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Welcome to queerbodies.org!
...a youth
outreach project of bodieslikeours.org While exact world birth rate statistics are hard to find, it's probably safe to say that millions of children are born every year. Of those millions, one in two thousand is born with a body that can't be neatly labeled either "male" or "female." Still others don't show any obvious differences from the "norm" until puberty. These conditions -- call them "intersex states," "ambiguous genitalia," or "atypical sex differentiation" -- affect people all over the world, from every racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic background; people living with them can be straight, gay, bisexual, or none of the above. We have begun to form a community that reaches around the globe. We are unified by what makes us unique. Our difference. We've chosen the phrase "queer bodies" to reflect that unifying thread of difference. The word "queer" means many things -- but it always suggests something unusual, curious, or strange. In choosing to embrace "queer" as a description of our bodies, we're telling the world that while we are different, our difference isn't reason to be ashamed or to hide ourselves. Every one of us is part of the brilliant web of human diversity. We, as a body -- as queerbodies.org -- are here to help people with "queer bodies" and their friends, partners, families, and supporters find a sense of worth and of belonging in a world that can be hard on anyone "different." No matter what brings you here, we want you to know you're not alone. One in two thousand really is a lot of people, when you think about it. In other words, we're out there. About "Tell 5" -- Even with recent advances in understanding of atypical sex differentiation and how it affects people psychologically, five infants a day face unneccessary surgery because not enough people understand what's happening to us. By arming yourself with the facts and spreading the word to just five people you know, you can help put an end to the widespread lack of information that keeps parents from making truly informed decisions for their children and keeps doctors thinking that surgery is the only answer. |
