Nobody needs to know, that’s exactly what is being told to intersex children and their parents. It’s as if intersex bodies are a pathology to be diagnosed and then treated. As if intersex bodies are embodiments of shame that need to be hidden, corrected or obliterated. This is what Pidgeon Pagonis, the author experienced as an intersex person, when they were a child. They were subjected to brutal corrective surgeries while their parents were being misguided and misinformed about their condition. The doctors at the Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, took it upon themselves to pathologise Pidgeon’s intersexuality, performed the unnecessary surgeries and decided that they were to be raised as a girl. Years later, as an adolescent, when Pidgeon realises that they are intersex and that what they had was in fact, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, which doesn’t warrant invasive and intrusive medical intervention, they decide to be an advocate for their own intersexuality which later organically morphs into activism for the advocacy and upliftment of the intersex community.
The book, Pidgeon’s memoir, is a testament of the medical gaslighting that they endured for years and the erasure they experienced of their personhood. The refusal to acknowledge the bodily harm that was voluntarily inflicted on Pidgeon by the doctors is bewildering. They decide to fight the system that denies intersex individuals their bodily autonomy by taking on the doctors at the hospital. Pidgeon repeatedly makes the case for intersex individuals having the right to choose their surgery if they wish to, once they are able enough and grown enough to make such an informed decision. This arduous journey sees its fair share of trials and tribulations as Pidgeon grows from being timid to tenacious, from being gullible to informed, and from being a single person to becoming a community. As the hospital and one particular doctor, Dr Earl Cheng, continue to perform unwarranted surgeries under the garb of parental pressures, Pidgeon takes the battle to the streets of Chicago that sees an unprecedented support from their network, friends, and also the transgender community.
Nobody needs to know is a bold and moving memoir about securing belief in one’s body especially when the world has made one disbelieve its beauty. Through this, the author continually comments on the harms that get perpetuated due to the obduracy of a binary mentality and hence viewing the society at large as binary. They also highlight the fraught relationship with their mother when they decide to live their truth unapologetically and simultaneously also decide to launch a full challenge against a revered medical institution like Lurie. The book, unbeknownst to Pagonis, tacitly celebrates their generosity of spirit, in bringing together everyone who has ever been wronged by the bigotry of a binary society, to become a force that will challenge these notions and help everyone visualise an existence that’s unique and congruent with their truth.
There is no reliable national data on the number of intersex individuals in India. Estimates cited by activists point to approximately 10,000 intersex babies born each year in India. In April 2019, the Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) issued a landmark ruling banning non-essential “sex-normalizing” surgeries on infants and children with intersex traits, allowing exceptions only for life-threatening situations. Hundreds of such surgeries are still being performed in Tamil Nadu despite the 2019 ban. There is no centralized registry or national data on intersex surgeries in India. There is no pan-India law yet that bans these needless and exploitative intersex surgeries. Intersex individuals are often rendered invisible or they are mislabeled and misidentified and continue to be subjected to societal and medical abuse due to absence of education, awareness, culpability and law enforcement. They remain invisible even in the LGBTQIA+ spaces. This begs the question of whether we, the queers have let an entire community down? Is ‘I’ in the LGBTQIA+ spectrum just a letter or does it also call for more inclusivity?
~ JUST A GAY BOY. 🏳️🌈
the shiny diaries 