The way we think about biological sex is wrong | Emily Quinn

Prevoditelj: Predrag Pale Recezent: Sanda L

[This talk contains mature content]

[Ovdje se govori o spolu i spolnim organima]

I have a vagina.

Ja imam vaginu.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Just thought you should know.

Samo sam mislila da biste trebali znati.

That might not come as a surprise to some of you.

To možda nije iznenađenje za neke od vas.

I look like a woman.

Izgledam kao žena.

I'm dressed like one, I guess.

Pretpostavljam da sam i odjevena kao žena.

The thing is, I also have balls.

Stvar je u tome što imam i muda.

And it does take a lot of nerve

Treba puno hrabrosti doći ovamo

to come up here and talk to you about my genitalia.

i govoriti vam o svojim genitalijama.

Just a little.

Malo hrabrosti.

But I'm not talking about bravery or courage.

Ali ne govorim o hrabrosti, „imati muda“,

I mean literally -- I have balls.

ja doslovno imam testise.

Right here,

Upravo ovdje,

right where a lot of you have ovaries.

tamo gdje mnoge od vas imaju jajnike.

I'm not male or female.

Nisam muško ili žensko.

I'm intersex.

Ja sam interseksualna (između spolova).

Most people assume that you're biologically either a man or a woman,

Većina ljudi pretpostavlja za neku osobu da je biološki muškarac ili žena,

but it's actually a lot more complex than that.

ali to je zapravo mnogo složenije.

There are so many ways somebody could be intersex.

Postoji mnogo načina kako netko može biti interseksualan.

In my case, it means I was born with XY chromosomes,

U mom slučaju, to znači da sam rođena s XY kromosomima,

which you probably know as male chromosomes.

koje vjerojatno poznajete kao muške kromosome.

And I was born with a vagina and balls inside my body.

I rođena sam s vaginom i testisima u tijelu.

I don't respond to testosterone,

Ne reagiram na testosteron

so during puberty, I grew breasts,

pa su mi tijekom puberteta narasle grudi,

but I never got acne or body hair, body oil.

ali nikad nisam dobila akne ili dlačice po tijelu, ili masnu kožu.

You can be jealous of that.

Na tom mi možete zavidjeti.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

But even though I don't actually have a uterus --

Ja nemam maternicu --

I was born without one,

rođena sam bez nje,

so I don't menstruate, I can't have biological children.

tako da nemam menstruacije i ne mogu imati biološku djecu.

We put people in boxes based on their genitalia.

Ljude stavljamo u kutije na temelju njihovih genitalija.

Before a baby's even born, we ask whether it's a boy or a girl,

Prije nego što se beba rodi, pitamo je li dječak ili djevojčica,

as if it actually matters;

kao da je to doista važno.

as if you're going to be less excited about having a baby

Kao da ćeš biti manje uzbuđen kad dobiješ bebu

if it doesn't have the genitals you wanted;

ako nema genitalije koje si želio.

as if what's between somebody's legs tells you anything about that person.

Kao da ti ono što je između nečijih nogu govori nešto o toj osobi.

Are they kind, generous, funny?

Je li ljubazna, velikodušna, duhovita?

Smart?

Pametna?

Who do they want to be when they grow up?

Što žele biti kad odrastu?

Genitals don't actually tell you anything.

Genitalije vam zapravo ništa ne govore.

Yet, we define ourselves by them.

Ipak, mi njima sami sebe definiramo.

In this society, we love putting people into boxes

U ovom društvu volimo stavljati ljude u kutije

and labeling each other.

i međusobno se označavati.

It kind of gives us a sense of belonging

To nam nekako daje osjećaj pripadnosti

and teaches us how to interact with one another.

i uči nas kako međusobno komunicirati.

But there's one really big problem:

Ali postoji jedan stvarno veliki problem:

biological sex is not black or white.

biološki spol nije crn ili bijel.

It's on a spectrum.

To je cijeli spektar.

Besides your genitalia, you also have your chromosomes,

Osim genitalija, imate i kromosome,

your gonads, like ovaries or testicles.

gonade, poput jajnika ili testisa.

You have your internal sex organs,

Imate svoje unutarnje spolne organe,

your hormone production, your hormone response

proizvodnju hormona, hormonalni odgovor

and your secondary sex characteristics, like breast development, body hair, etc.

i sekundarne spolne karakteristike, kao što su razvoj dojki, dlake po tijelu itd.

Those seven areas of biological sex all have so much variation,

Tih sedam područja biološkog spola postoje u toliko mnogo varijacija,

yet we only get two options:

a ipak smo stvorili samo dvije opcije:

male or female.

muško ili žensko.

