Hey Emilord! I'm in med school right now and I just wanted to thank you for your videos (all of them). The feelings and personal experiences of intersex people (and really patients in general) are rarely shared with us during the momentous information bath the professors give us before hurrying us off toward boards. I apologize for the shortcomings you've had to endure. Medicine is steeped in the tradition of identifying anomalies and correcting them. No person is an anomaly, and the curative urge that has been trained into physicians is obviously out of place in our interactions with intersex patients. Stay awesome :).
Eddy Teach thank you for being rad!! it's so true...there is so much to learn which is why intersex is hardly covered. I give talks a lot to med students and doctors.. let me know if you want me to come in!! 😘
I wholeheartedly agree with you both. Surgery is for survival - mental and physical. But not for imposed conformity. Genital mutilation performed upon non-consenting beings is barbaric and criminal. Including male circumcision, which, although not as utterly horrific as female genital mutilation, must also be stopped now and forever.
I'm intersexed, and I personally don't mind using the term ambiguous genitalia for my own description of myself, but I'll certainly keep that in mind for other intersex people. Also, thanks Mum for stopping the doctors from doing a clitorectomy when I was a baby!
Thanks for your comment! I'm sorry if it seemed like I was shaming people who want to use that language! I promise I wasn't and want everyone to be able to identify with what works for them. :) I just know that the term usually is a contributing factor when doctors decide to perform genital mutilation and a lot of my friends don't like the term! I'm so glad your mom stopped them too!
Salvo Smith salvo struck dumb... she is discussing non-necessary surgeries that are performed on people without their consent or without giving them all the information without bias.
I hate the way anger is shamed in society. It's a natural emotion and sometimes, like in the case of this topic, it's the right and justified emotion. Anger shaming is often a device that protects the person who wants a chill time while they do you harm in some way. Thank you for making this video.
This is going to start changing and it will be because of people like you. THIS is a good thing about the internet -- the way people who would otherwise feel so isolated can find others in similar situations and come together to make much-needed changes. Thank you for what you do.
The "blind pouch" is a condition that can effect many body parts, such as the esophagus when it does not connect to the stomach or rectum when it does not connect to the anus. Basically, any tubal organ that is supposed to connect to a different organ can be a "blind pouch." They aren't just calling your vagina "defective." It's a real medical term.
@@833lo literally started the video with saying she's not a doctor. It's painful that people who know hardly anything about a person, let alone an infant, think it's okay to take a blade to there person's genitals for no reason.
Doctors shouldn't have any rights to just cut off a part of people's body. And that is twice as bad if you do that to babies. Without the patient's consent or any sort of knowledge about the BABY'S sexual orientation, you can't just decide to do a UNNECESSARY surgery on his/her body...
That may be true. In the medical community if a healthcare provider tells you the risks and the pros and cons than it is considered informed consent. Nobody should make a decision on anything without doing their own research, but plenty of people are comfortable doing so with so much as a second opinion. I feel that we completely strip agency and responsibility from parents when we imply that they were all purposely bamboozled. At lot of parents didn't want a child that was different. When they realized their child was some beg the doctors to do whatever they can to make their child "normal". Some unlearning needs to be done by physicians, but just as much needs to be done by the rest of society. This include new parents that feel they got something they didn't sign up for and don't stop to think to leave things be for as long as possible. Opps, my first paragraph was written only after reading your first paragraph. I should have read your entire comment first, but it seems that we are basically on the same page. I completely agree. Well, 98%. Personally, I am not comfortable saying that doctors are purposely guilting parents into surgeries simply to do something cool or get more practice hours. I DO NOT THINK YOU ARE SAYING THIS. Just in general. I think that vast majority of physicians are simply pushing what they have been taught and are suggesting what they think would help and in the timeline that research has shown gives the best physical outcomes. Of course, there is more to life than the physical and I agree that surgeries on minors should be limited to things that are without a doubt life threatening.
Hey but the counter-argument is that when you wait for a child to grow to 18 it will be a bit late to do any of those major surgeries anymore because the body is done growing. And maybe then the adult will have to live his/her entire life regretting not having gotten the surgeries when they were younger.
A while back I watched the show Faking It and developed a fascination with intersex. Since then I have done a lot of research into gender, inter-uterine development and what causes intersex. It has taught me a lot about myself, women and intersex people. We are so much more alike than society teaches us. It is so exciting to me that we all start out exactly the same and through hormones etc at a particular stage of development begin to develop into our final gender. I completely agree that surgery of any kind should be by choice not done without (the patient's) consent by doctors unless there is a genuine health risk. I am circumcised and I hate that it was done to me without my consent before I was even old enough to decide anything. To be mutilated even beyond that is just horrific. I cannot praise you enough for your bravery and integrity for doing this. Intersex has been a secret shame for so many for so long and it should never have been the case to begin with. Intersex is beautiful and only serves to add more diversity and wonder to the world. I am not sure how much this means coming from someone who can't possibly imagine the difficulties faced by intersex people but you (all) have my support, respect and sympathy, not sympathy for being what/who you are but for the cruelty and ignorance of those who would judge you.
please have this discussion again..we are really in need of someone like you bringing awareness about the surgery frency every body is pushing youth to go through.
I can't believe these surgeries are happening, many times on children, legally without informed consent in this day and age. Especially clitoridectomy.... it's insane. I can't believe more people don't know about this.
This was really interesting. I'm 38 and when I was a teenager I saw a documentary on trans and intersex people and I remember 2 people stuck out in my mind that I have thought about my entire life. 1 was a gentleman who had been born with intersex genitalia, they had done genetic testing and determined he was male, and then done surgery to "correct" his generals. I remember most is that he felt inside that he was a woman, an it's possible that had nothing to do with him being intersex, but he felt like it was "too late" to fix due to scar tissue. There was a teenage girl who had a vaginoplasty because of her "ambiguous genitals" and she spoke about prior to surgery when she was aroused a flap of skin would lubricate, but after surgery that no longer happened. So she felt as though she had a vagina "installed" for the pleasure of some future husband. This sort of reminds me of what you spoke about. Because unlike correcting something like say a cleft palate that can cause problems with eastjng, speaking, and even breathing, it seems like vaginoplasty does not help the person getting it done ( unless they want it). I believe the girl had to have something done to fix a problem with her urethra and the parents convinced her to have the vaginoplasty so she wouldn't need it again later (I do not know anything about the specifics of her genetals and what she did or did not have).
@pong lenis Because there's a medical process that is literal genital mutilation and *no one* has talked about it for centuries. There are people out there who have their totally fine genitals removed or added to to create what that given doctor at that given time thinks is "proper" genitals. How would you feel if someone took a knife to your genitals and *wasn't* put behind bars for violating you?
@pong lenis Doesn't mean it's correct. That's a different debate though, as it actually does lower risks for some problems and is less painful at a younger age due to nerve development in early puberty. There is no proven risk reductions for sex on intersex people with "improper" genitals, doctors just found correlations (like anyone having a cervix being at risk of getting cervical cancer) and drew conclusions that don't actually exist (removing the genitals of all intersex people that confuse me must be best then, right?)
Yes, of course clitorectomy is barbaric and awful and cruel and unnecessary, the same goes for other female genital mutilation. But I've heard many women say that they will never ever sleep with a guy who's uncircumcised. That uncircumcised men are gross, and dirty and that it is a huge deal breaker for them. And since we're all about consent now, did the baby consent to having a part of his penis, it's HIS body, chopped off?!!
