Belgian model Hanne Gaby Odiele announced her intersexuality to draw attention to the issue
As Nashagazeta.ch reports, the German authorities' decision became known on November 8. The impetus was a court appeal by an intersex person. Under current German law, gender in documents can only be defined as either female or male. This binary system discriminates against intersex people, who cannot be clearly classified as either men or women. It is in their interests that a middle (neutral, other, third) gender will be introduced.
It is important not to confuse biological sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Determining the biological sex of intersex people is difficult: they can be women, men, both, or neither, as emphasized in a UN information bulletin.
Intersex people are born with anatomical features – their external and internal reproductive organs develop differently from most people. Intersex individuals may have atypical genitalia, hormonal differences, and unusual chromosome sets (not male XY, not female XX, but XXY or XXYY). It is often impossible to determine a newborn's sex without special genetic analysis. Often, these features only become apparent during puberty: a child may be raised as a girl, but during puberty the body may develop as male, which can lead to serious psychological problems for the adolescent.
This is not as rare as one might think: according to the UN, up to 1.7% of people worldwide are born this way – almost as many as redheads. In other words, among everyone's acquaintances, there are likely intersex people.
Intersex people have long remained "invisible" because they are forced to hide their differences for fear of social stigmatization, even though they are not to blame for being born that way. But recently the situation is changing: more and more people are speaking out about their characteristics and fighting for official recognition of a third gender.
In January of this year, for example, famous Belgian model and muse of many designers Hanne Gaby Odiele spoke about her intersexuality. Her body developed along a female phenotype, she identifies as a woman, but genetically she is male. As a child, Hanne underwent several "normalizing" surgeries and now actively opposes them.
The UN campaign "Intersex children are beautiful as they are" also urges parents to forgo "cosmetic surgeries." Surgical correction of sex in intersex children is banned in many countries, but according to human rights organizations, it is still widespread. For example, performing standardizing surgeries in Switzerland has been repeatedly criticized in reports by the Human Rights Council.
Parents resort to such interventions to "fit" the child's body to social standards, even though in most cases there is no medical necessity for such surgeries. It is also important that the gender chosen by parents may not match the child's gender identity. That is why it is worth waiting until the child grows up and can make the decision themselves.
It is expected that relevant amendments will be developed by the German parliament next year. A third gender is recognized in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Nepal, India, South Africa, and Malta.
As for the legislation of the Confederation, Swiss parents have three days to fill in the "gender" field on the birth certificate. The Academy of Medical Sciences considers this period insufficient and proposes extending it to 30 days. The Federal Office of Justice is to consider this issue next spring, reports RTS. Authorities have been talking about the need to simplify the procedure for making changes to birth certificates for intersex people for several years. Nevertheless, one will still have to choose between male and female: there is no talk of adding a third gender to documents.
For now, it is only clear that the binary gender system does not reflect modern realities: the binary system is suitable for programming, but cannot encompass the full diversity of humanity.