Which is kind of absurd to me,

Meni je to apsurdno,

because I can't think of a single other human trait

jer ne mogu se sjetiti ni jedne druge ljudske značajke

that there's only two options for:

u kojoj postoje samo dvije opcije.

skin color, hair, height, eyes.

Boja kože, kose, visina, boja očiju.

You can either have nose A or nose B, that's it, no other options.

Zamislite da možete imati samo ili nos A ili nos B, da nema drugih opcija.

If there are infinite ways for our bodies to look,

Ako postoje beskonačni načini kako izgledaju naša tijela,

our minds to think,

kako razmišljamo,

personalities to act,

načini osobnosti i djelovanja,

wouldn't it make sense that there's that much variety

ne bi li imalo smisla da postoji

isto toliko raznolikosti u biološkom spolu?

in biological sex, too?

Did you know that besides XX or XY chromosomes,

Jeste li znali da osim XX ili XY kromosoma,

you could have XX and XY chromosomes?

mogli biste imati i XX i XY kromosome?

Or you could have an extra X -- XXY.

Ili možete imati dodatni X - XXY.

Or two extra -- XXXY.

Ili dva dodatna - XXXY.

Goes on from there.

I tako dalje.

And for those "normal" people with XX or XY,

A za one "normalne" osobe s XX ili XY,

what does that mean?

što to znači?

I have XY chromosomes.

Imam XY kromosome.

If my DNA is found at the scene of a crime --

Ako na mjestu zločina pronađu moju DNK -

not saying it will, but, you know, we'll see.

ne kažem da hoće, ali, znate, vidjet ćemo.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

If my skeleton is discovered thousands of years from now,

Ako za tisuću godina otkriju moj kostur,

I'll be labeled male.

prepoznat će me kao muškarca.

Is that the truth?

Je li to točno?

My balls would say so.

Moji bi testisi to potvrdili.

But what about the rest of me?

Ali što je s ostatkom mene?

And what if a woman has ovarian cancer and has to have her ovaries removed?

A što ako žena ima rak jajnika i mora ukloniti jajnike?

Does she still qualify as a woman?

Još uvijek se kvalificira kao žena?

What about other intersex people who are born without balls or ovaries

Što je s drugim interspolnim ljudima koji su rođeni bez testisa ili jajnika,

or with just one or a combination of the two?

ili samo s jednim ili kombinacijom to dvoje?

Where do they go?

Kako ćemo njih klasificirati?

Do you have to have a uterus to be a woman?

Morate li imati maternicu da biste bili žena?

There's a lot of us who are born without one.

Mnogi od nas su rođeni bez nje.

And everyone's favorite part, genitalia:

I svačiji omiljeni dio tijela, genitalije:

you either have one or the other, right?

ili imate jedne ili druge, zar ne?

You either have a six-inch-long penis that's exactly this thick,

Ili imate penis dug 15 centimetara ovako debeo,

jutting straight out of the body at a 90-degree angle,

koji strši ravno pod kutom od 90 stupnjeva,

or you have a vagina that's this wide internally

ili imate vaginu ovoliko široku unutra

and a clitoris that's half an inch above the vaginal opening

i klitoris koji je desetak milimetara iznad vaginalnog otvora

and labia that look exactly like they're supposed to look like,

i stidne usne koje izgledaju točno onako kako bi trebale izgledati,

according to that one porn video you watched that one time.

prema onome što ste vidjeli u tom jednom porno filmu kojeg ste jednom gledali.

You know the one.

If you've been with more than one sexual partner in your lifetime,

Znate, u onom.

Ako ste u životu imali više od jednog seksualnog partnera,

and you line them up, one by one,

i ako ih poredate, jednog do drugog,

I guarantee you can identify them just by their genitalia.

jamčim vam da ih možete prepoznati po njihovim genitalijama.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

Think about it.

Razmislite o tome.

Go on.

Hajde, prisjetite se.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

I see you.

Vidim vas.

No judging.

Bez osude.

Just notice.

Samo vizualizirajte.

All different, right?

Svi su drugačiji, zar ne?

The sex and gender binary are both so ingrained in our society,

Binarnost spola i roda je tako duboko ukorijenjena u našem društvu,

that we never stop to think about it.

da nikada ne prestajemo razmišljati o tome.

We just automatically place each other into one box or the other,

Samo se automatski trpamo u jednu ili drugu kutiju,

as if it actually matters.

kao da je to doista važno.

Until somebody comes along to make you question it.

Sve dok vas netko ne navede da to preispitate.