@@JLamstudio Don't know why I didn't get a notification for this, or why I got one now for a comment that isn't there. Regardless, I put forward the differences in the two surgeries. There are proven medical benefits for circumcision, as well as for doing it at a young age, something that isn't true for intersex surgeries. They aren't the same so we can't compare. Apples and oranges, my dude. There's no need to steal the spotlight from one rarely spoke on issue just because you value another more
@pong lenis medically/biologically the counterpart of circumcision would be to remove part of the labia (around the clitoris, the hood if you will). Removing labia is a cosmetic and legal surgery (at least in the USA). Cliterectomy would, biologically speaking, be like cutting of the whole or the glans/tip of the penis where most of the nervendings (which gives pleasure) are situated. Please don't equate the two. I think circumcision is super weird and I personally don't think we should do it on uninformed, nonconsenting children, but it is not cliterectomy. (BTW I'm not saying that people who have been genitally mutilated can not have fulfilling sex lives, that is a totally separate question. I just want to make that clear). (And yes I've studied biology and medicin)
This is the first time I have ever heard of this condition and between you and Pidgeon (sp?) I have been correctly educated. I am a mother of 3 and had no such issues with any of my babies, but want to thank you for teaching me something very important about the differences in the human condition. Good luck in your life and God bless!
CAIS individuals like the youtuber you are watching are biologically male but phenotypically(what sex you look like you are) female if you were curious. All intersex people are either male or female.
Oh my! Emily, you are fabulous! Thank you for your tireless effort to educate us. I am learning so much and hopefully becoming a more aware, kind and inclusive human. Sending so much love and admiration your way.
Emily, your channel is great! You talk about a very personal and difficult topic with an incredible elegance. It's a video that provides medical information and its also fun to watch, thank you. I'm not an intersex person but i'm deeply sorry that some physicians are still convinced that a body should be "fixed" when it doesn't conform to society's standards when they should be the first to understand and accept how different and unique every human body is.
I just found you, but.....where did you go? I noticed that these videos are quite old. I hope you're doing well. Thank you for these videos. They are both informative and entertaining. I love how you interject your personality. I've been intrigued by this topic since the 90s, when I first heard the term. I've never met anyone (that I know of), so your videos are really helping me understand better.
Unlike most RUclips videos (which I sometimes binge watch), I am learning an amazing amount from these. Thank you so much for helping to make me better informed and hopefully a little wiser.
Thank you for this video! You have no reason to apologize for your anger and were amazingly mild to be totally honest. I don't know that I could have been as mild as you were on it. I have learned a great deal from your videos so again...Thank you. I hope you post more in the future. as of today your last post was over a year ago.
The whole surgery thing is a human rights violation. If someone wants to have a surgery that's fine but making it seem like it's normal to give unnecessary surgery to unconsenting people is not cool
Lily Pond No, it’s not. The parents can get the extra parts removed if they want to. The baby can’t stand up and be like Bitch this is mine you can’t have it. The child does not have that right when that young.
Lily Pond I am grown up and probably more mature than you. You don’t know the difference from violation of rights and just surgery. Go educate yo self.
Very educational video as always. I learned more about vaginas and Intersex terminology. Before this video I didn't know that the term "ambiguous genitalia" is problematic and offensive. I won't use it anymore. Keep doing your amazing job, you have innate charisma
I wonder why we humans tend to stick everything into tidy categories, then say some categories are OK and others are bad, evil, nasty or whatever? That tendency causes discrimination, hatred, violence, wars and a bunch of other bad stuff. But, we keep categorizing. Too weird. Well anyway, thanks for your excellent and honest videos. You're making a good difference.
You got guts, Emily. Thanks for being your authentic self; it's refreshing. I LOVE people who are plain straight up. You're are a splendid example for all of us who want to grow.
I know this video is 2017 but its new to me. Let me encourage you to keep up the good work. Thank God for the Internet. I remember the first time I ran across the term "sexually ambiguous birth". It was like "What?" My children were very small and I was reading everything I could find on parenting. (they are 40ish now) I read about deaf people that wanted to have deaf children and small people that wanted to have small children. It was shocking to me. I shared what I found with other people but my effect was small.... your effect is large. You make me feel good about the younger generation.
Hi Emily, I like your videos a lot--they are informative and interesting. Just one piece of advice, however (a friend gave me the same advice recently): don't apologize. Your subject is strong, your delivery good (and not too long at all)--there is no need to apologize for making good videos. Keep it up! :)
Sounds like they offer surgery first then less invasive procedures after surgery is refused because they want your money and try to play on personal insecurities.
I am so glad you are posting these videos. I am learning a lot about intersex issues. It is wrong to perform surgery on anyone for any purpose without full disclosure about all possible side effects and complete informed consent. Obviously an infant cannot consent so NO surgery should ever be done.
I love you and your approach to this subject and your hilarious.and your So right! THEY DO HAVE TO STOP NOW!!! I cant believe that this is still happening in this day and age,Outrageous!!
I am in agreement with you unless the baby can't go to the bathroom, they should be left alone until they are of an age of consent. Nothing wrong with a larger clitoris and to have Drs. talking parents into allowing them to cut it off for it's unacceptable "style" is just horrible. My dad never had a circumcision until he went into the Navy. Let the person make the choice!
Male infant circumcision victim here. Intersex people aren't the only ones routinely mutilated as infants. Genital autonomy for all. It's not right there doctors pressure people to have this surgery. Commenting to boost engagement.
Great video... Loved it. Two years ago my then Dr also pressured me to go through Vaginoplasty, but then I went to google and I changed my mind. I ended up with an endocrinologist who first suggested dilators, but then I had a "narrow vaginal canal" (her own words) so she then suggested a Fentonplasty first. I won't lie post operation was a "female dog". For a week I was in excruciating pain, all in all took about two weeks to fully heal. a month later I started using dilators . I have no complains. But again I have the greatest most understanding Dr's in the world...
Well done videos. My earliest child memory is of looking up from a hospital crib after some surgery, crying for as familiar face. My mother says it was just a hernia operation, and she was overloaded with other concerns. I was impressed with your ability to approach this topic with the degree of grace and good nature, as you have done. Good luck in your future pursuits. With Metta…/W
Thank you for making these videos. We are at this beginning of this journey with my 15 year old and I need allll the information I can get to make the best decisions WITH my child at the helm.
I've really enjoy these videos and gaining the knowledge + terminology has been eye-opening. It's great that you want to talk and share this information to educate, and I greatly admire you for being yourself and speaking your mind. I hope you are doing well.
I'm so glad that you were able to escape surgery. FGM in any form pisses me off to no end. I am also very happy that you accept the way you were made without animosity or self-pity, ( that's not what I wanted to say, but I can't find the right words. I hope you know what I mean ).
This is a question about linguistics: If we call heterosex people heterosexuals, homosex people homosexuals, transex people transsexuals, why don't we call intersex people intersexuals?
Thank you so much for taking your time to explain this to us. It is indeed difficult for the average people to even begin to understand that Intersex people DO exist. I must admit that I had my share of trouble at first, myself. I love the calm and diplomatic way in which you explain this (even if that makes you mad) :) I feel optimistic about the world somehow.
