The truly scariest part of puberty is no one telling you jackshit about how it works and talking about it in mysterious and alienating ways. I could only imagine how being intersex turns that up to an 11.
A touching coming-of-age reflection about the messiness, but more importantly the beauty, of human biological differences.
Sex testing has been used by sporting bodies to target women athletes who, often through variations in their sex characteristics, or intersex traits, have higher than typical natural testosterone. The practice has been debunked as unethical, unscientific, and unworkable.
www.hrw.org/news/2026/04...
Tanis has always loved to read. When he never saw a body like his in "The Care and Keeping of You" or any book, he set out to discover why.
The result? A journey to gender, hormones, and intersex diagnoses that taught him to embrace queerness and complexity.
interactadvocates.org/my-body-wasn...
Brianna Turner holding a basketball with the quote: “Do not use the names of women athletes to target, shame or exclude transgender women. Transgender women are women. Women with intersex variations are women. I welcome these women – and all women – onto my teams.”
WNBA player Brianna Turner has come out in support of trans women in sports following the IOC’s recent ban on trans women in female Olympic events.
Turner recently penned an opinion piece for USA Today, titled ‘I'm a WNBA player, don't use athletes like me to exclude trans women’.
📷 Getty
Pros like Brianna Turner have made it abundantly clear what women athletes need — attacking and excluding trans and intersex athletes isn't on the list.
"Do not use the names of women athletes to target, shame or exclude transgender women. Transgender women are women. Women with intersex variations are women. I welcome these women – and all women – onto my teams."
www.usatoday.com/story/opinio...
I wrote for @slate.com about the new IOC sex testing policy and the intersex women directly targeted by it
@rikiwilchins.bsky.social 2026 Apr
TIME does a long-form look at how new Olympic sex testing rules and their application intended to screen out trans women will also hurt intersex/DSD athletes.
This is why they stopped having students test their own DNA in biology class. Too many were learning that they were intersex, in a classroom of their peers.
We can all agree that’s not the time or place for someone to discover such a personal and private fact about themselves.
If you haven't taken a genetic test, you don't know what your chromosomes are, either. They might be XX or XY. They might be XO, XXY, or a mix of XX/XY.
Science is more complex than many people feel comfortable believing.
Many athletes may only learn they are intersex from genetic testing. “There are places around the world where this kind of outing is incredibly dangerous," says Erika Lorshbough. "I would like to think the U.S. is not one of those places. But right now it doesn't feel like that to a lot of people.”
Kate, an intersex college athlete & interACT Youth, worries about what the Olympic policy means for the next generation. “It made me really sad for all the intersex kids who are dreaming of the Olympics." She once thought competing at that level would be “the coolest thing.”
time.com/article/2026...
"There is no single marker for what makes someone a woman, or for what makes an athlete great. We celebrate the exceptional in men’s sports all the time. But when it comes to women’s sports, there are such narrow definitions of who is allowed to participate."
time.com/article/2026...
Caster Semenya with the headline: Caster Semenya slams Olympic sex testing decision: “Disrespect for women”
Caster Semenya slams Olympic sex testing as 'a disrespect for women' ➡️ https://bit.ly/4m5dqtk
📷 Getty
“I wish people understood that, really, these regulations do target intersex people as well,” said Amelia, an intersex woman who competes in track and field. “I think a lot of times we do get sort of pushed to the side and seen as collateral damage or an unintended consequence of transphobia.”
