pass a gender test.” Another jokingly suggested that Weir compete in…

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Reexamining Rationales of “Fairness”: An Athlete and Insider’s Perspective on the New Policies on Hyperandrogenism in Elite Female Athletes

By Hida / June 14, 2012 /

  An article by Hida Viloria and Maria Jose Martínez-Patino, in the American Journal of Bioethics Click here to see the original article >>

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Intersex and Unnecessary Medical Treatment

By Hida / March 1, 2012 /

Discriminatory Views Create Discriminatory Medical Treatment Author: Hida Viloria, Chairperson, Organisation Intersex International (OII), Director OII USA http://oiiinternational.com/oiiusa/ Note: A small percentage of intersex variations sometimes require medical attention for immediate health reasons.  This treatment is necessary, and is not what I am referring to below. People who promote nonconsensual genital surgeries and/or hormone therapy for…

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Article: Hida – Clinton’s Pronouncements Against Female Genital Mutilation Don’t Go Far Enough

By Hida / February 23, 2012 /

Originally Posted in The Global Herald online.  Click here to see the original article >>

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Article: “X Marks Evolution: The Benefits of the ‘Indeterminate Sex’ Passport Designator”

By Hida / December 7, 2011 /

On Australia’s intersex & trans* inclusive passport policy, & why it’ s a great development. Originally in The Bioethics Forum online Click here to see the original article >>

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Lobbying the IOC on behalf intersex women athletes

By Hida / April 11, 2011 /

    Originally published as “Gender Rules In Sport: Leveling the Paying Field or Reversed Doping?” on April 11, 2011 in The Global Herald online. https://web.archive.org/web/20130514122301/http://theglobalherald.com/opinion-gender-rules-in-sport-leveling-the-playing-field-or-reversed-doping/14837/

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Hida speaks out about being intersex and Caster Cemenya on CNN.com

By Hida / September 18, 2009 /

Hida Viloria is a writer who holds a degree in Gender and Sexuality from U.C. Berkeley. She is also an activist for intersex people — (formerly known as hermaphrodites) Her memoir “Mighty Hermaphrodite” will be published next spring.

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Well, the SF Weekly misquoted me, but at least they let me correct them!

By Hida / October 11, 2007 /

From the SF Weekly. Click here to go to the story on their site >> Hida Viloria Tells Us What She Really Thinks   What’s in a Name Viloria responds: Unnecessary genital surgeries of intersex infants are still standard procedure even here in San Francisco, based simply on a belief that ambiguous genitalia are undesirable…

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