Nice one at the end, myself I’m transgender so I am happy that the doctors do have the knowledge to do those surgeries. But I do see where intersex people are coming from tho I do believe that most doctors do those surgeries mostly to give the children that have those medical conditions a close to normal life as possible. But they should wait until the child is old enough to understand what the surgeries so they can make a decision about their own body’s
yeah but the point is that these are not medical conditions. We are not sick, we are not broken, we are not defective. We are just different. So the idea of this video is that it's time to redefine what normal means. And for transgender people as well btw because transgender people are so brainwashed by society they often try to fit in into these fake ideas if male and female and suffer because they aren't cis or don't look male enough or female ebough. We gotta learn loving and accepting ourselves and our bodies. That doesn't mean not getting a surgery done or not taking hormones but rather doing it for the right reasons and appreciating our unique bodies, not trying to fit some
@@jamielee7404 Yeah definitely, but we can go a long route from there. Normalizing intersex bodies would be amazing for EVERYONE, I really hope that we can make a better world for all of us, and the future generations. Good luck with your life, I definitely agree, you're NOT broken, there's nothing to be fixed, and there's nothing shameful about it. Lots of love!
Yeah maybe learn to not be so sensitive. When people like physicians or surgeons (neither of which are renowned for their warmth or empathy) use medical jargon like "ambiguous testicles" or "blind pouch vaginas", it is not because they are being insensitive meanies: it's because they're medically trained and no one that ever wrote in a medical handbook ever took the time to think up sensitive, endearing names like "Vajazzling Giney Purse". Ambiguous testicles are what they sound like, or would you prefer "Ladylike Meatdangles"? I have a major un-diagnosed hormone imbalance, but I don't shit myself when my specialist asks how my facial hair is doing or mentions that I'm infertile for the tenth time. Again, thanks for the videos and my best to you.
Thank you Em for this! We get angry when we hear about girls in some countries being forced as children to have clitorectomies as a way to stay pure for their future husbands. How is it not just as abusive when done to intersex people? I don’t blame you for being angry. It is just not right.
I wish I had been given the benefit of informed consent before my foreskin was removed. It really bothers me that the perfectly functioning penis I was born was partially removed by a gynecologist (WTF) because of a religion that no one in my family is a member of, and agreed to by my mother (who's body is it NOW?) , and her justification is HER sexual preference. I honestly don't know if what was removed is even worth complaining about, and that is what bothers me the most. I will never know if a lackluster orgasm is due to my age, or my partner, or my lack of anatomy. Thanks for your video's. I've really enjoyed being able to learn details about intersex. You are smart, funny, nice, and charismatic. You remind me of my favorite teachers., and i wonder if you ever considered being a professional educator.
I happen to also have been born intersex also. Yes I did have surgeries as a child and I came very close to having MTF surgery because of a developmental issue with my gonads. At the last moment the gender change surgery wasn't done but because of the nature of my body I did develop at least stage three testicular/ovarian cancer as an adult. In all I've had seven or so surgeries directly related to my intersex. Three ovarian cancer surgeries and a number of loosely related surgeries. In all over twenty four surgeries. Even though I am married and live day to day as a male, I do not see myself as one, never have!!!! Because my malignant testis was a ovotestis, more ovary than testis in this case. In the last six months my remaining gonad was also found to also be a ovotestis. Not as much as the other one though. Well all that has changed and now my production of testosterone has stopped but apparently it is producing estrogen. For all I know it has been producing estrogen my whole life and maybe that one one more factor for myself feeling as if I should have been born 100% female. One other factor is I had a number of mature germ cell teratoma surgically removed over the years. These teratoma varied in size from 10-17.5cm. All took the form of a parasitic twin, as they had limbs, skin, bone and a real since of body structure . ( guess I'm a mom and a father) lol As a ten year old child I was never told anything about what was done to me surgically. Nor were my parents ever told anything about what was done to me. These surgeries must stop and everyone informed as what the intersex condition was. No surgery should have been done unless there is a real risk to the child short term health. Surgeries like mine could have been performed at the age of consent. Ironically I really should not have been able to produce children but surprisingly we did manage too have two children. It took five-teen years in all to have them. Shortly after the last child I came down with the ovarian type cancer. Now my remaining ovotestis will also need removal in the near future. The hypogonadism related issues will also need surgical reconstruction during this process.
Wait...so doctors can't always determine your gender at birth? I mean it makes sense but shit...what would I do if I didn't know the gender of my child? I wouldn't want to raise it wrong but....shit....SHIT
kim knuff While I was in the hospital at age ten there was a even younger child in the bed next to mine. He was similar to me in that his sex organs didn’t not develop well. I really never spoke to him as he was sedated the whole time . On the third day he was there they took him away and preformed a gender change surgery on him. I never saw him again and I can only guess he was then brought to a girls ward, I really don’t know. What the doctors did to him had a profound effect on me. I wonder what happened to her. Did she cope?
I hadn't thought of intersex as being in the LGBT(and other letters infinitum) because Those letters are to indicate sexual preferences based on choice rather than physiology. Choice is a rather loose term there but I'm not sure how to be more exact defining what I'm trying to elaborate. Interesting how it does seem to connect, although it may mean I'm going to have to remember an almost never ending series of letters and what each one means. I thought that when it got to Q that was the one that stood for "and everything else" that couldn't fit into one of the others. This stuff gets sooooo confusing.... Would be simpler just to go back to HUMAN and let everybody have their rights of autonomy. Your body is the ONLY thing you will ever really own, and YOU should have absolute control of it. Let's start from THAT premise.
I'm just passing through, gettin' an education. First, thanks so much for your frank information. [ I know we have a long way to go to achieve "equality for everyone", or as I like to say, "live and let live". ] Thank goodness for the internet. How great is it than any one with questions can easily find your channel, get information, and take it from there. I am APPALLED, yes I am shouting, and banging my fist on my desk too! Why on earth do these decisions and surgeries have to be made for/on babies? [Other than obvious, immediate functional need] From what I've learned today, the biggest deciding factor for a lot of people is what happens with the puberty hormonal flood, or lack thereof.
Your humor is very punny Emily:) I especially love the channel name! Ty for this video. I'm trans and not intersex, but I love learning about different parts of the spectrum and people's journeys in general. Dr.s experiment with us too :/ Keep being you! :)
Love your sense of humor and your very good and educative vids!!! Don't apologize; your way too ladylike to be interpreted as angry. The message is very clear though. There's doctors and doctors, right? Just found you here and will definitely be checking all of your vids, oh, and SO glad i found Pidgeon here through you!!! I so loved the documentary "Intersexion", with Pidgeon as a superstar...keep em angry vids coming, you beauty!!!
Thanks for doing this video. I'm intersex and I'm considering Vaginalplasty, but I can't find a surgeons who deals intersex people, just surgeons who deal with transgender people. Where do I find surgeons that deal with intersex people?
So appreciate the way said topic is handled and info is presented...albeit I do disagree with the closing stating that you want these 3 AIS surgeries to stop now: gonad removal, vaginoplasty, and clitorectomy (please let me know if I misunderstood this portion) but I agree with everything else and especially liked the informed consent to make sure the patient has ALL info. G Dysphoria can make typing a simple comment take 30minutes, keep doing what you're doing yo...much 💕
I had my uterus and cervix removed. Now I have a blind pouch vagina too. It's definitely not sexy but it's a good description of the structure. Before my surgery I asked "where is the sperm going to end up?"
I do not seem to have been born with a vagina (or it might have been inside instead of outside)so I had a piece of intestine turned into a vagina when I was 15. It does give me some sensation. I did have a cliterectomy when I was a toddler, and I do get very angry about it.
