Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

‣ Intersex Youth — Closing Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #IAD #IntersexAwarenessDay #IntersexAwarenessDay2026 #IAW #IntersexAwarenessWeeks […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

OII Europe, its member organisations, and many incredible intersex activists across Europe are united in one clear message to intersex youth:

Being intersex is not a ‘problem to fix’.

Young intersex people thrive when they have access to human-rights based, and comprehensive information about their bodies, when they have access to peer support and where their bodily autonomy and right to self-determination is upheld: let's help build a world together where all this is possible!

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

3 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Education [2/2] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #Education #IAD #IntersexAwarenessDay #IntersexAwarenessDay2026 #IAW […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

OII Europe's and ILGA Europe's ‘Intersections: The LGBTI II Survey - Intersex Analysis’ reveals that intersex youth face barriers in employment often in relation to lack of education as a result of pathologisation and related trauma experienced from an early age.

[Cover of the mentioned survey.]

These aren't separate issues. They're interconnected consequences of systemic harm that can be changed if we act on it.

Read more about intersex youth and education on our campaign's website.

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

3 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Education [1/2] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #Education #IAD #IntersexAwarenessDay #IntersexAwarenessDay2026 #IAW […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

Educational institutions shape who we become. For young people, this period brings unique challenges: discovering one’s identity, building meaningful connections, searching for spaces that truly see and affirm them. For intersex youth specifically, this search often means navigating systems that pathologize their bodies, erase their experiences from curricula, and offer no representation. Can this situation change?

In the framework of a joint Council of Europe and IGLYO collaboration, OII Europe helped support the creation of 3 tools aimed at fostering SOGIESC inclusive school curricula and environments. Together, the three tools form a coherent package that connects policy frameworks, narrative resilience and educators’ competences into a systemic approach to advancing LGBTQI-inclusive education. Soon to be published by IGLYO and the Council of Europe.

[Covers: ‘Framework for a Training Module on SOGIESC for Educators’, ‘Policy Guidance on Addressing SOGIESC-based bullying in Schools’, ‘Countering Anti-Rights Discourse in Education’.]

Intersex youth deserve access to an education where they can develop their full potential, in safety – free from harassment and discrimination, and to learn in an environment that represents them in an affirmative, positive and non-stigmatizing manner.

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

4 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Mental Health [2/2] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #MentalHealth #IAD #IntersexAwarenessDay […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

‣ Intersex Youth and Mental Health.

In the early 2000s, the power of the internet, through blogs and digital forums written by intersex people, allowed intersex persons from around the world to finally connect and share their stories with one another.

“Rather by chance I found out about the term intersex and personal testimonials of similar experiences through the internet and began to research what really happened, twelve years after the surgery, now age 29.”
— My Intersex Story, pg. 64.

Social media now allows us to closely connect with each other and continue to further break down the invisibilisation of intersex lived realities, reaching audiences around the world. The internet can be a scary place, but it can also be a vital lifeline for many of us to break free from secrecy and silence!

The power of coming together, learning from one another, sharing stories and struggles, building friendships, celebrating individual and collective achievements, far outshines the stigma and marginalisation that intersex youth far, too often, still face.

“My role in life is to stand up for intersex people, to fight for our bodies to be respected. I want the intersex young people of the future to be able to feel free.”

“We need to create cultural role models who represent intersex people. It's also incredibly important that we intersex people believe we can be game changers, directors, screenwriters.”

“Our stories of violence deserve to be told. Our stories of resilience deserve to be told. But we also need stories with happy endings for intersex people, too.”

“For me, culture is a meaningful tool for educating society and for building new narratives. It is also one of the most important ways of driving the fight for our rights.”

— Mer Gómez, writer and intersex activist from Spain.

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

4 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Mental Health [1/2] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #MentalHealth #IAD #IntersexAwarenessDay […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

Mental health looks different for every young person. That is as true for intersex youth as for anyone else.

Intersex young people experience higher levels of anxiety than endosex respondents.

According to the report, approximately 37.5% of intersex respondents experienced symptoms of an anxiety disorder in previous years, 41.7% in the past 6 months, compared to 33.9% among endosex respondents in recent years and 36.6% in the past 6 months.
(From the IGLYO report “LGBTQI Youth Mental Health in the Spotlight”, 2026.)

