Hida Viloria

Source: (1)

Are you a boy, or a girl?

This is a popular question, ranging from the start of Pokemon games to a visit to the doctor's office for an ultrasound. It is a question that most people don't hesitate to answer. However, for some, the answer is not so simple.

There are more options than "boy" and "girl."

A child can be born intersex, meaning they can be born in abnormal genitalia resembling aspects from both the typical male and female genitalia. These people make up around 1.7% of the population, making them about as common as people born with red hair (6), so it is likely that you have already met an intersex person without even knowing it.

Intersex awareness is not well-known. Hida Viloria was told ze was born a girl all her life. In zir young adult years, ze learned that zir genitalia did not fit the typical characteristics of a vagina. After some digging into gender and sex education, ze eventually discovered that ze was a hermaphrodite or, as one would more likely call today, an intersex person (3). Since Viloria had grown up using she/her pronouns, went a few years using he/him pronouns, and spent some time using they/them and ze/zir pronouns, Viloria identifies as gender-fluid and pronoun indifferent since ze is not bothered by the pronouns people use for zir (5).

Source: (4)

Viloria had dedicated zir life to activism regarding intersex rights and awareness. Ze uses zir own experiences to educate others about intersexuality and non-binary people. Zir name grew popular, and ze eventually became a lecturer and a consultant for a number of organizations, such as Lambda Legal, Human Rights Watch, IOC, and Williams Institute (2). Ze had also been featured on television in an interview by Oprah and Inside Edition (2), providing a spotlight on the presence of intersex people. In her memoir, Born Both, Viloria talks about zir experience preparing for zir first big interviews. Ze includes her experience with being on screen with a doctor, who was arguing for gender-corrective surgery, but ze countered his argument with statistics and the stories of intersex people who had underwent these surgeries and the impact it had on them, effectively batting down the doctor's argument (3).

Due to zir presentation of intersex awareness, more people are aware of this third gender than ever before in our first-world country. Ze argued against the label for intersex people "Disorders of Sex Development" (DSD) due to the negative stigma it promotes, as mutilation of genitals at such a young age is unnecessary and causes more harm than good (2). With her efforts to dismantle the toxic label, ze (along with other gender activists) successfully had "intersex" as a recognized third gender (1), meaning that gender-corrective surgery on intersex children is not considered legal, especially if surgery does not have any medically beneficial purpose (1).

Viloria's train of activism is still barreling down the tracks of intersex awareness and rights. Ze already has a memoir about zir experiences growing up intersex, titled Born Both: an Intersex Life. The book talks about zir experiences with being raised as a girl and her overall experiences with gender and sex. Additionally, nearly a year ago, she published a book called The Spectrum of Sex: the Science of Male, Female, and Intersex. It is a novel that was co-authored by a biology professor and novelist named Maria Nieto (1). Along with publishing books and speaking on television and for news articles, Viloria had also lobbied for "the full inclusion of intersex female athletes - without mandatory, medically unnecessary "feminizing treatments" - in competitive sporting" (2). Ze advocates for third-gender legislation since maintaining a binary system of "male" and "female" only benefits those who are comfortable with the system and do not want to stray from something familiar. Thankfully, with the increasing awareness of intersex people and the harms of genital surgery at birth, another intersex and nonbinary activist, Gopi Shankar Madurai, led the phrasing of these surgeries as "infant sex reassignment surgeries," (1), leading to a ban of these surgeries in Tamil Nady, a state in India, which has over 70 million people (1). If about 1.7% of people are intersex, then that would mean over 1 million people in Tamil Nady would be spared from these unnecessary surgeries. Viloria sees this change, and ze is happy with the progress of protecting intersex people.

Our world has much more to tackle in regards to intersex and nonbinary rights and awareness. Hida Viloria is continuing zir activist role and helping to get third-gendered people seen.

So I will ask again: Are you a boy, or a girl? Boy? Girl? Both, or neither? Regardless of your answer, whether it attains to sex or gender, you are seen, and you are valid.


Works Cited:


(1) O'Donnell, Chris. “'It's Hard to Come out as Intersex . . . People Still Don't Know What It Means'.” The Irish Times, The Irish Times, 13 Nov. 2019, 6:01, www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/it-s-hard-to-come-out-as-intersex-people-still-don-t-know-what-it-means-1.4073377.

(2) Viloria, Hida. “About.” Hida Viloria, 2020, hidaviloria.com/about/.

(3) Viloria, Hida. Born Both: an Intersex Life. Hachette Books, 2017.

(4) Viloria, Hida. “Hida Viloria.” Facebook, 16 Nov. 2017, m.facebook.com/232314113866823/photos/a.146738060601455/394838047614428/?type=3.

(5) Viloria, Hida. “How Now Pro Noun?” Hida Viloria, 21 May 2014, hidaviloria.com/how-now-pro-noun/.

(6) Viloria, Hida. Intersex Campaign for Equality, 1 Apr. 2015, www.intersexequality.com/how-common-is-intersex-in-humans/.