I absolutely adore you, you have such a fun personality and I admire, and respect you for doing these videos to help educate people! I have a trans daughter and I am forever grateful for people like you who are working to make topics like this commonplace! =}
Again... no surgeries on my future babies' genitalia! The only reason to operate on a baby "down there" are real misfunctions like a phimosis for example, (which also often "grows out" so no surgery on a fresh infant is needed). This makes me so angry! A surgery should be something done with the patient's consent, to improve their life, not forced on somebody to ruin them forever. Grrr!
Thanks for the video. Is anything being done to protect patients rights with regards to clitorectomies? Do any states in the US ban these surgeries that you know of?
Hi Emily. Thanks for educating on this topic. More people know about it, more misconception removed . by the way is there any dating site for intersex people? i am interested ☺
Hey! You are awesome, it's lovely to watch your vids and have something so well explained! It really would be nice to have terminology that doesn't sound like a kangaroo body part :P
Have you know of patients who have had 'vaginoplasty' tissue close becoming in-viable (whether due to lack of follow up care or uninformed instruction and counsel of the dilation process) who have not decided to correct this mutilation\mistake?!?
Great video, thank you for sharing and personally, I don’t agree with reducing the size of a clitoris and nor do I think a baby boys penis should be circumcised. As you mentioned, why would someone want to remove a part of the body that is sensitive. I learned so much from this video and it was extremely interesting. Thank you for sharing.
I don’t think the surgeries should be banned. I think there should be a requirement of the person being an adult. Some people may want to have their body look a specific way and they should be allowed to do that. Some cis women have their vulva surgically reshaped to fit whatever they want it to look like. I agree that removing things from babies that isn’t medically necessary isn’t good but what if an adult wants to change something?
Daria of a new bloom A few online sex shops sell them, which is pretty cool! I don't know about the shipping, but I'm sure some places will ship to other counties :)
thank you, for being so open and forthcoming. We are glad for you. Be strong and look long and hard "oops" These freudian slips are getting old.. lol ,before you any surgery. there is a key for every lock,, peace , love, and understanding.
#Objection! I am a medical doctor and I think that a "vaginal pouch" is a redundancy, due its etymological origins, but whatever. In addition, the vagina and the uterus have a common origin. They start as 2 solid tubes that become hollow and they fuse... in men, the structures persist inside small prostatic urethra. If you prefer a nicer name, you can call it Mullerian agenesis: www.acog.org/Resources-And-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Adolescent-Health-Care/Mullerian-Agenesis-Diagnosis-Management-and-Treatment
I agree if I ever do a kid thing... and they are intersex, if a doctor even touches them without my consent that's a no, I will sue them into the poor house. I will not give consent either until my kid could decide what they wanted for themselves. It's so wrong that people do surgery on babies when you don't even know what that baby is going to be. -_-
I'm not, in any means, trying to "bash" you or discriminate against you, but you talked about how you didn't like the names and terminology doctors use for genitalia and such but you didn't give other names so how do you expect them to find another term to use for such things?
think you misspoke around 8m50 sec describing "Drs can't tell if its a penis or a vagina", think you meant "a penis or a clitoris". great video otherwise. in several of my own video's I shared my common urogenital sinus and hypoplastic uterus and left and right ovaries originally described as a juvenile uterus back in 1993 with a DX of AGS with XY/XO mosaic from blood and bucceal smear karyotype. but what has always gotten me peeved is that many people within the intersex community refused to believe that was even possible. technically the XY/XO was a partially correct dx still though I think it is interesting to see you share your experiences with explanation. someday I may share more videos but currently on a very long break from making videos.
Over the two videos you only went as far as to call this mutilation when you got to talking about the clitoris. Wouldn't any of these medically unnecessary surgeries on the genitals of children be mutilation whether it is involving ovaries, testicles, clitorises or penises?
I needed to have a vaginoplasty due to there being no opening for my mostly* standard utureus to be able function if I did have periods. but I was 4 and now I'm 20 and things look WILD.
i was born with only one ear from birth. it;s not a very common thing. i did know an adult who chose to do nothing to his when i was a child. being a child my father wanted me to have a normal childhood. so i had reconstructive surgery as a child, the results were a disaster, however, i never blamed my dad. not for being born that way or for the operations i had done as child, but, i dealt with a lot of discrimination from other children= being bullied, it also created problems for me to get jobs, and i wanted to work with the public in some fashion... speed things up as an adult i ended up getting a prosthesis . i wasnt happy with it. so, i seldom wear it. it isnt pliable like a real ear.. it was hard and could come off my head easily. though our stories and situations are different i can relate
Do surgeons earn extra money for each surgery? Here in Argentina it is that way and it is one of the reasons why, some surgeons suggest unnecesary surgeries. One of the most common surgery is c section, in women who want and can have a natural birth.dIt is very sad and it is very impotent to know that doctors do not correctly report the benefits and harms of surgery. And that damn mania of wanting to fix what is not wrong
I have a question : from what i get from your videos, AIS means that androgens are not processed by the body and people with it (because of the vagina part) are probably assigned female at birth, which is "confirmed" later with the estrogen doing their estrogen job. But what happens if a person with AIS identify as a guy ? they can't go for androgen HRT because the body can't process androgen, either their own or chemical ones ? (i'm sorry if that question is out of place, as a trans guy this matter makes me really sad for all potential guys with AIS ;-;)
Hey Emilord! I'm in med school right now and I just wanted to thank you for your videos (all of them). The feelings and personal experiences of intersex people (and really patients in general) are rarely shared with us during the momentous information bath the professors give us before hurrying us off toward boards. I apologize for the shortcomings you've had to endure. Medicine is steeped in the tradition of identifying anomalies and correcting them. No person is an anomaly, and the curative urge that has been trained into physicians is obviously out of place in our interactions with intersex patients. Stay awesome :).
Eddy Teach thank you for being rad!! it's so true...there is so much to learn which is why intersex is hardly covered. I give talks a lot to med students and doctors.. let me know if you want me to come in!! 😘
Eddy Teach I hope you fail med school
I wholeheartedly agree with you both. Surgery is for survival - mental and physical. But not for imposed conformity. Genital mutilation performed upon non-consenting beings is barbaric and criminal. Including male circumcision, which, although not as utterly horrific as female genital mutilation, must also be stopped now and forever.
"Both" being Eddy Teach and Emilord. Not Nicky Sachs, whom I disagree with.
I'm intersexed, and I personally don't mind using the term ambiguous genitalia for my own description of myself, but I'll certainly keep that in mind for other intersex people.
Also, thanks Mum for stopping the doctors from doing a clitorectomy when I was a baby!
Because you are not a crying baby like her .
Thanks for your comment! I'm sorry if it seemed like I was shaming people who want to use that language! I promise I wasn't and want everyone to be able to identify with what works for them. :) I just know that the term usually is a contributing factor when doctors decide to perform genital mutilation and a lot of my friends don't like the term! I'm so glad your mom stopped them too!
You're great. Don't worry about Salvo.
Salvo Smith salvo struck dumb... she is discussing non-necessary surgeries that are performed on people without their consent or without giving them all the information without bias.
I hate the way anger is shamed in society. It's a natural emotion and sometimes, like in the case of this topic, it's the right and justified emotion. Anger shaming is often a device that protects the person who wants a chill time while they do you harm in some way. Thank you for making this video.
