Pre-Aljazeera Thoughts on Fashionable Bigotry
I’m going to be on Aljazeera today — soon, in fact — talking about the sports policies against intersex woman with hyperandrogenism (high testosterone levels). Much more to come, but here’s the skinny: these women haven’t been doping and yet they’re being forced to take unnecessary hormones just to be able to compete — with no medical/scientific evidence that they have an advantage! Meanwhile, men also have a range of tesosterone levels, with some being higher than others, and yet they’re not tested and forced to bring down their testosterone levels. It’s a sexist, interphobic double standard, pure and simple, and the only reason these policies are able to exist is because it’s currently still fashionable to be interphobic. History will tell the tale & hopefully you’ll be proud to say you were on the right side of it. 🙂
I woke up wondering if I made an error by neglecting to tell you that I agree with most of what you’ve written, and have said, that I have heard or seen on the internet so far. Also, that I have found your spoken presentations and articles very informative and very well-written, with pleasing esthetics, and enjoyable to hear, read. I checked your web site’s ranking on alexa.com and was surprised that your ranking was not much higher. I do feel it would benefit everyone if your writing and speaking got more public. I did notice that your “meta name=description…” and <meta name="keywords…" seemed to be absent from the source text for your home page. I was born with normal male genitalia, had ritual amputation of the prepuce as an infant which I consider mutilating. I came aware early in life that the so-called "secondary sexual characteristics" of people varied widely from individual to individual and overlapped between the "two" sexes. I won't go into detail here. I believe you were fortunate to have been spared unnecessary surgery and unnecessary hormone intervention.
Daar Theodore,
I apologize for the slow response time, and appreciate you reaching out and your kind words about my work! I am so glad it resonates with you.
I love meeting other intersex folks and will give you my email, for use if you to stay in touch, connect around issues. Hidaviloria@gmail.com
I am VERY bad at all things internet/computer related, and that is one of the reasons I think my ranking is low. I also very much appreciate your pointing that out,man dthe info about the meta issue. I don t know what that means but I forwarded to my web guy who can hopefully sort it,out to begin improving my placement.
I am so sorry that your human rights were violated with nonconsensual surgery!! It is such a horrible and horribly common phenomenon. 🙁 I am happy to see though than nevertheless you seem like a nice, grounded person. I am sure it is so hard though, so i do mean it when I say that you can feel free to connect. Although I did not undergo this, I have known/spoken with so many who have, and I am also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, which took decades to heal, so I have a lot of experience dealing with very difficult emotions and they do not scare me.
All the very best to you,
Hida