Intersex Awareness Day
Wednesday, 26 October, is Intersex Awareness Day.
This Intersex Awareness Day we encourage others learn about, support and stand with intersex people. Here at Sexual Health & Family Planning ACT, we promote health and wellbeing for all, and believe that intersex people are important and valued members of our community.
“Intersex” is an umbrella term for over 40 known variations in sex characteristics, that exist outside of the social and medical ideas of ‘female’ and ‘male’ bodies. Up to 2% of the world’s population is intersex, however many people have never even heard the word ‘intersex’ before. Intersex Awareness Day exists primarily to highlight human rights issues faced by intersex people.
For more information on these human rights issues and to learn more about meaningful allyship you can read, and affirm the Darlington Statement.
This is a 2017 joint consensus statement between intersex organisations and independent advocates from Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand.
It sets out the priorities and calls by the intersex human rights movement in both of our countries.
The ACT Government has also taken significant steps to address some of these issues such as protecting the rights of intersex people in medical settings. You can read about this below:
If you work in educational settings or with young people, SHFPACT in partnership with A Gender Agenda released:
Including Intersex: responding to issues affecting the educational experiences of intersex students in Australia last year.
You can download the resource and read more about it below:
For other information, news and intersex content visit Intersex Human Rights Australia.