XIV Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2022

To date in most countries there are officially only two genders: male and female. Sex is indicated at birth, and a person cannot change it without special operations. In many countries, people live according to the binary system of genders and Russia is no exception.

Intersex people are people who exist outside of this binary system, people who cannot be determined: a woman or a man. According to the definition of intersex people on Wikipedia, intersex, according to the brochure of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, intersex is "a person born with sexual characteristics (including genitals, sex glands and a set of chromosomes) that do not fit into the stereotypes of the binary system of perception of the male and female body." At the same time, the UN World Organization does not consider intersexuality a disease, but includes it in the violation of sexual development. The reasons for intersexuality can be:

Atypical set of chromosomes.

Altered appearance of the genitals.

Atypical development of the genital glands.

There are about 40 types of intersex variations in total, and there are approximately 120 million people in the world (The UN reference material says that 0.05 to 1.7% of children are born with atypical sexual characteristics, but these data can be considered approximate and, most likely, underestimated, since there are no reliable statistics on the number of people with intersex variations.).

Intersex people are most often identified at birth, but there are cases when people realize that they are intersex already in adolescence during puberty, but sometimes - in adulthood. Interestingly, many intersex people, regardless of what is written in their passport, identify themselves as "intersex", without classifying themselves as either men or women. It should be noted that in the modern world, many countries have got rid of or modified the "passport" gender. In the USA, for example, people at a conscious age can indicate their gender themselves, not limited to male and female. In modern countries, there is also a choice between the third sex. In Indonesia, undecided people may not indicate their gender at all.

Many intersex people resort to surgery to correct their "shortcomings", but this is not necessary. I would like to add that in order to change your gender in the documents, you will need to get a certificate from a psychiatrist with a diagnosis of "transsexuality". Unfortunately, a year ago in 2020 the State Duma of Russia adopted a bill according to which intersex people are prohibited from changing the gender in the birth certificate.

Why is it hard for intersex people to live in Russia?

In Russia, according to the authorities, there are only 2 genders: you are either a man or a woman. In reality, there are 40 variations of the sexes and more than 60 genders. People also cannot adopt a child from an orphanage if they have already made a transgender transition.

Biology textbooks in high school say that people have a standard set of chromosomes - XY (male) and XX (female), but there are also others - XXY, X0, XXX and others. In his interview with Peter Ploskov, Anton Kryzhanovsky shared that, having been born, he was recorded in the birth certificate as a female person. He also tells the story of how he was sent to a monastery so that these "teenage trends" (according to his parents) would go away. "In our rather conservative society, you have no options: you are either a boy or a girl" - Kryzhanovsky's quote, which reflects the real circumstances of the life of an intersex person in Russia. I would also like to note that the presence of intersex variation does not mean a different sexual orientation or a feeling of being in a different field. Most intersex people do not consider themselves LGBT representatives, but identify themselves as ordinary men or women, or as non-binary people. In addition, intersex people need to be distinguished from transgender and non-binary people. Transgender people are people whose gender identity, that is, the sense of self, does not coincide with the gender registered at birth. Non-binary people are those who definitely do not consider themselves either male or female.

The sex of newborns, as already mentioned, is recorded at birth. Any deviation in the development of the genitals in many countries, including Russia, is considered intersex variations. This does not entail any health consequences, however, cosmetic operations are still carried out in our country to "normalize" the genitals. Human rights organizations, the UN, the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Rights of the Child oppose operations without medical necessity and consider it a violation of human rights. Such interventions can have negative consequences — infertility, diseases of the genitourinary system, loss of intimate sensitivity and psychological discomfort.

In addition, there is a risk that the wrong gender is chosen, and the person will feel belonging to a different gender. The probability of making a mistake with the gender is 60%. In the UN recommendations, genital mutilation of intersex people is recognized as torture. If a person in Russia has been diagnosed with a "violation of gender formation", then he can register a disability and receive free treatment. There is no concept of "intersex" in the law, which entails a number of legal problems. For example, people with a diagnosis of "pseudohermaphroditism" cannot change their passport gender — this means that they are forced to live with the gender that was chosen for them at birth.

Irina Kuzenko, an intersex activist, noted in an interview with Eanews: "Instead of letting him grow up and decide for himself what to do with his body, the child is urgently operated on to bring his appearance closer to a certain social standard."

In Russia, many doctors and psychologists recommend parents not to tell children about their peculiarities. This approach violates Article 54 of the Law of the Russian Federation "On the basics of protecting the health of citizens— - starting from the age of 15, teenagers must give voluntary consent to medical intervention and have the right to know what is happening to them. According to Kryzhanovsky, it is very difficult to find a doctor or a psychologist in our country. About 99% of specialists do not know how to treat, as well as communicate with intersex people.

Most intersex activists advise contacting Intersex.ru, noting that mostly it is not children who come to them for help, but their parents. The main task of activists is to explain to parents that their intersex children are normal, and that various operations can harm both children and their relationships with their parents.

Where fight for intersex people?

If things are not going well with intersex people in Russia, this does not mean that things are the same in all countries. For example, in Nepal, the option of the third gender, as well as its choice, was formed back in 2008. The first European countries to provide for gender diversity were Germany and Austria. This happened much later than the predecessors from other regions — in 2017-2019. The requirement for specifying a different gender is the same - the presence of intersex variation, confirmed by documents. If a child at birth cannot be defined as a girl or a boy, then you can put a cross in the "gender" column and allow the child to solve this issue in adulthood.

Gender other than male and female, in countries where gender diversity is provided, is called differently. In Canada, the third gender is indicated as "indeterminate", in the Netherlands as "gender-neutral", and in New Zealand you can choose one of three options — "indeterminate", "intersex" or "unspecified".

Great importance is attached to the rights of intersex people in Malta. It became the first country in the world to prohibit intersex children from performing operations and any gender correction interventions. The country has also banned discrimination against intersex people and adopted a law on gender identity that enshrines physical integrity. It is easier to change the gender in documents in Malta than anywhere else, you just need to notify the state of your decision.

In addition to gender diversity, other initiatives are being introduced abroad aimed at reducing differences between the sexes and tolerance. At Oxford University, it was proposed to introduce a personal pronoun of the third person of an indefinite gender.

Conclusion.

In my conclusion, I would like to note that, according to Kryzhanovsky, compliance with linguistic features is not such an important task for today. Much more important is the task of ensuring the rights of "non-standard" people, for example, a ban on cosmetic "normalizing" surgical interventions, as well as their respect among the masses.

Perhaps one day, people will understand that sexual variation is not limited to two sexes: male and female, sexual variation is a whole spectrum within which various variations of sexual and gender identity are possible.

List of literature:

https://tjournal.ru/s/health/201095-interseks-muzhchina-ili-zhenshchina-kakie-trudnosti-preodolevayut-lyudi-rodivshiesya-na-styke-polov;

https://lifehacker.ru/interseks-lyudi/;

https://www.wonderzine.com/wonderzine/life/life/225342-intersex;

https://snob.ru/profile/31795/blog/164206;

https://e.yuga.ru/health/304.html;

Audio Podcast: "Between the sexes";

Video podcast: "PETYA PRO: INTERSEX";

Jeffrey Eugenides «Middle Gender», ISBN: 978-5-17-080249-4;

Alice Darwin «Rokitansky», ISBN: 978-0992878207;

I. W. Gregorio «None of the Above», ISBN: 978-0062335319.

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