So, I noticed in a lot of fanfics I’ve read recently that people are starting to include intersexual characters. I think this is great, we’re trying to normalise it and give some form of representation for it. The problem is, its not good representation. The people that write these fanfics usually don’t seem to have an understanding of what being intersex actually means for a person.
I’m not intersex myself, so correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s a lot more than just having a dick and a vagina. In fact, most intersex people do not simply possess all organs. Intersex is defined as having either genetic, reproductive, or sexual traits which do not fit the binary of a typical male or female.
There are many different causes such as; genetic mutations, developing different in the womb (everyone technically starts with female anatomy so it’s more common in men, but can still occur in females), hormonal differences or imbalances, and can even just come in the form of being born without certain traits. Intersexuality can simply be that a woman was born without ovaries, or that her uterus didn’t form properly and so she has two (think about the fallopian tubes).
It is quite common for intersex woman to develop facial hair, and common for intersex men to develop a lack of facial hair. But that’s not the case for everyone. It is also very common for intersex people to not fit the gender binary of male and female, given they possess traits of both. This would technically make gender-non-conforming intersex people cis as well, parents just arbitrarily assigned them a gender when they were born because of discrimination.
Also, depending on the character, parents should react different to the news. For example, most Percy Jackson or Shadowhunter Chronicles characters would have parents that wouldn’t force them to get surgery as an infant, whereas — depending on the character — a lot of Harry Potter or dystopian book characters would be forced to get that surgery as an infant. A surprisingly common character is Midoriya, and I doubt his Mum would force him to remove those organs, but another surprisingly common character is Draco, and you honestly think his parents wouldn’t force him to remove those organs?
These fanfics also don’t really discuss any gender dysphoria, discrimination, fetishisation/sexualisation, or any of the mental health impacts that come with being infertile.
This male character has breasts and a vagina, cool that’s possible and while it’s a rare form of intersexuality it can happen, why aren’t you talking about the gender dysphoria? Trans males typically don’t like having breasts and a vagina, so these traits should cause some dysphoria in an intersex male.
They have a hormonal difference, and don’t present normally, why aren’t we talking about how some people view intersex people as freaks of nature?
Why aren’t we talking about how sexualised and fetishised they are? You’re a guy with breasts? You’re a girl with facial hair? Does that mean you’re actually [insert opposite gender]?
Why aren’t we discussing the fact that the vast majority of intersex people are infertile, and how that might affect someone who really wanted to have kids.
The reason is rather simple, it’s because people don’t write in intersex characters because they actually want to talk about the issues or discrimination they face, but rather to write smut. Which, no shame, if you want to write smut involving an intersex character go ahead. But if the only works you write with this character being intersex are the ones that are meant to be mostly smut, then you should reevaluate that. And if they are intersex in your other works, but it’s only brought up during a smut chapter, then you should reevaluate that. Why is it only relevant when they’re having sex? Why aren’t you talking about the actual mental health impacts and implications?
I headcanon Scorpius Malfoy with Klinefelter syndrome, and when I first headcanoned this I actually didn’t realise that made him intersex. Then I did some further research into intersexuality because I was confused by what it entailed and figured that out. But I’d already been talking about these issues because I knew that someone like Scorpius, a boy who presented feminine, would be having these struggles. I headcanoned him as a rosboy as well, which is a male gender which is feminine in nature, purely because I didn’t think he was a typical male. It was completely coincidental, but I’m glad I did it.
I have a work on Quotev which discusses the discrimination and fetishisation Scorpius faces, where kids at his school transfigure his clothes, throw female sanitary products at him, and constantly ask invasive questions about his genitalia. He also has multiple moments where it’s clear he feels weird in his body, he doesn’t like having breasts, although he is slightly confused as to whether that’s an actual dislike of having them or just how it makes people perceive him, and he does call himself a freak multiple times because people have made him feel that way.
Due to my opinion that pureblood wizarding society likely still uses the late Victorian or Edwardian undergarments, there is a scene in which Daphne talks to Scorpius about the fact that he needs to start wearing supportive garments such as a corset or even a bra if he’d prefer that. I haven’t properly addressed that yet, but I will. And essentially at the point where I’ve left it for now, Scorpius is still unsure as to whether he’d prefer to hide his breasts or not, but he has started to wear supportive undergarments to see how he feels about them. He also hasn’t figured out he’s a rosboy yet, but he will.
I’m not saying this is what everyone has to do when writing an intersex character, or that this is the golden standard, but I’m just saying people need to address the issues in a similar manner, even if it’s only briefly. I mean, I somehow managed to do that before I even realised I was writing an intersex character. That’s weird though, I don’t know how I did that. That’s off topic though, just do some research, and do some research into the type of intersexuality you are writing about, before you write an intersex character.
You wouldn’t write a character to have a disability or disorder without doing any research. You wouldn’t write a character to be a person of colour without doing any research. You wouldn’t write a character to be of a certain religion without doing any research. You wouldn’t write a character to be non-binary without doing any research. You wouldn’t write a character with a medical condition without doing any research. You wouldn’t write a character with a skin condition without doing any research. So, why would you write an intersex character without doing any research?
Reblog and tag other fandoms I haven’t listed where you’ve seen this occur.
turnnoffyourmind
baratheonpilled
areudirty
romaincrisis
snowghoul