And if you're thinking that I'm the exception, an anomaly, an outlier:

A ako mislite da sam ja iznimka, anomalija, statistička pogreška:

intersex people represent around two percent of the population.

interseksualne osobe čine oko dva posto stanovništva.

That's the same percentage as genetic redheads.

To je isti postotak kao i onih koji su crvenokosi, genetički.

It's about 150 million people, roughly,

Oko 150 milijuna ljudi, otprilike,

which is more than the entire population of Russia.

što je više nego cjelokupno stanovništvo Rusije.

So there's a lot of us, needless to say.

Dakle, mnogo nas je, nepotrebno je reći.

We're not new or rare.

Nismo novi ili rijetki.

We're just invisible.

Samo smo nevidljivi.

We've existed throughout every culture in history.

Postojali smo u svakoj kulturi u povijesti.

Yet, we never talk about it.

Ipak, o tome nikada nismo govorili.

In fact, a lot of people might not know that they're intersex.

Zapravo, mnogi ljudi možda ni ne znaju da su interseksualni.

Have you had a karyotype test to determine your chromosomes?

Jeste li imali test kariotipa kako biste odredili vaše kromosome?

What about a full blood panel for all of your hormone levels?

Što je s punom pretragom za sve vaše razine hormona?

A friend of mine found out last year, in his 50s.

Moj prijatelj je saznao prošle godine, u svojim 50-ima.

The executive director of interACT,

Izvršna direktorica tvrtke interACT,

which is the leading organization for intersex human rights here in the US,

vodeće organizacije za interseksualna ljudska prava ovdje u SAD-u,

she found out she was intersex at age 41.

otkrila je da je interseksualna u dobi od 41 godine.

Her doctors found out when she was 15,

Njeni liječnici su znali još kad je imala 15 godina,

but they didn't tell her.

ali joj nisu rekli.

They lied and said that she had cancer,

Lagali su joj i rekli da ima rak,

because that seemed like an easier option

jer je to izgledalo kao lakša opcija

than finding out she wasn't "fully" a woman.

nego saznati da nije "u potpunosti" žena.

This kind of thing happens a lot,

Ovakve stvari se događaju često,

where intersex people are lied to or kept in the dark about our bodies,

interseksualnim se osobama laže ili ih se drži u neznanju o njihovim tijelima,

which comes as a surprise to a lot of people.

što mnoge čudi.

But we live in a society that doesn't talk about sex or bodies at all,

Ali živimo u društvu koje uopće ne govori o seksu ili tijelima,

unless it's to mock or shame each other.

osim ako je cilj izrugivanje ili sramoćenje.

I found out I was intersex at age 10,

Otkrila sam da sam interseksualna u dobi od 10 godina,

and for the most part, I was fine with that information.

i uglavnom sam bila OK s tom informacijom.

Zapravo me to nije potreslo.

It didn't really faze me;

I was still developing my understanding of the world.

Još sam razvijala svoje razumijevanje svijeta.

It wasn't until I got older

Tek kad sam odrasla,

and realized I didn't fit society's expectations of me,

shvatila sam da se ne uklapam u ono što društvo očekuje od mene,

that I didn't belong, that I was abnormal.

da nikud ne pripadam, da sam nenormalna.

And that's when the shame started.

I tada je počeo osjećaj sramote.

How many times have you seen kids play with the "wrong" toys

Koliko puta ste vidjeli djecu kako se igraju "pogrešnim" igračkama

for their gender?

za njihov rod?

Or try on the "wrong" clothes?

Ili isprobavaju "pogrešnu" odjeću?

All the time, right?

Često, zar ne?

Kids don't have these ideas about gender norm,

Djeca nemaju te ideje o rodnoj normi,

they don't have shame about who they're supposed to be

nemaju stida o tome tko bi trebali biti,

or what they're supposed to like or love.

što bi im se trebalo sviđati ili što bi trebali voljeti.

They don't care about any of this stuff.

Ne brinu se ni za jednu od ovih stvari.

They don't have shame until we put it on them.

Ne osjećaju stid ni sramotu sve dok ih im ne nametnemo.

I also had doctors lie to me.

I liječnici su mi lagali.

At age 10, they told me that I would also get cancer

U dobi od 10 godina rekli su mi da ću dobiti rak

unless I removed my balls.

ako mi ne uklone testise.

Then they proceeded to tell me that every year.

A onda su mi to nastavili govoriti svake godine.

Until today, there are still doctors who want me to remove them.

Još i danas postoje liječnici koji žele da ih uklonim.

But there's literally no reason.

Ali za to nema razloga.

