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Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb is canonically intersex-coded! In his source it's been shown he can both sweat milk and has venomous spurs on his heels, which are traits associated with female & male platypuses respectively.
Requested by @saros-system
I think it would save a lot of people from a lot of grief and shame if there were more (is there even any?) positive representation of people with mixed sex characteristics in children's media. Men and masculine-aligned people with breasts, women and feminine-aligned people with facial hair, for example. I don't expect it would drastically change how children with mixed characteristics are treated, but having a character who looks like you to draw confidence from can make it a little easier to be proud of your own traits and a little less likely to cave to pressure to hide or change them.
This post is about intersex people. It can absolutely apply to trans and gender nonconforming people as well, but this is specifically in reference to hardship I and other intersex people have faced as children due to naturally possessing mixed secondary sex characteristics. I would personally prefer people not center perisex experiences if they’re going to respond.
positive submission!!
clicked on an ao3 fic tagged 'intersex character' while ready to let the perisex author (they stated this, i didn't assume) know that bigenitalia isnt intersex (im so tired) only to find that they. did really extensive research? picked out a specific variation and left a link to the intersex wiki page on it in the notes? handled the topic with sensitivity and care??? it was a very lovely surprise
This is intersex solidarity!
That is actually amazing to hear that they did that, we really need more stories and authors like this! Thank you for sharing, anon, I know a lot of intersex fandom goers like myself have been dreading the new prompts for October for the reasons of improper tagging, I'm glad that there are authors out there doing us right!
Tips for Writing an Intersex Character with Grace
How do I write an intersex character? A collection of free resources for writers.
I’m an intersex person—and a novelist myself—who’s had the blessing of growing up in intersex support and activism communities. After 15 years immersed in these topics, I’ve built up a great deal of knowledge about what is and isn’t anatomically possible, politics and inter-community dynamics, which pop culture depictions go down smooth, and which leave a pit in the stomach. -Hans Lindahl, 2022
This resource webpage serves as a very informative starting point for those who wish to involve intersex characters or intersex themes in their storytelling! To emphasize their knowledge on the topic, Hans is expecting their intersex-focused debut graphic novel, I'm Going Through Something, to release in 2027! <3
The intersex elephant that needs to be addressed.
Intersex people are often times not spoken about in the LGBTQIA+ community, despite the fact that we’re the sixth letter in it. The reason? I have no idea, especially when intersex people are arguably one of the best arguments when defending the rest of the community; The concept of gender truly does mean nothing, and consulting your genes does not secure the binary.
You’d think we’d be happy for any representation. So why are so many intersex characters considered “problematic” to us?
Here’s the honest truth; The old term no longer used for intersex people is “hermaphrodite”, which was used to describe someone born between sexes, specifically when they had mixed genitalia. This term has since been deemed problematic and is no longer used.
But why?
The truth is, being intersex, or existing between sexes, is a massive spectrum. Will some people have mixed genitalia? Yes. Will some of them appear as androgynous? Yes. Will some of them have had an invasive surgery to make their genitals appear non-mixed? Unfortunately, yes. That is a thing that some of us experience. But for many others, intersex means naturally mixed hormones, chromosomes, or secondary sex characteristics (outwardly identifiable gender features such as: beard, breasts, fat distribution, etc.). For some people, you would never know they’re intersex just by looking at them. Intersex does not have a look, and it goes far beyond genitals.
And yet, every intersex character is the same; Mixed genitals, possible traumatic backstory of a forced surgery, and/or used as a fetish means to make a woman get someone pregnant, or for a man to get pregnant or have a menstrual cycle.
Even and sometimes especially within the LGBTQIA+ community, we’re still reduced to a fetish. We’re talked about like some proverbial possibility. A mythical creature that can technically happen, but that you probably won’t meet in real life. Just as an example, the tag “weird biology” is almost always included in fan fictions that feature intersex characters, and we’re never included unless it’s in a story that includes smut or discusses reproduction.
Everyone can understand that reducing a trans person to their genitals isn’t okay, but that thought suddenly goes out the window with intersex people.
And then there’s also the matter of character trauma. When we aren’t reduced to sexual objects, we’re reduced to genital trauma. It’s a tale as old as time (or at least as old as AO3); A character who thought they were genetically binary finds out they’re intersex, and then finds out a surgery was done without their knowledge as a child. This then massively drives a rift between them and their parents, leaving them to cope with their bodily trauma as they stumble through their identity. Does this happen? Yes. Is it every intersex person? No. So why is it every character?
Time and time again, when I’ve addressed creators on why they want to give their intersex characters this backstory, the response is almost always the same: “I want to explore trauma with them. It feels pretty central to their character, so this route of the intersex experience feels right.” But what I want to know is: Who told them this is the only trauma an intersex person can experience?
Intersex people without mixed genitalia will be told their hormones are off and forced onto medicine that alters them physically and emotionally. Intersex teenagers will go through puberties they were not told to expect, such as AFAB voices cracking and lowering or AMAB bodies developing breast tissue, both of which can cause bullying from peers. Reproductive disorders caused by mixed hormones can lead to infertility and painful or embarrassing doctor visits.
Why don’t we see these stories in fiction? Because they aren’t told in fiction. When you never see anything other than one specific existence portrayed, people become convinced that’s all there is. As a result, that’s all they know of being intersex, which affects how much will be known and accepted by them and their peers. An uninformed populace also makes it easier for intersex people themselves to go uninformed, causing shame and confusion in many cases.
There is more than one way to be intersex, and we deserve to not be reduced to trauma, sex, and genitals.
Ruth from The Dragonriders of Pern is canonically intersex!
Edit July 8, now with the geneitcally intersex flag!
[Image description start. Two images. The first is a desaturated version of the intersex pride flag, with a solid yellow background, and a purple ring in the center. The second has the ring made of interconnecting strands of DNA. In the center is Ruth from The Dragonriders of Pern, a white dragon whose scales reflect the gold of the intersex flag, posed as though he is climbing the ring, and looking back over his shoulder showing one faceted eye glowing cyan blue. Image description end.]
American Horror Story isn't perfect, absolutely has its flaws but Freak Show is my favourite season. The clown side story I adore but the intersex and disability inclusion makes me so happy.
Here, everyone is a freak. Nobody has any place to be looking down on anyone else, we're all equal here. Society has driven us out, and all we have are each other.
My absolute favourite line is from Desiree when a kid asks if she's a "real woman." She says "I'm a lady, and then some!" Being intersex does not make you "less" than your gender or sex
She is not the only intersex character in this season. Ethel Darling, a bearded lady, is also among the top cast!
"I'd surround myself with the prettiest girls I could find, and then dare the audience to look at anything but me"
Trans 🤝 intersex 🤝 disability
Favorite Intersex Characters
Semifinals
Cal Stephanides (Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides) VS Helios Black (Icarus by K. Ancrum) VS Regan Lewis (Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire)
Cal Stephanides
Helios Black
Regan Lewis
Show results
Propaganda under the readmore