At the same time it is important to say clearly: the distress or mental health struggles that many intersex youth experience are more often linked to how they are treated by people, including peers, family members, educators, healthcare professionals and other members of their community, rather than being connected to the fact of being intersex itself.

Which is also why family, social support and acceptance, as well as peer support, is so vital: spaces where intersex youth can come together among peers, in a place of belonging, pride, joy and celebration!

For many young intersex people, meeting other intersex people who they can connect with and confide in, can be life changing.
You are not alone!

"I'm proud of accepting myself, my body, overcoming of my psychological problems and I even can support others"
— Intersex participant in the “Intersex Lives” Campaign, 2020.

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

5 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Sports [2/2] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… [This one I'm finding kinda… facepalmworthy. I mean, it *is* a serious issue, and it can indeed discourage intersex youth […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

‣ Intersex Youth and Sport.

What are the obstacles affecting participation of intersex youth in sport?

For example, the policy introduced in 2026 by the IOC entitled “Protection of the Female (Women's) Category in Olympic Sport” endorses mandatory genetic screening for women athletes. The IOC praises its new policy to be based on the latest scientific evidence, however the policy lacks methodological transparency, meaning: this eligibility tool is flawed.

In higher levels of sport, regulations have historically coerced young women with naturally high testosterone levels into unwanted surgeries (removal of reproductive organs) or forced hormonal suppression just to retain eligibility. These are not medical treatments but rather a punishment for bodies that don't fit the binary. That is not fairness, it's a violation of basic human rights.

New regulations such as the July 2025 World Athletics Eligibility Criteria and the new 2026 IOC guidelines, blatantly ignore the impact that these rules will have, specifically on intersex youth.

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

6 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Sports [1/2] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #Sport #GenderBinary #IAD #IntersexAwarenessDay #IntersexAwarenessDay2026 #IAW […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

‣ Intersex Youth and Sports.

Sport is supposed to be fun. It also offers a sense of community, teaches us about bravery, dedication and teamwork, helps us to build essential social skills, and dispel entrenched notions about the capacities and limits of the body.

But intersex youth face very specific barriers in their right to participation in sports on an equal footing to their endosex peers.

What are those barriers?

Body shaming.
Blaming individuals for not meeting expectations based on sex, gender as well as body norms within school sports.
Invasive medical exams.
Humiliating sex-testing.
Rules written to exclude them from competing in the category they identify with.

These are all systematic exclusions.

Persistent gender norms in institutions, schools, clubs and families shape who is seen as belonging in which sport. Many intersex youth respond by self-censoring or quitting entirely.
This should not be happening.

Sport is recognised under international human rights law as part of the right to take part in cultural life.

Everyone deserves access to sport without invasive testing, without discrimination, without fear.

OII Europe stands against the increasing over-policing, medicalisation, and pathologisation of intersex youth's bodies under the guise of fairness.

Requirements to invade peoples' bodies affects everyone's bodily autonomy negatively.
Attempting to biologically classify and categorise people is a dangerous and slippery slope.

Intersex Youth and Sports.

Discover how policies are shaping participation of intersex persons in sport and what change can look like via the link to our campaigns website:

https://Campaigns.OIIEurope.ORG/intersex-youth/

“So to me it is very clear who needs to be fixed: It is society, not us. What we need is that our bodies are acknowledged as they are. And that we, as individuals, are enabled to take care for our actual physical needs, if there are any. Instead of other people doing that for us without our consent from their non-intersex perspective.”
— My Intersex Story, pg. 17.

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

7 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Intersectionalities [2/2] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #Intersectionality #Disability #IAD #IntersexAwarenessDay […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

‣ Intersex Youth and Intersectionalities.

How can (dis)ability and being intersex intersect in important ways?

Intersex persons, like all persons, can be born with a disability or can acquire a disability during their lifetime due to illness, an accident or even environmental and social factors.

Intersex persons can also acquire a disability as a direct result of medically unnecessary, non-consensual interventions on their sex characteristics (also know as intersex genital mutilation - IGM).

Similar to persons with disabilities, intersex persons' lived experiences are often also seen through a medical model, as opposed to a social, human-rights based model.

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

10 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Intersectionalities [1/2] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #Intersectionality #SexualOrientation #GenderIdentity […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

‣ Intersex Youth and Intersectionalities.

What's it like to navigate being intersex while also exploring your gender identity and sexual orientation?