This is going to start changing and it will be because of people like you. THIS is a good thing about the internet -- the way people who would otherwise feel so isolated can find others in similar situations and come together to make much-needed changes. Thank you for what you do.
The "blind pouch" is a condition that can effect many body parts, such as the esophagus when it does not connect to the stomach or rectum when it does not connect to the anus. Basically, any tubal organ that is supposed to connect to a different organ can be a "blind pouch." They aren't just calling your vagina "defective." It's a real medical term.
I was just going to comment this. People with no scientific knowledge LOVE to talk about science and medicine, it's painful to listen to.
some "real" medical terms are hundreds of years old and the language can be a bit crude. usually there is a Latin synonym.
Rachel Daisy Niemuth she didnt say it wasnt .-. She only said that she didnt like it thats it
@@833lo literally started the video with saying she's not a doctor.
It's painful that people who know hardly anything about a person, let alone an infant, think it's okay to take a blade to there person's genitals for no reason.
You are still Sexy,NO BULL.
Doctors shouldn't have any rights to just cut off a part of people's body. And that is twice as bad if you do that to babies. Without the patient's consent or any sort of knowledge about the BABY'S sexual orientation, you can't just decide to do a UNNECESSARY surgery on his/her body...
Yeah most of the surgeries are completely cosmetic so the person should decide for themself!
It’s really up to the parents, not the doctors. The parents HAVE to give consent in order for it to happen.
That may be true. In the medical community if a healthcare provider tells you the risks and the pros and cons than it is considered informed consent. Nobody should make a decision on anything without doing their own research, but plenty of people are comfortable doing so with so much as a second opinion. I feel that we completely strip agency and responsibility from parents when we imply that they were all purposely bamboozled. At lot of parents didn't want a child that was different. When they realized their child was some beg the doctors to do whatever they can to make their child "normal". Some unlearning needs to be done by physicians, but just as much needs to be done by the rest of society. This include new parents that feel they got something they didn't sign up for and don't stop to think to leave things be for as long as possible.
Opps, my first paragraph was written only after reading your first paragraph. I should have read your entire comment first, but it seems that we are basically on the same page. I completely agree. Well, 98%. Personally, I am not comfortable saying that doctors are purposely guilting parents into surgeries simply to do something cool or get more practice hours. I DO NOT THINK YOU ARE SAYING THIS. Just in general. I think that vast majority of physicians are simply pushing what they have been taught and are suggesting what they think would help and in the timeline that research has shown gives the best physical outcomes. Of course, there is more to life than the physical and I agree that surgeries on minors should be limited to things that are without a doubt life threatening.
Hey but the counter-argument is that when you wait for a child to grow to 18 it will be a bit late to do any of those major surgeries anymore because the body is done growing. And maybe then the adult will have to live his/her entire life regretting not having gotten the surgeries when they were younger.
@@softbreezy6052
Yeah we know what normal is.
If your body is messed up well we got a problem.
"Please stop talking about my vagina like it's some weird purse." HAHA!!
Haha riiighhhtttt?
A while back I watched the show Faking It and developed a fascination with intersex. Since then I have done a lot of research into gender, inter-uterine development and what causes intersex. It has taught me a lot about myself, women and intersex people. We are so much more alike than society teaches us. It is so exciting to me that we all start out exactly the same and through hormones etc at a particular stage of development begin to develop into our final gender. I completely agree that surgery of any kind should be by choice not done without (the patient's) consent by doctors unless there is a genuine health risk. I am circumcised and I hate that it was done to me without my consent before I was even old enough to decide anything. To be mutilated even beyond that is just horrific.
I cannot praise you enough for your bravery and integrity for doing this. Intersex has been a secret shame for so many for so long and it should never have been the case to begin with. Intersex is beautiful and only serves to add more diversity and wonder to the world. I am not sure how much this means coming from someone who can't possibly imagine the difficulties faced by intersex people but you (all) have my support, respect and sympathy, not sympathy for being what/who you are but for the cruelty and ignorance of those who would judge you.
“Now you duckin with some Weird Ass Purse” 😂 thank you for making these important videos Emily!
please have this discussion again..we are really in need of someone like you bringing awareness about the surgery frency every body is pushing youth to go through.
I can't believe these surgeries are happening, many times on children, legally without informed consent in this day and age. Especially clitoridectomy.... it's insane. I can't believe more people don't know about this.
This was really interesting. I'm 38 and when I was a teenager I saw a documentary on trans and intersex people and I remember 2 people stuck out in my mind that I have thought about my entire life. 1 was a gentleman who had been born with intersex genitalia, they had done genetic testing and determined he was male, and then done surgery to "correct" his generals. I remember most is that he felt inside that he was a woman, an it's possible that had nothing to do with him being intersex, but he felt like it was "too late" to fix due to scar tissue. There was a teenage girl who had a vaginoplasty because of her "ambiguous genitals" and she spoke about prior to surgery when she was aroused a flap of skin would lubricate, but after surgery that no longer happened. So she felt as though she had a vagina "installed" for the pleasure of some future husband. This sort of reminds me of what you spoke about. Because unlike correcting something like say a cleft palate that can cause problems with eastjng, speaking, and even breathing, it seems like vaginoplasty does not help the person getting it done ( unless they want it). I believe the girl had to have something done to fix a problem with her urethra and the parents convinced her to have the vaginoplasty so she wouldn't need it again later (I do not know anything about the specifics of her genetals and what she did or did not have).
Clitorectomy... I want to rage quit humanity sometimes
@pong lenis Because there's a medical process that is literal genital mutilation and *no one* has talked about it for centuries. There are people out there who have their totally fine genitals removed or added to to create what that given doctor at that given time thinks is "proper" genitals. How would you feel if someone took a knife to your genitals and *wasn't* put behind bars for violating you?
@pong lenis Doesn't mean it's correct. That's a different debate though, as it actually does lower risks for some problems and is less painful at a younger age due to nerve development in early puberty. There is no proven risk reductions for sex on intersex people with "improper" genitals, doctors just found correlations (like anyone having a cervix being at risk of getting cervical cancer) and drew conclusions that don't actually exist (removing the genitals of all intersex people that confuse me must be best then, right?)
Yes, of course clitorectomy is barbaric and awful and cruel and unnecessary, the same goes for other female genital mutilation.
But I've heard many women say that they will never ever sleep with a guy who's uncircumcised. That uncircumcised men are gross, and dirty and that it is a huge deal breaker for them.
And since we're all about consent now, did the baby consent to having a part of his penis, it's HIS body, chopped off?!!
@@JLamstudio Don't know why I didn't get a notification for this, or why I got one now for a comment that isn't there. Regardless, I put forward the differences in the two surgeries. There are proven medical benefits for circumcision, as well as for doing it at a young age, something that isn't true for intersex surgeries. They aren't the same so we can't compare. Apples and oranges, my dude. There's no need to steal the spotlight from one rarely spoke on issue just because you value another more
@pong lenis medically/biologically the counterpart of circumcision would be to remove part of the labia (around the clitoris, the hood if you will). Removing labia is a cosmetic and legal surgery (at least in the USA). Cliterectomy would, biologically speaking, be like cutting of the whole or the glans/tip of the penis where most of the nervendings (which gives pleasure) are situated. Please don't equate the two. I think circumcision is super weird and I personally don't think we should do it on uninformed, nonconsenting children, but it is not cliterectomy. (BTW I'm not saying that people who have been genitally mutilated can not have fulfilling sex lives, that is a totally separate question. I just want to make that clear). (And yes I've studied biology and medicin)
This is the first time I have ever heard of this condition and between you and Pidgeon (sp?) I have been correctly educated. I am a mother of 3 and had no such issues with any of my babies, but want to thank you for teaching me something very important about the differences in the human condition. Good luck in your life and God bless!
