What it means to be intersex | Susannah Temko

Transcriber: Leslie Gauthier Reviewer: Krystian Aparta

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: Sunny 雨心

I have a confession to make, right off the bat.

我马上要坦白一件事。

I don't know what you were doing at 16,

我不知道你们 16 岁时在做什么，

but I'm a really big fan of "Harry Potter"

但我是哈利波特的铁粉，

and was waiting way too long to receive my letter

并且我一直在等着收到

inviting me to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry --

邀我去霍格沃茨魔法学校的信——

I could have gone for sixth form.

我本可以去读第六级的。

I was also waiting for an invitation to the Jedi Temple

我也在等待去绝地圣殿的邀请，

or a tap on the shoulder to invite me to the X-Men.

或被人拍一下我的肩膀， 邀请我加入 X 战警。

I was that kid.

我就是那样的孩子。

When I was 16 years old, I got my wish.

当我 16 岁时，我的愿望实现了。

I was taken into a doctor's office

我被带到医生办公室，

and told that I am in fact part of a group of people

被告知说我其实属于

who are still largely invisible and misunderstood.

很大程度上仍然 很隐秘并被误解的某类人。

I am intersex.

我是间性人。

That's my superpower.

这就是我的超能力。

For many of you in this room,

对这里的大多数人，

it will be the first time you've even heard the word "intersex."

应该是第一次听到“间性”这个词。

Intersex is anatomy.

间性是解剖学术语。

It refers to people who were born with one or more

它指那些生来拥有一种或多种

of a variation of sex characteristics.

性别特征变体的人。

That's your genitals, your hormones, your chromosomes

你的生殖器、荷尔蒙、染色体，

that fall outside of the traditional conceptions of male and female bodies.

它们不属于传统的 男性或女性的身体概念。

In other words,

也就是说，

the most basic assumption we've made about our species --

我们对人类的最基本假定——

what we're taught in schools that sex is binary,

我们在学校时 被告知性别是二元的，

just male and female --

只有男性和女性——

is not correct.

这个说法并不正确。

Like most things in this world,

就像世上大多其他事情，

it is much more complicated than that.

真相要复杂得多。

Intersex people who fall outside of this false sex binary

错误的二元性别范畴之外的间性人

have always existed, throughout human history.

在人类历史上一直存在。

Like the wizards of "Harry Potter,"

就像《哈利波特》里的巫师，

we are pretty much invisible.

我们几乎是隐形的。

Some of us don't even know that we are intersex.

我们有些人甚至不知道 自己是中间性人。

Like the X-Men,

就跟 X 战警一样，

some of our traits are obvious at birth

我们中有些人的生理特征 出生时就很明显，

and others turn up around the time when puberty is supposed to kick in.

还有一些在青春期初期出现。

When we find out we are intersex,

当我们发现自己是间性人时，

some of us believe we are the only ones in the world.

有些人会认为 自己是世上的唯一。

Me, specifically, I have XY chromosomes,

就我而言，我有 XY 染色体，

which you may have understood to be typically male.

一般会理解为我是男性。

I was also born with gonads instead of ovaries.

我也生来就有性腺， 而不是卵巢。

Standing here on this stage would have been my worst nightmare

如果在五年前， 站在这个舞台上对我来说

only five years ago.

可能会是最糟糕的噩梦，

It would have been impossible.

甚至是完全不可能的。

I use the metaphor of the superhuman,

我用了超人来比喻我们，

but really, we are just like you.

但事实上，我们跟你们一样。

Intersex people are thought to make up to 1.7 percent of the population.

间性人占总人口的 1.7%。

That means more, depending on where you are in the world,

也就是有很多， 取决于你在哪里，

but you get the picture.

但是大家应该都有概念了。

We are in front of you, getting coffee;

我们就在你们面前买咖啡；

we are sitting next to you on the train;

我们在火车上，坐在你旁边；

we are swiping you left and right on dating apps --

我们在约会软件上 将你左滑右滑——

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So why haven't you heard of us?

