Intersex Explained
For anyone who watches the news
Dear Subscriber or Follower
It’s been several months since anything has appeared for Philtered. Contrary to public opinion, I’m not dead, although I have felt like it at times.
Those of you who’ve been through radiation and chemotherapy for cancer know the side effects. They aren’t pleasant. Brain fog and an emotional roller-coaster are just two. Mixed with the three great gifts that tongue cancer brings - the inability to eat, drink or speak, it’s been a bugger of a few months. Losing 18 kilograms is a small silver lining.
However, things are on the mend. While speaking without dribbling is a way off (social invitations have stopped completely), the brain fog has cleared and today I had nine pieces of Nutra-Grain (pictured). This was via my mouth, not the feeding tube. I feel like I’ve won a gold medal.
A podcast is some time away. In the meantime, here’s something to spark a conversation. It’s on the Marking the Role Substack as well so sorry if you get this twice.
The Elephant at the Games
One issue that’s surfaced over the past week in the Paris Olympics has been the whole boxing sex definition issue. Is Imane Khelif male or female? Why does the Olympic mob think she’s female while the World Boxing club think he’s male?
Of course most of this has been covered in the media, so repeating it all is unnecessary. What hasn’t been covered is the whole question of intersex, and how an intersex person, often through no fault of their own, finds themselves at the centre of a world sporting controversy.
What’s more how does a parent explain this to their kids? How does a biology or HSIE teacher, probably at the frontline of student questioning, explain this in a way that can be understood without medical jargon?
Well, I’ve given it a go. Academics will no doubt roast me for my lack of charts, graphs and long words. I blame brain fog and plead the 5th. What I’ve tried to do is take the focus away from individuals like Imane Khelif. Often they are not at fault. Instead, I look at how intersex occurs and how sporting organisations have been hopelessly slow in keeping up with the science.
Most times it’s not the athletes we should be upset with. The IOC however, is another story. Click the link below to go to ‘Intersex Explained’.