CAIS individuals like the youtuber you are watching are biologically male but phenotypically(what sex you look like you are) female if you were curious. All intersex people are either male or female.
Oh my! Emily, you are fabulous! Thank you for your tireless effort to educate us. I am learning so much and hopefully becoming a more aware, kind and inclusive human. Sending so much love and admiration your way.
Emily, your channel is great!
You talk about a very personal and difficult topic with an incredible elegance. It's a video that provides medical information and its also fun to watch, thank you.
I'm not an intersex person but i'm deeply sorry that some physicians are still convinced that a body should be "fixed" when it doesn't conform to society's standards when they should be the first to understand and accept how different and unique every human body is.
I just found you, but.....where did you go? I noticed that these videos are quite old. I hope you're doing well. Thank you for these videos. They are both informative and entertaining. I love how you interject your personality. I've been intrigued by this topic since the 90s, when I first heard the term. I've never met anyone (that I know of), so your videos are really helping me understand better.
Unlike most RUclips videos (which I sometimes binge watch), I am learning an amazing amount from these. Thank you so much for helping to make me better informed and hopefully a little wiser.
Thank you for this video!
You have no reason to apologize for your anger and were amazingly mild to be totally honest. I don't know that I could have been as mild as you were on it.
I have learned a great deal from your videos so again...Thank you. I hope you post more in the future. as of today your last post was over a year ago.
The whole surgery thing is a human rights violation. If someone wants to have a surgery that's fine but making it seem like it's normal to give unnecessary surgery to unconsenting people is not cool
Lily Pond it’s not human rights violation if the parents want it
Nicky Sachs yes it is because it is violating their rights of they can't consent it's genital mutilation
Lily Pond No, it’s not. The parents can get the extra parts removed if they want to. The baby can’t stand up and be like Bitch this is mine you can’t have it. The child does not have that right when that young.
Nicky Sachs we have the right to dignity. I work at a job in the medical field and no you can't just get parts removed Willy nilly. Grow up
Lily Pond I am grown up and probably more mature than you. You don’t know the difference from violation of rights and just surgery. Go educate yo self.
Very educational video as always. I learned more about vaginas and Intersex terminology. Before this video I didn't know that the term "ambiguous genitalia" is problematic and offensive. I won't use it anymore. Keep doing your amazing job, you have innate charisma
I wonder why we humans tend to stick everything into tidy categories, then say some categories are OK and others are bad, evil, nasty or whatever? That tendency causes discrimination, hatred, violence, wars and a bunch of other bad stuff. But, we keep categorizing. Too weird. Well anyway, thanks for your excellent and honest videos. You're making a good difference.
You got guts, Emily. Thanks for being your authentic self; it's refreshing. I LOVE people who are plain straight up. You're are a splendid example for all of us who want to grow.
It should be criminal for any surgeon to operate on a healthy infant or a healthy adolescent without proper consent
I know this video is 2017 but its new to me. Let me encourage you to keep up the good work.
Thank God for the Internet. I remember the first time I ran across the term "sexually ambiguous birth". It was like "What?" My children were very small and I was reading everything I could find on parenting. (they are 40ish now) I read about deaf people that wanted to have deaf children and small people that wanted to have small children. It was shocking to me. I shared what I found with other people but my effect was small.... your effect is large.
You make me feel good about the younger generation.
Hi Emily, I like your videos a lot--they are informative and interesting. Just one piece of advice, however (a friend gave me the same advice recently): don't apologize. Your subject is strong, your delivery good (and not too long at all)--there is no need to apologize for making good videos. Keep it up! :)
VERY Informative!!! I love the humor/sarcasm ..."we do not have language to describe bodies that are different of the binary" ....soooooooooo true.
Sounds like they offer surgery first then less invasive procedures after surgery is refused because they want your money and try to play on personal insecurities.
For being angry, you come across as relatively calm for what it's worth :P
I am so glad you are posting these videos. I am learning a lot about intersex issues. It is wrong to perform surgery on anyone for any purpose without full disclosure about all possible side effects and complete informed consent. Obviously an infant cannot consent so NO surgery should ever be done.
You made me feel better about myself so much with this video. Thank you.
I love you and your approach to this subject and your hilarious.and your So right! THEY DO HAVE TO STOP NOW!!!
I cant believe that this is still happening in this day and age,Outrageous!!
I am in agreement with you unless the baby can't go to the bathroom, they should be left alone until they are of an age of consent. Nothing wrong with a larger clitoris and to have Drs. talking parents into allowing them to cut it off for it's unacceptable "style" is just horrible. My dad never had a circumcision until he went into the Navy. Let the person make the choice!
Male infant circumcision victim here. Intersex people aren't the only ones routinely mutilated as infants.
Genital autonomy for all.
It's not right there doctors pressure people to have this surgery. Commenting to boost engagement.
why can't ppl just let babies grow and decide on their own.
Great video... Loved it.
Two years ago my then Dr also pressured me to go through Vaginoplasty, but then I went to google and I changed my mind. I ended up with an endocrinologist who first suggested dilators, but then I had a "narrow vaginal canal" (her own words) so she then suggested a Fentonplasty first. I won't lie post operation was a "female dog". For a week I was in excruciating pain, all in all took about two weeks to fully heal. a month later I started using dilators . I have no complains. But again I have the greatest most understanding Dr's in the world...
Well done videos. My earliest child memory is of looking up from a hospital crib after some surgery, crying for as familiar face. My mother says it was just a hernia operation, and she was overloaded with other concerns. I was impressed with your ability to approach this topic with the degree of grace and good nature, as you have done. Good luck in your future pursuits. With Metta…/W
Thank you for making these videos. We are at this beginning of this journey with my 15 year old and I need allll the information I can get to make the best decisions WITH my child at the helm.
I've really enjoy these videos and gaining the knowledge + terminology has been eye-opening. It's great that you want to talk and share this information to educate, and I greatly admire you for being yourself and speaking your mind. I hope you are doing well.
Thanks, Lindsey!!! It's been a little crazy but I'm glad I'm doing this. I hope you're well too!
thank you for educating people on such a fundamental topic, I'm so happy I know more about intersex people now
Well done. Important information in an unabashed, chatty way. Thanks.
I'm so glad that you were able to escape surgery. FGM in any form pisses me off to no end. I am also very happy that you accept the way you were made without animosity or self-pity, ( that's not what I wanted to say, but I can't find the right words. I hope you know what I mean ).
very informative and love the way you presented, very relax and funny in a good way. thank you
This is a question about linguistics: If we call heterosex people heterosexuals, homosex people homosexuals, transex people transsexuals, why don't we call intersex people intersexuals?
Thank you so much for taking your time to explain this to us. It is indeed difficult for the average people to even begin to understand that Intersex people DO exist. I must admit that I had my share of trouble at first, myself. I love the calm and diplomatic way in which you explain this (even if that makes you mad) :) I feel optimistic about the world somehow.
