This is an accepted version of this page Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".

[18][19][page range too broad] In clinical settings, the term "disorders of sex development" (DSD) has been used since 2006,[20] a shift in language considered controversial since its introduction.

[25][26][27] Globally, some intersex infants and children, such as those with ambiguous outer genitalia, are surgically or hormonally altered to create more socially acceptable sex characteristics.

[14] However, according to The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies, it was not until Anne Fausto Sterling published her article "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough" in 1993 that the term reached popularity.

[41] According to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (including genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns) that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.

[49] Another study by a group of children's hospitals in the United States found that 53% of 133 parent and adolescent participants recruited at five clinics did not like the term "intersex".

The 12th century Decretum Gratiani states that "Whether an hermaphrodite may witness a testament, depends on which sex prevails" ("Hermafroditus an ad testamentum adhiberi possit, qualitas sexus incalescentis ostendit").

[4] The now-defunct Intersex Society of North America stated that: If you ask experts at medical centers how often a child is born so noticeably atypical in terms of genitalia that a specialist in sex differentiation is called in, the number comes out to about 1 in 1,500 to 1 in 2,000 births [0.07–0.05%].

[64]Anne Fausto-Sterling and her co-authors stated in 2000 that "[a]dding the estimates of all known causes of nondimorphic sexual development suggests that approximately 1.7% of all live births do not conform to a Platonic ideal of absolute sex chromosome, gonadal, genital, and hormonal dimorphism";[9][8] these publications have been widely quoted by intersex activists.

[65][66][67] Of the 1.7%, 1.5% points (88% of those considered "nondimorphic sexual development" in this figure) consist of individuals with late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia (LOCAH) which may be asymptomatic but can present after puberty and cause infertility.

[71][72][73][74][a] A study relying on a nationally representative survey conducted in Mexico between 2021 and 2022 obtained similar estimates: around 1.6% of individuals aged 15 to 64 reported being born with sex variations.

[105] Pliny the Elder (AD 23/24–79), a Roman naturalist, described "those who are born of both sexes, whom we call hermaphrodites, at one time androgyni" (from the Greek andr-, "man", and gyn-, "woman").

[106] Augustine (354 – 430 AD), the influential Catholic theologian, wrote in The Literal Meaning of Genesis that humans were created in two sexes, despite "as happens in some births, in the case of what we call androgynes".

[119] Dialogue between what were once antagonistic groups of activists and clinicians has led to only slight changes in medical policies and how intersex patients and their families are treated in some locations.

[36] In April 2015, Malta became the first country to outlaw non-consensual medical interventions to modify sex anatomy, including that of intersex people.

[37] Many civil society organizations and human rights institutions now call for an end to unnecessary "normalizing" interventions, including in the Malta declaration.

Intersex infants, children, adolescents and adults "are often stigmatized and subjected to multiple human rights violations", including discrimination in education, healthcare, employment, sport, and public services.

[2] Researchers have documented significant disparities in mental, physical, and sexual health when comparing intersex individuals to the general population, including higher rates of bullying, stigmatization, harassment, violence, and suicidal intention, as well as substantial barriers in the workplace.

With the rise of modern medical science in Western societies, a secrecy-based model was also adopted, in the belief that this was necessary to ensure normal physical and psychosocial development.

[6][46] On January 20, 2025, US president Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14168, entitled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government".

It marks the first public demonstration by intersex people, which took place in Boston on 26 October 1996, outside a venue where the American Academy of Pediatrics was holding its annual conference.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the treatment of intersex babies started to be discussed in Orthodox Jewish medical halacha by prominent rabbinic leaders, such as Eliezer Waldenberg and Moshe Feinstein.

When Semenya won gold at the 2009 World Championships, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) requested sex verification tests on the very same day.

[181] In 2019, new IAAF rules came into force for athletes like Semenya with certain disorders of sex development (DSDs) requiring medication to suppress testosterone levels in order to participate in 400m, 800m, and 1500m women's events.

She has filed a series of legal cases to restore her ability to compete in these events without testosterone suppression, arguing that the World Athletics rules are discriminatory.

[183] In April 2014, the BMJ reported that four elite women athletes with XY chromosomes and 5α-reductase 2 deficiency were subjected to sterilization and "partial clitoridectomies" in order to compete in sport.

[193] Research in the late 20th century led to a growing medical consensus that diverse intersex bodies are normal, but relatively rare, forms of human biology.

Current human rights based definitions stress a broad diversity of sex characteristics that differ from expectations for male or female bodies.

[211][212][213] Such surgeries are the subject of significant contention due to consequences that include trauma, impact on sexual function and sensation, and violation of rights to physical and mental integrity.

[citation needed] This includes community activism,[115] and multiple reports by international human rights[31][65][35][214] and health[143] institutions and national ethics bodies.