If a typical XY male, like yourself, has testicles,

Ako tipični XY muškarac, poput vas, ima testise,

and one is undescended,

a jedan se ne spusti,

there's a high chance of it becoming cancerous --

postoji velika vjerojatnost da postane kancerogen

or a higher chance of it becoming cancerous.

ili ima veću šansu da postane kancerogen.

They need to thermoregulated.

Moraju se termoregulirati.

So they drop down away from the body to cool off,

Zato se spuštaju iz tijela da se ohlade,

or they shrink back up to get warm.

ili se skupljaju kako bi se ugrijali.

Mine don't need to do that.

Moji to ne moraju raditi.

They're not responding to testosterone, they're not producing sperm.

Jer ne reagiraju na testosteron, ne proizvode spermu.

They're fine right here inside my body.

Dobro im je ovdje, u mom tijelu.

Yet, because there's such a lack of information about intersex people,

Baš zato jer nedostaju informacije o interspolnim osobama,

my doctors never understood the difference.

moji liječnici nikada nisu shvatili razliku.

They never really understood my body.

Nikada nisu razumjeli moje tijelo.

As I got older,

Sazrijevajući,

I had another doctor tell me that I needed to have surgery on my vagina.

imala sam liječnicu koji mi je rekla da moram operirati vaginu.

She said that until I had an operation, until she operated,

Rekla mi je da, ako to ne učinim,

I would not be able to have "normal sex" with my husband one day.

neću moći jednog dana imati "normalan seks" sa svojim mužem.

Her words.

Doslovno to je rekla.

I didn't end up going through with the operation,

Nisam napravila operaciju

and I'm incredibly grateful for that.

i zbog toga sam silno sretna i zahvalna.

I'm not here to talk about my sex life.

Ali, nisam ovdje da bih govorila o svom seksualnom životu.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

But let's just say it's fine.

Ali recimo samo da je on u redu.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

I'm fine, my body is fine.

Dobro sam, moje tijelo je dobro.

You actually wouldn’t be able to tell the difference

Zapravo ne biste mogli uočiti razliku

između mene i druge osobe, osim ako vam kažem;

between me and another person unless I told you;

you wouldn't be able to tell that I was intersex unless I told you.

ne možete znati da sam interseksualna ako vam ja to ne kažem.

But again, because of the lack of understanding about bodies,

Zbog nedostatka razumijevanja o tijelima,

my doctor didn't understand the difference.

moji liječnici nisu shvatili razliku.

And for the most part, my sex life is fine.

I u najvećem dijelu, moj seksualni život jest u redu.

The only issue that really comes up

Jedini problem koji se pojavljuje

is that sometimes, sexual situations bring up memories of doctors touching me,

je da mi ponekad seksualne situacije prizivaju sjećanja na liječnike

koji su me dodirivali, stalno i uvijek iznova od 10. godine.

over and over again since I was 10.

I've been really lucky to escape --

Stvarno sam sretna što sam pobjegla -

I didn't think I would get emotional --

nisam mislila da ću se rasplakati -

I've been really lucky to escape the physical harm

Stvarno sam imala sreće što sam pobjegla od fizičkih povreda, štete

that comes from these unnecessary surgeries.

koje stvaraju te nepotrebne operacije.

But no intersex person is free from the emotional harm

Ali nijedna interseksualna osoba nije oslobođena emocionalne štete

that comes from living in a society that tries to cover up your existence.

koja proizlazi iz života u društvu koje pokušava sakriti vaše postojanje.

Most of my intersex friends have had operations like these.

Većina mojih interseksualnih prijatelja imala je takve operacije.

Oftentimes, they will remove testes like mine,

Često su im uklonili testise poput mojih,

even though my risk of testicular cancer is lower than the risk of breast cancer

iako je moj rizik od raka testisa manji od rizika od raka dojke

in a typical woman with no predisposition, no family history.

za tipičnu ženu bez predispozicije, bez raka u obiteljskoj anamnezi.

But we don't tell her to remove her breasts, do we?

A njoj ne kažemo da ukloni grudi, zar ne?

It's rare to meet an intersex person that hasn't been operated on.

Rijetko je naći interseksualnu osobu koju nisu operirali.

Oftentimes, these surgeries are done to improve intersex kids' lives,

Često se te operacije provode tvrdeći da će poboljšati interseksualni život djece,

but they usually end up doing the opposite,

ali obično je rezultat suprotan,

causing more harm and complications,

uzrokuju više štete i komplikacija,

both physical and emotional.

i fizičkih i emocionalnih.

I'm not saying that doctors are bad or evil.

Ne želim reći da su liječnici loši ili zli.