Nice one at the end, myself I’m transgender so I am happy that the doctors do have the knowledge to do those surgeries. But I do see where intersex people are coming from tho I do believe that most doctors do those surgeries mostly to give the children that have those medical conditions a close to normal life as possible. But they should wait until the child is old enough to understand what the surgeries so they can make a decision about their own body’s
yeah but the point is that these are not medical conditions. We are not sick, we are not broken, we are not defective. We are just different. So the idea of this video is that it's time to redefine what normal means. And for transgender people as well btw because transgender people are so brainwashed by society they often try to fit in into these fake ideas if male and female and suffer because they aren't cis or don't look male enough or female ebough. We gotta learn loving and accepting ourselves and our bodies. That doesn't mean not getting a surgery done or not taking hormones but rather doing it for the right reasons and appreciating our unique bodies, not trying to fit some
@@jamielee7404 Yeah definitely, but we can go a long route from there. Normalizing intersex bodies would be amazing for EVERYONE, I really hope that we can make a better world for all of us, and the future generations.
Good luck with your life, I definitely agree, you're NOT broken, there's nothing to be fixed, and there's nothing shameful about it.
Lots of love!
"Hang out with my POUCH!!" Lmfao
I thinks doctors will find any stupid reason to operate, just to cash in. BTW, Girl, you are so beautiful, its unreal.
from one intersexperiences girl to another... your amazing!!!!!!!
Yeah maybe learn to not be so sensitive. When people like physicians or surgeons (neither of which are renowned for their warmth or empathy) use medical jargon like "ambiguous testicles" or "blind pouch vaginas", it is not because they are being insensitive meanies: it's because they're medically trained and no one that ever wrote in a medical handbook ever took the time to think up sensitive, endearing names like "Vajazzling Giney Purse". Ambiguous testicles are what they sound like, or would you prefer "Ladylike Meatdangles"? I have a major un-diagnosed hormone imbalance, but I don't shit myself when my specialist asks how my facial hair is doing or mentions that I'm infertile for the tenth time. Again, thanks for the videos and my best to you.
Thank you Em for this! We get angry when we hear about girls in some countries being forced as children to have clitorectomies as a way to stay pure for their future husbands. How is it not just as abusive when done to intersex people? I don’t blame you for being angry. It is just not right.
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
wish someone like this would rally against male genital mutilation, it really gets ignored
Thank you for an eye opening video. It is a wonderful thing that you are doing here.
I wish I had been given the benefit of informed consent before my foreskin was removed. It really bothers me that the perfectly functioning penis I was born was partially removed by a gynecologist (WTF) because of a religion that no one in my family is a member of, and agreed to by my mother (who's body is it NOW?) , and her justification is HER sexual preference. I honestly don't know if what was removed is even worth complaining about, and that is what bothers me the most. I will never know if a lackluster orgasm is due to my age, or my partner, or my lack of anatomy. Thanks for your video's. I've really enjoyed being able to learn details about intersex. You are smart, funny, nice, and charismatic. You remind me of my favorite teachers., and i wonder if you ever considered being a professional educator.
I happen to also have been born intersex also. Yes I did have surgeries as a child and I came very close to having MTF surgery because of a developmental issue with my gonads. At the last moment the gender change surgery wasn't done but because of the nature of my body I did develop at least stage three testicular/ovarian cancer as an adult.
In all I've had seven or so surgeries directly related to my intersex. Three ovarian cancer surgeries and a number of loosely related surgeries. In all over twenty four surgeries.
Even though I am married and live day to day as a male, I do not see myself as one, never have!!!! Because my malignant testis was a ovotestis, more ovary than testis in this case.
In the last six months my remaining gonad was also found to also be a ovotestis. Not as much as the other one though. Well all that has changed and now my production of testosterone has stopped but apparently it is producing estrogen. For all I know it has been producing estrogen my whole life and maybe that one one more factor for myself feeling as if I should have been born 100% female.
One other factor is I had a number of mature germ cell teratoma surgically removed over the years. These teratoma varied in size from 10-17.5cm. All took the form of a parasitic twin, as they had limbs, skin, bone and a real since of body structure . ( guess I'm a mom and a father) lol
As a ten year old child I was never told anything about what was done to me surgically. Nor were my parents ever told anything about what was done to me.
These surgeries must stop and everyone informed as what the intersex condition was. No surgery should have been done unless there is a real risk to the child short term health. Surgeries like mine could have been performed at the age of consent.
Ironically I really should not have been able to produce children but surprisingly we did manage too have two children. It took five-teen years in all to have them. Shortly after the last child I came down with the ovarian type cancer.
Now my remaining ovotestis will also need removal in the near future. The hypogonadism related issues will also need surgical reconstruction during this process.
Wait...so doctors can't always determine your gender at birth? I mean it makes sense but shit...what would I do if I didn't know the gender of my child? I wouldn't want to raise it wrong but....shit....SHIT
No more surgeries people should realize that when an intersection child reaches puberty a gender will emerge
Sorry for the slip using this microphone function is not the easiest thing I hope you all realize what I meant to say.
kim knuff While I was in the hospital at age ten there was a even younger child in the bed next to mine. He was similar to me in that his sex organs didn’t not develop well. I really never spoke to him as he was sedated the whole time . On the third day he was there they took him away and preformed a gender change surgery on him. I never saw him again and I can only guess he was then brought to a girls ward, I really don’t know. What the doctors did to him had a profound effect on me. I wonder what happened to her. Did she cope?
كيف انجبت الاطفال اتمنى ان تخبرني
I hadn't thought of intersex as being in the LGBT(and other letters infinitum) because Those letters are to indicate sexual preferences based on choice rather than physiology. Choice is a rather loose term there but I'm not sure how to be more exact defining what I'm trying to elaborate. Interesting how it does seem to connect, although it may mean I'm going to have to remember an almost never ending series of letters and what each one means. I thought that when it got to Q that was the one that stood for "and everything else" that couldn't fit into one of the others. This stuff gets sooooo confusing....
Would be simpler just to go back to HUMAN and let everybody have their rights of autonomy. Your body is the ONLY thing you will ever really own, and YOU should have absolute control of it. Let's start from THAT premise.
I'm just passing through, gettin' an education. First, thanks so much for your frank information. [ I know we have a long way to go to achieve "equality for everyone", or as I like to say, "live and let live". ] Thank goodness for the internet. How great is it than any one with questions can easily find your channel, get information, and take it from there.
I am APPALLED, yes I am shouting, and banging my fist on my desk too! Why on earth do these decisions and surgeries have to be made for/on babies? [Other than obvious, immediate functional need] From what I've learned today, the biggest deciding factor for a lot of people is what happens with the puberty hormonal flood, or lack thereof.
I would never judge someone based on having genitals. Like wtf is wrong with people. I'm really getting behind the intersex movement right now.
Your humor is very punny Emily:) I especially love the channel name!
Ty for this video. I'm trans and not intersex, but I love learning about different parts of the spectrum and people's journeys in general.
Dr.s experiment with us too :/
Keep being you! :)
Never apologise for being angry about Patriarchal ignorance and arrogance!! Thank you so much for your videos.
Wow! I have learned a lot about intersex people. Thank you for sharing!!! I’m glad to know this.
Love your sense of humor and your very good and educative vids!!! Don't apologize; your way too ladylike to be interpreted as angry. The message is very clear though. There's doctors and doctors, right? Just found you here and will definitely be checking all of your vids, oh, and SO glad i found Pidgeon here through you!!! I so loved the documentary
"Intersexion", with Pidgeon as a superstar...keep em angry vids coming, you beauty!!!
