Intersexesiste was formed in 2016 as a collaboration between intersex organizer Claudia Balsamo (AISIA; Agedo; IntersexEsiste) and academic allies (Daniela Crocetti and later Marta Prandelli) with the primary goals of addressing the significant lack of non-medically driven information on intersex in Italian and creating bridges between different intersex realities (including patient associations).
Intersexesiste was formed in 2016 as a collaboration between intersex organizer Claudia Balsamo (AISIA; Agedo; IntersexEsiste) and academic allies (Daniela Crocetti and later Marta Prandelli) with the primary goals of addressing the significant lack of non-medically driven information on intersex in Italian and creating bridges between different intersex realities (including patient associations).
They developed two strategies: an online platform that would provide easily understandable non-stigmatizing information on intersex experience and rights issues; and a series of interactive workshops oriented at a mix of educator and medical students and professionals (other intersex organizers participated in giving these workshops, even if not formally part of the group). The online platform included links to all Italian intersex activist groups and variation specific associations that gave us their permission to list them. In the course of 2019 and 2020, their mission has expanded in the arena of creating bridges between intersex realities, and fostering dialogue in intersex only spaces. This activity was spearheaded by the entrance of a new lead intersex member, Manuela Falzone (AISIA; IntersexEsiste; Intersex Italia FB; Intersex/dsd Italia FB) who also had experience with the patient association AISIA but wanted to expand her political reach. Manuela helped moderate two intersex only closed FB groups “intersex italia’ and ‘intersex/dsd italia’, and is interested in creating productive collaboration between different intersex realities and voices. The overall mission is to promote accurate non-stigmatizing information about intersex in Italian, in this manner also promoting bodily integrity and autonomous decision-making for intersex people in medical settings and institutions. This has taken many forms in order to reach both the general public and specialist professionals such as teachers and health care professions that have significant impacts on intersex lives. With the name ‘IntersexEsiste’ they hope to affirm the idea that if more people learn what intersex is, is a bodily variation that shouldn’t imply shame or modification, the social pressure on medics and families to modify children’s bodies will decrease. They formed the group with the intent to combine the experience of the intersex people with the knowledge of academic allies who have conducted respectful and agency-based work in the intersex field.
OII Italia’s advocacy work aims at stopping the violation of intersex people’s human rights, especially the unnecessary and non-consensual medical treatments inflicted upon intersex people to conform their bodies.
OII Italia was established in 2017, and co-founded by two intersex people. OII Italia’s advocacy work aims at stopping the violation of intersex people’s human rights, especially the unnecessary and non-consensual medical treatments inflicted upon intersex people to conform their bodies. To achieve this goal, this new group is working on building new alliances and a network of intersex activists and advocates in Italy. OII-Italia’s current main priority is to raise national awareness on human rights violations perpetrated against intersex people. OII-Italia aims at building a strong intersex movement in the country.
Intersexioni was founded in 2013 by a group of volunteer activists and scholars interested in the intersectionalities between different issues, with a special focus on intersex human rights.
Intersexioni was founded in March 2013 by volunteer organizers and scholars of different backgrounds and experiences. Since the beginning, their main focus has been the advocacy for intersex human rights. They have been the first group in Italy to analyze the intersex issues in a scientific and academic way, and to advocate for intersex rights, to lobby, to inform, and to disseminate as well, and, up to this day, we are the only one. The main reason for which this group was founded was to advocate and analyze the logic of discrimination, inequality, domination and oppression over different groups by adopting an intersectional approach.
The choice of the group’s name ‘intersexioni’ – that means ‘intersections’ with the X of ‘intersex’, instead of the Z of the italian word ‘intersezioni’ –reflects their goal to bring and join together the intersectionalities between different forms of discrimination based on sex characteristics, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic and somatic characteristics; the intersection of sexism, racism, and classism; sex/gender–based violence, bullying, homo–transphobia, and intersex–phobia; the intrinsic hierarchies on a dualistic vision of the world.
Their overall mission was and is to analyze and deconstruct the logic of domination and oppression, with the goal to promote the respect of the fundamental rights of every living being in order to build a better, more equal, fair, and welcoming society.
