The day is a time to remember the intersex people we’ve lost
BY YASMIN VINCE, IMAGE BY EMMA RAHMANI VIA CANVA
Every year, 8 November marks Intersex Day of Remembrance. It’s designed to highlight issues faced by the intersex community and is a time to remember the brilliant intersex people that are no longer with us. This year is the 20th to commemorate this day.
Intersex Day of Remembrance is incredibly important. It first began in 2005 as Intersex Solidarity Day, when the organisation Intersex International invited people to show support for the intersex community on the birthday of Herculine Barbin, a French intersex memoirist.
Barbin, born in 1838, wrote extensively throughout her life about the challenges she faced as an intersex person, including poor health, both physical and mental. She was assigned female at birth, but a later legal decision declared her male. In her memoirs, Barbin made it clear that she felt punished by this and subjected to “ridiculous inquisition”. Following her death, her memoirs were found beside her and excerpts were published by a doctor named Auguste Ambroise Tardieu in his own books. It wasn’t until over a century later, when Michel Foucault discovered the memoirs, that Barbin’s writing was published completely and under her own name.
People like Herculine Barbin are who we remember on Intersex Day of Remembrance. It’s a time to reflect on the struggle for human rights that the intersex community is still fighting. Throughout history, intersex people have been subjected to human rights violations, such as non-consensual medical intervention and compulsory sterilisation. Many have also been killed as a result of stigmatisation against the community. While awareness days can shine a light on issues like these, they are often also a chance for celebration, whilst remembrance days can be reserved for everyone we’ve lost.
Currently, it is estimated that 1.7% of the population have intersex traits. That is roughly 136 million people, which is more than the number living in the United Kingdom. Yet, there are gaps and loopholes in our legal systems that mean intersex people are not afforded the same human rights as everyone else. Intersex Day of Remembrance highlights that to the world.
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