Thanks for doing this video. I'm intersex and I'm considering Vaginalplasty, but I can't find a surgeons who deals intersex people, just surgeons who deal with transgender people. Where do I find surgeons that deal with intersex people?
So appreciate the way said topic is handled and info is presented...albeit I do disagree with the closing stating that you want these 3 AIS surgeries to stop now: gonad removal, vaginoplasty, and clitorectomy (please let me know if I misunderstood this portion) but I agree with everything else and especially liked the informed consent to make sure the patient has ALL info. G Dysphoria can make typing a simple comment take 30minutes, keep doing what you're doing yo...much 💕
I had my uterus and cervix removed. Now I have a blind pouch vagina too. It's definitely not sexy but it's a good description of the structure. Before my surgery I asked "where is the sperm going to end up?"
I do not seem to have been born with a vagina (or it might have been inside instead of outside)so I had a piece of intestine turned into a vagina when I was 15. It does give me some sensation. I did have a cliterectomy when I was a toddler, and I do get very angry about it.
I absolutely adore you, you have such a fun personality and I admire, and respect you for doing these videos to help educate people! I have a trans daughter and I am forever grateful for people like you who are working to make topics like this commonplace! =}
was very happy to see your ted talk :D hope you post more videos soon!
Again... no surgeries on my future babies' genitalia! The only reason to operate on a baby "down there" are real misfunctions like a phimosis for example, (which also often "grows out" so no surgery on a fresh infant is needed). This makes me so angry! A surgery should be something done with the patient's consent, to improve their life, not forced on somebody to ruin them forever. Grrr!
Thanks for the video.
Is anything being done to protect patients rights with regards to clitorectomies? Do any states in the US ban these surgeries that you know of?
Tbh I don't think I would give a shit if my partner had "ambiguous genetalia" as long as it works we're good here
This is the same for regular boys. Do not cut their genitalia
Such an amazing video! Thank you! Emily, you are beautiful courageous, funny and all those other nice things lol 😆
i was born intersex but don t want surgeries just need good people honesty who accepted for life ermafroditta live fr
This was horrifying stumbled on to this by accident. Now I know a bit more thanks. Keep up the good work
Hi Emily. Thanks for educating on this topic. More people know about it, more misconception removed .
by the way is there any dating site for intersex people? i am interested ☺
Out of curiosity, how should then doctors medically discuss intersex genitals and differentiate them with nonintersexed genitals?
Hey! You are awesome, it's lovely to watch your vids and have something so well explained!
It really would be nice to have terminology that doesn't sound like a kangaroo body part :P
You're gifted !
Have you know of patients who have had 'vaginoplasty' tissue close becoming in-viable (whether due to lack of follow up care or uninformed instruction and counsel of the dilation process) who have not decided to correct this mutilation\mistake?!?
Please share your experience because we can understand and rectify our understanding from orthodox history.
Great video, thank you for sharing and personally, I don’t agree with reducing the size of a clitoris and nor do I think a baby boys penis should be circumcised. As you mentioned, why would someone want to remove a part of the body that is sensitive. I learned so much from this video and it was extremely interesting. Thank you for sharing.
Unrelated to the serious and informative subject matter.......I have to say you have natural comedic talent....you should do stand up.
I don’t think the surgeries should be banned. I think there should be a requirement of the person being an adult. Some people may want to have their body look a specific way and they should be allowed to do that. Some cis women have their vulva surgically reshaped to fit whatever they want it to look like.
I agree that removing things from babies that isn’t medically necessary isn’t good but what if an adult wants to change something?
Also good luck finding dialators outside eu and us
Daria of a new bloom A few online sex shops sell them, which is pretty cool! I don't know about the shipping, but I'm sure some places will ship to other counties :)
thank you, for being so open and forthcoming. We are glad for you. Be strong and look long and hard "oops" These freudian slips are getting old.. lol ,before you any surgery. there is a key for every lock,, peace , love, and understanding.
#Objection!
I am a medical doctor and I think that a "vaginal pouch" is a redundancy, due its etymological origins, but whatever.
In addition, the vagina and the uterus have a common origin. They start as 2 solid tubes that become hollow and they fuse... in men, the structures persist inside small prostatic urethra.
If you prefer a nicer name, you can call it Mullerian agenesis: www.acog.org/Resources-And-Publications/Committee-Opinions/Committee-on-Adolescent-Health-Care/Mullerian-Agenesis-Diagnosis-Management-and-Treatment
I agree if I ever do a kid thing... and they are intersex, if a doctor even touches them without my consent that's a no, I will sue them into the poor house. I will not give consent either until my kid could decide what they wanted for themselves. It's so wrong that people do surgery on babies when you don't even know what that baby is going to be. -_-
I'm not, in any means, trying to "bash" you or discriminate against you, but you talked about how you didn't like the names and terminology doctors use for genitalia and such but you didn't give other names so how do you expect them to find another term to use for such things?
think you misspoke around 8m50 sec describing "Drs can't tell if its a penis or a vagina", think you meant "a penis or a clitoris". great video otherwise.
in several of my own video's I shared my common urogenital sinus and hypoplastic uterus and left and right ovaries originally described as a juvenile uterus back in 1993 with a DX of AGS with XY/XO mosaic from blood and bucceal smear karyotype. but what has always gotten me peeved is that many people within the intersex community refused to believe that was even possible. technically the XY/XO was a partially correct dx still though I think it is interesting to see you share your experiences with explanation. someday I may share more videos but currently on a very long break from making videos.
Thanks for sharing your great videos!!
Over the two videos you only went as far as to call this mutilation when you got to talking about the clitoris. Wouldn't any of these medically unnecessary surgeries on the genitals of children be mutilation whether it is involving ovaries, testicles, clitorises or penises?
I needed to have a vaginoplasty due to there being no opening for my mostly* standard utureus to be able function if I did have periods. but I was 4 and now I'm 20 and things look WILD.
Wow I love your voice!!!
i was born with only one ear from birth. it;s not a very common thing. i did know an adult who chose to do nothing to his when i was a child. being a child my father wanted me to have a normal childhood. so i had reconstructive surgery as a child, the results were a disaster, however, i never blamed my dad. not for being born that way or for the operations i had done as child, but, i dealt with a lot of discrimination from other children= being bullied, it also created problems for me to get jobs, and i wanted to work with the public in some fashion... speed things up as an adult i ended up getting a prosthesis . i wasnt happy with it. so, i seldom wear it. it isnt pliable like a real ear.. it was hard and could come off my head easily. though our stories and situations are different i can relate
Do surgeons earn extra money for each surgery? Here in Argentina it is that way and it is one of the reasons why, some surgeons suggest unnecesary surgeries. One of the most common surgery is c section, in women who want and can have a natural birth.dIt is very sad and it is very impotent to know that doctors do not correctly report the benefits and harms of surgery. And that damn mania of wanting to fix what is not wrong
Thank you for sharing your story!
I have a question : from what i get from your videos, AIS means that androgens are not processed by the body and people with it (because of the vagina part) are probably assigned female at birth, which is "confirmed" later with the estrogen doing their estrogen job. But what happens if a person with AIS identify as a guy ? they can't go for androgen HRT because the body can't process androgen, either their own or chemical ones ? (i'm sorry if that question is out of place, as a trans guy this matter makes me really sad for all potential guys with AIS ;-;)
I'm scared with that surgery T_T I didn't see the doctor yet and I'm 20yo now!!!