Every Body

I learned about this film from an episode of the Pure Nonfiction podcast. Before I was half way through, I was so intrigued I sought out the film and watched it, then finished the podcast. The film is fantastic. (So is the podcast, BTW.)

The film is beautifully crafted, with such exuberant and joyful opening and closing credits, you can't help but smile and celebrate the stars of the film, despite the tragedy that shaped their lives. They were all born with genital characteristics that made it impossible to determine their sex. Decisions were made for them by manipulative clinicians based on fraudulent research giving bad advice to frightened parents. Their anomalous sex organs were removed in childhood, depriving them of the right to let nature take its course or make their own decisions. Furthermore, they were assigned a sex and forced to live lives that contradicted who they were.

The history behind why this was the standard of treatment when they were born is told through archival footage of the charlatan John Money, M. D. (1921-2006), and his most famous victim of mistreatment, David Reimer. Director Julie Cohen films the three stars watching the archival footage first time. We see their reactions while also sharing their shock and anger at the injustice done to Reimer and the intersex community whose treatment protocols were based on this one case of bad medical research.

Besides imparting empathy for intersex individuals, the film also explains and illustrates the anatomy and genetics. I am grateful to now have a better understanding of why the spectrum of human gender and sexuality is so broad and diverse.

What I would like to see now is a sequel about intersex people who were treated correctly following enlightened medical protocols, whose sex was never a secret, whose bodies developed naturally and who made their own choices in being who they are. Please, Julie Cohen, continue the story!

Finding out that you're intersex and realizing that there are no resources or information on sex development disorders is pretty disheartening and frustrating. My intersex condition was kept hidden from me by my parents until I received genetic testing on another rare disorder I had ...at age 35! Turns out this is pretty common in the intersex community!

After watching this film at an early screening, I don't feel too isolated now as an intersex person. We are very much considered outcasts by society from the start.

Thanks for giving us intersex folks a voice in a very crowded LGBTQIA environment.

The parts where they focused on the medical malpractice done to patients with difference of sexual development(DSD) were good. Those stories were emotional and heartfelt. What was done to these people as children was criminal.

They should have stuck to that.

Nothing was done to Male Minnie Driver. Fake testicles implanted into an already existing scrotum when you're old enough to understand what's going on is nothing worth including in the movie.

Then they get into trans issues. DSD has nothing to do with trans. If the subjects in the film hadn't been mutilated as children, they would have grown up with testes, and their masculinising effects. It would have been appropriate for them to use male bathrooms if the mutilations hadn't occurred. Suggesting that because these people exist that trans identitied males should be able to use women's spaces is absurd.

The movie profiles three intersex people and describes what it means to be intersex. Prior to seeing this movie, I did not know that intersex people existed. These are people whose physical genitalia doesn't match the normal presentation for their chromosomal sex. For this reason, these are people for whom gender at birth is ambiguous, since they have biological traits of both genders.

This first great thing about this movie is that it presents cases where the phrase "gender assigned at birth" makes sense and is explained! I'm a liberal voter, but have bristled at how trans vocabulary uses "gender assigned at birth". I never got it- how could gender be "assigned"? By profiling intersex people, this movie explains cases where in fact gender is very deliberately chosen.

The second great thing about this movie is that it presents intersex conditions simply as "different bodies", people for whom a typical combination of chromosomes and genital anatomy didn't happen. I think most people can point to something that makes their body different from "normal"- intersex people just had this happen when it came to their sexual anatomy. The concept of "different bodies" really humanized intersex, and by extension, trans, people for me. You can physically see on an intersex body why gender is ambiguous. What's not to say that trans people had different sex hormones in utero, and their brains are different? In order words- trans bodies are different too- we just can't see the differences?

Finally, the third and last great thing about this movie is the story told by Alicia Roth Weigel. She is a beautiful, blond-haired, dress-wearing, very feminine looking woman. If you saw her on the street, you'd think she is a typical woman, but she has XY chromosomes! She is the perfect spokesperson to show that genital anatomy and chromosomes together don't fit perfectly into two boxes. Trans stories are often told by people whose physical look is atypical for their gender. Ms Weigel tells her story as someone who identifies as a woman and also looks very feminine.

This film offers an enlightening look at the complexities, struggles, and joys of the intersex community. The filmmaker includes important historical context about medical theories and treatments, as well as the deep secrecy surrounding intersex individuals that has kept this community invisible for too long.

The three main subjects of the film each share their unique quest to fully understand and take ownership over their existence in this world. By forming connections with other members of the intersex community, these individuals have learned to harness their power and celebrate their differences.