PSA: "all of [species] are intersex" can reinforce misconceptions
PSA: "all of [species] are intersex" can reinforce misconceptions
So I'm still gathering my thoughts on The Deep by intersex author Rivers Solomon which I read for @intersexbookclub and one thing that I keep seeing in reviews for the book is "all of the wajinru are...
Keeping with the theme of the community. I am so tired of seeing perisex sci-fi fans say that all the <insert aliens species that can reproduce as both male and female> are intersex. Not how it works folks!
You're viewing a single thread.
And don't even get me started on what some sectors of the furry community believe intersex is. As someone who has been a furry for many years, I've definitely found a LOT of inaccurate stuff in the community regarding intersex matters. Also, DeviantArt and etc. al. are no better. Now, the furry community in particular is where these inaccuracies get fleshed out to significant extremes, including even custom symbols largely belonging to a term I cannot utter here. The community ESPECIALLY has inaccuracy issues when it comes to the topic of reproduction, as does DeviantArt. OH, and that isn't the only relevant thing they get wrong. They get a LOT more wrong. Not to mention that they also get stuff wrong about trans and nonbinary people too. God, certain parts of the internet REALLY don't know how things work. Like, they completely miss the mark, and it goes awry fast in a way that completely misrepresents what being intersex is, and same for their treatment of trans and nonbinary people. People just buy into stereotypes, and of course, that doesn't end well, and it only clouds things up as to how things actually work. Better and more accurate representation is needed in creative works, and desperately so.
Oh god I didn't even realize this would be an issue in the furry community when I wrote the post on tumblr and just ooof. Sorry you have to deal with that and it's a shame that there aren't more furries interested in biological accuracy.
There are some, but the number isn't high. The world needs more accuracy.
Last night I ran into yet another bad term used on the net for when someone's body is not in line with societal norms. I can't utter it directly, but I can say it censored. Also, apparently Tumblr hasn't said anything about it.
CW: bad term (censored with symbols):
spoiler
newh@lf
The body type this refers to is closest to a trans woman who has done HRT but not bottom surgery. Where things get even more bad is that some of the relevant works get tagged with the "intersex" tag for all the wrong reasons. Sure, there are some rarer instances of such art in which the character IS an intersex trans woman canonically, if the character is fem, or there are like, even rarer artworks where someone draws an effeminate person who has an intersex condition like Kleinfelter's, which can cause breast growth. Unfortunately, many artists on the Internet's less-than-professional spaces tend to use the tag "intersex" wrong, and badly so, sometimes even mixing it with slurs in the work tags. I swear, so many artists don't know how intersex works, and many don't get non-cis people right either. It's a harsh world in the art sector.