The results of Glisten’s 2025 National School Climate Survey are now live! Learn about the experiences of LGBTQI+ students in schools and recommendations on how to improve our nation’s schools at glisten.org/nscs2025. A purple sticky note reads: Intersex Students
![We had to do a project on birth defects. [My genetics teacher] assigned me being intersex as [a] birth defect…I had to present [to my class] that [being intersex] was not a birth defect. She gave me a very low grade because I didn’t…label it as a birth defect. -An intersex 12th grader in Mississippi](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:yxw66ymjexktfirryz7sto5i/bafkreibhjuld7eyz5pi5ifkzsd2ly3hj23fmbyo2jxjjchrrnjfjqfotbu)
We had to do a project on birth defects. [My genetics teacher] assigned me being intersex as [a] birth defect…I had to present [to my class] that [being intersex] was not a birth defect. She gave me a very low grade because I didn’t…label it as a birth defect. -An intersex 12th grader in Mississippi
Only 22% of LGBTQI+ students who received sex ed learned about intersex topics. Source: Glisten’s 2025 National School Climate Survey
Having supportive friends, especially those who know about and accept someone’s intersex identity, is deeply impactful for an intersex student’s belonging and sense of safety. Source: Glisten’s 2025 National School Climate Survey
We are proud to have partnered with @glsen.bsky.social on their 2025 National School Climate Survey! The report is telling: only 22% of LGBTQI+ students who received sex ed even learned about intersex topics.
How can we bring intersex inclusion into the classroom?
Learn more: glisten.org/nscs2025
Tell your officials that Conversion therapy has no place in your state: Trvr.org/StopConversionTherapy
Reading this piece, it's worth remembering is the role that NYT played in painting Caster Semenya as a cheat in the first place. Her first mentions in NYT in 2009-2010, which I wrote about in 2019: www.cjr.org/criticism/ca...
The Supreme Court struck down a law that protected youth from conversion therapy – harmful efforts to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Intersex youth are disproportionately vulnerable to conversion therapy practices. interACT responds:
interactadvocates.org/breaking-the...
Being intersex has taught me to love myself as a trans person, and being trans has taught me to love myself as an intersex person. - Nessa Calvin
Keeping up with your local politics is the best way to support us—specifically, look out for anything that impacts gender-affirming care. - Myrtle
Today, we celebrate the Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV). While some intersex people are cisgender men or women, others are also trans. Both intersex & trans people challenge the idea of a clear-cut sex & gender binary.
Read more by intersex & trans youth: interactadvocates.org/being-trans-...
Caster Semenya, a two-time Olympian with a variation in her sex traits, criticized the IOC policy discriminating against transgender and intersex women. “It’s like now we need to prove that we are worthy as women to take part in sports. That is disrespect for women."
www.nytimes.com/athletic/715...
interACT DMV intersex advocacy cohort. Are you intersex and 18-29? Do you live in the DMV (DC, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) area? Join a new DMV advocacy cohort this may- November for connection, community work, civic engagement, lobbying and more! Apply by March 27th! Bit.ly/dmv-cohort. Stars read: Make change for intersex rights! Come to our Healing Retreat! Join us at DC Pride! There are three pictures, one of a zoom meeting of our cohort last year, one from our last Healing Retreat of three men in the woods in front of trees, and one from World Pride of a youth advocate and staff member set up at a table.
Are you intersex and 18-29? Do you live in the DMV (DC, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia) area? We're inviting YOU to join our new DMV Youth Advocacy Cohort, running May-November to make change for intersex rights.
Apply to join at bit.ly/dmv-cohort or send any questions to info@interactadvocates.org.
It took the New York Times until the 5th paragraph to even mention this applies to intersex athletes which is far more impactful than trans athletes.
Any policy that intends to discriminate against transgender athletes also harms intersex women, especially those with chromosomal and hormonal variations.
Please don't misunderstand - we rep trans people every day of the week. Most of us on the team are also trans. Trans women belong in women's sports.
There is a long history of sex testing to restrict intersex women with genetic variations from competition. It has only ever resulted in harassment and discrimination. Now, the same sex testing practices are weaponized against transgender women—and, truly, all women.
There is a long history of sex testing to restrict intersex women with genetic variations from competition. It has only ever resulted in harassment and discrimination. Now, the same sex testing practices are weaponized against transgender women—and, truly, all women.
It's back despite not working because trapping intersex women with chromosomal variations is part of the goal, just as much as discriminating against transgender women.