For all young people, opening up about their sexuality or gender identity, can be difficult and intimidating. Many young people do not live in environments where it is necessarily safe enough to come out to their family and friends.

Many intersex youth experience repeated attempts to ‘normalise’ and control their body and their sexuality throughout their lives, and therefore, coming out to family and peers as being LGBTQ, can be extra tough, compared to their endosex peers.

“(…) I think we have to be careful about confusing visibility with acceptance. Intersex people can be more visible while still being reduced through medical definitions, diagnoses, or stories of medical violence.”

“So I think the next step is not simply to make people aware that we exist. It's to make it possible for intersex people to define themselves, to be visible on their own terms.”
— Arno Moulinier, intersex activist from Belgium during the Youth Panel of the OII Europe Online Community Event & Public Conference 2026.

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

11 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Access to Health Care [3/3] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #Healthcare #BodyAutonomy #Medicalization #IAD […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

“In 1980, without the Internet, no one was talking about being intersex. The endocrinologist told them not to talk about it! So, having received no support, they ended up going very badly themselves. Fundamentally lacking in humility, these doctors deeply wound the bodies and minds of all intersex children and the damage is considerable!”
— My Intersex Story, pg. 11.

“From that moment, the first interventions and treatments were scheduled and went on for all of my childhood and adolescence. As doctors had very little experience with these kinds of cases at the time and some gender theories were emerging, they took the opportunity to turn me into a case study. They never thought it necessary to explain my situation to me and they forbade my parents to reveal it.”
— My Intersex Story, pg. 17.

Only by completely dismantling the historical culture of medical secrecy and pathologisation, and by providing psychosocial and peer support, can we ensure that intersex youth are able to fully enjoy their right to health.

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Yenn dc ☂️

@yenndc.kolektiva.social.ap.brid.gy

13 days ago

‣ Intersex Youth and Access to Health Care [1/3] Intersex Awareness Weeks 2026. campaigns.oiieurope.org/i… #IAD2026 #IAW2026 #Intersex #IntersexYouth #Healthcare #BodyAutonomy #IAD #IntersexAwarenessDay […] [Original post on kolektiva.social]

‣ Intersex Youth and Access to Health Care.

Intersex youth deserve quality healthcare that is tailored to their needs. The obstacles are real, and so are the solutions. What needs to change?

‣ Obstacle #1.

Most healthcare professionals lack the knowledge or skills to speak to young intersex people about their bodies, as their training is rooted in the sex/gender binary.

‣ Obstacle #2:
Trauma or negative experiences.

Many intersex people have experienced surgeries and procedures without actually needing them for their health and without their consent.
Hospitals and doctors' offices become scary places, they avoid seeking care because of past harm.

None of this is fixed or written in history forever.
Actually, such surgeries started only 60-70 years ago.
The more people understand what intersex youth actually go through, what their lived experiences are, the more things can change – in doctor's offices, in families and friendships, in communities and in the world.

“With lots of self-reinforcement, I came to forget what happened and believing these were ‘just’ nightmares. Until the day I met the first intersex person. It was love at first sight. Their words were like mirrors to my soul. We became friends with high levels of complicity, care and attention.”
— My Intersex Story, pg. 60.

Healthcare must transform from a pathologising, medicalizing approach to one rooted in human rights, which means: ending unnecessary medical interventions, access to your own medical records and dismantling the culture of secrecy and shame.

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Amberz Winter

@amberzwinter.bsky.social

13 days ago

Happy #IntersexAwarenessDay and #AsexualAwarenessWeek with Crepus being Ace and Intersex, with Exmoss being Aroace, and Rosete being Demisexual. And also they're dressed up as MLP unicorns cuz why not for spooky month :P #intersex #AceWeek #OCArt #furry

Exmoss is an arctic fox fallow deer hybrid (MLP Trixie Lulamoon-inspired outfit) with an ace card in their hat with mistletoes, and aroace flag colors inside their cape on the left. Crepus is a binturong with a Twilight Sparkle-inspired outfit with some intersex and asexual flag color elements. Rosete is a server on the right with a Starlight Glimmer-inspired outfit with trans, genderfluid, bisexual, and demisexual kandi-bracelet with few demisexual elements on their left eye and shirt. The OCs have an aroace, asexual, and demisexual faded flag below them, while the intersex flag is above Crepus.

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