Intersex is a variation in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, or genitals that do not allow an individual to be distinctly identified as male or female. Some individuals may be raised as a certain sex (male or female) but then identify with another later in life, while others may not identify themselves as either exclusively female or exclusively male. Research has shown that inter-sex people experience the same range of sexual orientations and gender identities as non-inter-sex people. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights defined inter-sex as follows, as part of the Free and Equal campaign, 2013: An inter-sex person is born with sexual anatomy, reproductive organs, and/or chromosome patterns that do not fit the typical definition of male or female. This may be apparent at birth or become so later in life. An inter-sex person may identify as male or female or as neither. Intersex status is not about sexual orientation or gender identity: inter-sex people experience the same range of sexual orientations and gender identities as non-inter-sex people. 1 % of live births exhibit some degree of sexual ambiguity. Between 0.1% and 0.2% of live births are ambiguous enough to become the subject of specialist medical attention, including surgery to assign them to a given sex category (i.e., male or female) 20-50% of surgical cases result in a loss of sexual sensation Effects Not having a distinct gender can be very difficult. Often doctors decide the sex of an inter-sex infant immediately after birth based on what they believe a male or a female should look like. These "normalizing" surgeries are damaging to the individual's sexual and emotional well being. One of the biggest problems with this "treatment" is that it becomes a lifelong pattern of secrecy, isolation, shame, and confusion. Adult inter-sex people's stories often resemble that of those who survived childhood sexual abuse: trust violation, lack of honest communication, punishment for asking questions or telling the truth, etc. In some cases, inter-sex people's experiences are exactly like those of child sexual abuse survivors: when they surgically "create" a vagina on a child, the parent-usually the mother-is required to "dilate" the vagina with hard instruments every day for months in order to ensure that the vagina won't close off again. The surgery is not necessarily the most devastating for the individual's self-esteem as it is the repeated exposure for medical observation, when a child is stripped down to nude and placed on the bed while many doctors, nurses, medical students, and others come in and out of the room, touching and poking and laughing to each other. Children who experience this get the distinct sense that there is something terribly wrong with them and are deeply traumatized. In essence, society decides what is male or female. People born inter-sex may experience teasing, stares, awkwardness in situations such as using a public restroom. When somebody does not fit into society's two boxes of "male" or "female" most people have a hard time understanding them, and therefore have a hard time knowing how to act toward them.