It's just that we live in a society that causes some doctors to "fix"

Samo živimo u društvu koje navodi neke liječnike da "popravljaju"

those of us who don't fit their definition of normal.

one od nas koji ne odgovaraju njihovoj definiciji normalnog.

We're not problems that need to be fixed.

Mi nismo problem kojeg treba popraviti.

We just live in a society that needs to be enlightened.

Mi samo živimo u društvu koje treba prosvijetliti.

One of the ways I'm doing that

Jedan od načina na koji ja to radim

is by creating a genderless puberty guidebook

je da stvaram vodič za pubertet bez rodnog određenja

that can teach kids about their bodies as they grow up.

koji podučava djecu o njihovim tijelima dok odrastaju.

Not their girl bodies or their boy bodies --

Ne njihova tijela djevojčica ili tijela dječaka --

just their bodies.

već samo njihova tijela.

We often place unrealistic expectations on the things that our bodies do

Često imamo nerealna očekivanja na stvari koje naša tijela rade,

that are outside of our control.

a koje su izvan naše kontrole.

I mean, if one man can grow a full, luxurious, hipster beard,

Na primjer, ako jednom čovjeku može narasti puna, raskošna brada,

and the other can only grow a few mustache hairs,

a drugom samo nekoliko dlačica brkova,

what does that mean about who they are as men?

govori li to išta o tome kakvi su oni kao muškarci?

Nothing.

Ništa.

It literally, most likely, just means

To doslovno, najvjerojatnije, znači

that their hair follicles respond to testosterone in different ways.

da njihovi folikuli kose reagiraju na testosteron na različite načine.

Yet, how many times have you heard a man ashamed about something like this?

No, koliko ste puta čuli da se čovjek stidi zbog nečega takvog?

Imagine a world where we could live in a society

Zamislite svijet u kojem bismo mogli živjeti u društvu

that teaches us not to have shame

koje nas uči da nemamo srama

about the things that our bodies do or do not do.

o onome što naša tijela rade ili ne rade.

I want to change the way that we think about biological sex in this society --

Želim promijeniti način na koji razmišljamo o biološkom spolu --

which is a lot to ask for.

u ovom našem društvu -- a to je zahtjevan cilj.

You could say it's ballsy, I guess.

Moglo bi se reći da je hrabar, valjda.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

But eventually we accepted the world as round, right?

Ali na kraju smo prihvatili da je Zemlja okrugla, zar ne?

We no longer diagnose gay people with mental disorders

Više ne dijagnosticiramo gej osobe da imaju mentalni poremećaj

or women with hysteria.

ili da su žene histerične.

We don't think epilepsy is caused by the devil anymore, so that's cool.

Više ne mislimo da epilepsiju uzrokuje vrag.

(Laughter)

(Smijeh)

We constantly change and evolve, the more we understand as a society.

Stalno se mijenjamo i razvijamo, što više učimo i razumijemo kao društvo.

And biological sex is on a spectrum.

Biološki spol postoji kao cijeli spektar pojavnosti.

It's not black or white.

Nije samo crn ili bijel.

Not only could that knowledge save intersex kids

Ova saznanja ne samo da mogu spasiti međuspolnu djecu

from physical and emotional harm,

od fizičke i emocionalne štete,

I think it would help everyone else, too.

već mislim da pomažu i svima ostalima.

Who here has ever felt inadequate or ashamed

Tko se od vas ovdje osjećao neodgovarajuće ili posramljeno

because you weren't girly enough, you were too girly,

jer niste bili dovoljno ženstveni, ili ste bili previše ženstveni,

you weren't manly enough, or too manly?

ili premalo ili previše muževan muškarac?

We constantly shame people for not fitting into a box,

Stalno posramljujemo ljude ako se ne uklapaju,

but the reality is,

ali stvarnost je,

I think we shame others because it prevents them from seeing

mislim da ih posramljujemo kako bi ih spriječili da vide

that we don't fit inside our boxes, either.

da se ni mi ne uklapamo u te naše kutije.

And the truth is that nobody actually fits in a box,

A istina je da se nitko, zapravo, ne uklapa u kutiju,

because they don't exist.

jer kutije ni ne postoje.

This binary, this false male-female facade is something we constructed,

Ova binarna, ova lažna muško-ženska fasada je nešto što smo konstruirali,

we built ourselves.

sami smo izgradili.

But it doesn't have to exist.

Ali ona ne mora postojati.

We can break it down.

Možemo je srušiti.

And that's what I want to do.

I to je ono što želim učiniti.

Will you join me?

Hoćete li mi se pridružiti?

Thanks.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)