Above: Heidi Walcutt pictured @ intersex protest, NYC 1997. Watch “Hermaphrodites Speak!” here.
On October 26, intersex people, survivors, partners, families, friends and allies around the globe celebrate Intersex Awareness Day, commemorating the very first INTERSEX PROTEST in Boston in 1996 against the Annual Convention of the American Academy of Padiatrics (AAP), and in support of now 30 Years of Organised Struggle to End INTERSEX GENITAL MUTILATIONS.
On occasion of today’s Symposium “Thinking Outside the Medical Box” in Lausanne, we’d also like to remember intersex advocate Heidi Walcutt‘s immortal words (from the video “Hermaphrodites Speak” @ 07:58):
At times I feel like hiding in the closet, because it’s like how can anybody accept somebody who has been this mutilated, you know, who can accept damaged goods?
And at other times I get so mad that I just want to get a dull rusty knife and start hacking off doctors’ genitals and say: “Here, you son of a bitch, now, how do you think it feels?”
We wish everyone a fighting Intersex Awareness Fortnite 2026!
See also:
– Intersex Awareness Day 2025: Celebrating 100 UN Reprimands for IGM
– Intersex Awareness Day 2023
– Intersex Awareness Day 2019
– Celebrating Intersex Awareness Day 2017
– USA Recognise Intersex Awareness Day 2017 – Mutilations Continue …
– IAD 2016: Soon 20 UN Reprimands for Intersex Genital Mutilations!
– Intersex Awareness Day 2015: Nonviolent Intersex Protest @ Zurich State Parliament
– ‘Boston ’96 was a PROTEST!’ Happy 10th Intersex Awareness Day 2013!
>>> Intersex: How to Distinguish Medical Crimes from Health Care
See also:
• ‘Only the Fear of the Judge Will Make IGM Perpetrators Change’
• “Harmful Medical Practice”: UN, COE, ACHPR, IACHR condem IGM
• 38 UN Reprimands for IGM – and counting …
• UN Committee for the Rights of the Child (CRC): IGM = Harmful Practice + Violence
• UN Committee against Torture (CAT) 2015: IGM = Inhuman Treatment or Torture
• UN Women’s Rights Committee (CEDAW): IGM = Harmful Practice
• UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): Violation of Integrity
• UN Human Rights Committee (HRCttee) condemns IGM Practices
Intersex Genital Mutilations • 17 Most Common Forms
Human Rights Violations Of Children With Variations Of Sex Anatomy
IGM – Historical Overview • What is Intersex? • How Common is IGM?
>>> Download PDF (3.65 MB) >>> Table of Contents
IGM as a Harmful Practice: 2015 UN-CRC Briefing
• IGM: A Survivor’s Perspective • Intersex Movement History
• What are Variations of Sex Anatomy? • What are IGM Practices?
• IGM and Human Rights • Conclusion: IGM is a Harmful Practice
>>> Download PDF (3.14 MB) >>> Table of Contents
Eliminating IGM practices by holding the perpetrators accountable via well-established applicable human rights frameworks, including Inhuman Treatment and Harmful Practices – Presentation @ UN expert meeting on Intersex Human Rights
>>> Download PDF (831kb)