那么，你们为什么没听说过我们？

If we are so common, why don't you see us?

如果我们如此平常， 为什么你们看不见我们？

How has the world responded to us?

世界对我们的态度如何？

We often think of disciplines like medicine and the law

我们通常会觉得 医学或法律这样的领域

as supposedly neutral --

应该是中立的——

immune to bias.

对偏见免疫——

The law is "reason free from passion."

法律是“毫无激情的推理”。

The doctors' Hippocratic oath states

医生们的希波克拉底誓言声称：

that "warmth, sympathy and understanding

“温暖、同情和理解

may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's pill."

可能远胜于外科医生的手术刀 或药剂师的药片。”

In truth, these disciplines that touch our lives are impressive,

这些充斥在我们生活中的各种信条 很令人印象深刻，

but they are filled with our prejudices.

事实上， 它们却充满了我们的偏见。

They are not immune,

它们不是免疫的，

just as we are not immune to the effects of that prejudice,

正如我们无法对那些偏见的影响 免疫一样，

which can be devastating.

这可能是灾难性的。

In medicine, intersex babies who are born with ambiguous genitalia

在医学上， 出生时生殖器不明确的间性婴儿

are routinely operated on without consent,

通常会在未经同意， 且本来无需医疗的情况下，

without medical need,

被不可逆转地

irreversibly,

进行手术，

in order to make their healthy anatomy appear more "normal."

就是为了让他们健康的身体 看起来更“正常”。

This is before they've even said their first words,

这发生在他们能开口说第一个字，

indicated a sexuality or a gender identity.

能表明性取向和性别认同之前。

Many people are never told the truth about their intersex traits,

很多人从没被告知 他们是间性人这个事实，

and those who are are instructed, often, not to tell anyone.

而那些被告知的人，也被指导， 别去告诉任何人。

Secrecy is enforced and shame is a close shadow.

保密是被强加的， 羞耻则如影随形。

In the law,

在法律上，

intersex people fall outside of categorization,

间性人不在分类范围内，

and more importantly, protection.

更重要的是，也不被保护。

This concerns the banal tasks --

这包括那些平常琐事——

if you can imagine the number of forms you've filled out

如果你能想象 在你要填写的那些表格上

that you had to check "M" of "F" on --

不得不勾选“男”或“女”——

to lacking protection under any law,

缺乏任何法律的保护，

specifically, the Gender Recognition or Equality Act.

具体来说 就是性别承认或平等法案。

And intersex people cannot correct the sex classification

间性人无法纠正

他们在出生时被给与的性别分类，

they've been given at birth

unless they declare they are transgender.

除非他们宣称他们是跨性别者。

After decades of activism,

经过数十年的运动，

these life-altering problems are starting to be addressed.

这些改变人生的问题开始被重视。

So why does this matter to those of you who aren't intersex,

那这对于你们这些 性别特质没发生变体的非间性人，

who don't have variations of sex characteristics?

为什么也很重要呢？

I imagine many people in this audience have,

我想在座的很多人

in the privacy of their own bathrooms,

在浴室里的时候，

wondered ...

都曾经好奇过…

"Are my labia too long?"

“我的阴唇太长吗？”

"Are my testicles uneven?"

“我的睾丸不一样吗?”

"Is my penis too small?"

“我的阴茎太小了吗？”

"Is my vagina too wide or too shallow?"

“我的阴道是太宽还是太窄？”

Nothing that hurts or gets in the way, just aesthetically:

这些都无伤大雅，只关乎美观：

"Are mine 'normal?'"

“我的‘正常’吗？”

I imagine that many people in this audience have those small concerns

我想在座很多人有过类似小担忧，

but generally go about their lives not thinking about it.

但通常都不会 对日常生活造成太大的困扰。

These variations in our bodies,

我们间性人体内的变异，

like the color of our eyes or the size of our feet,

就像眼睛不同的颜色 或者脚不同的大小，

rarely affect our health, materially.

也并不会对我们的健康 产生实质的影响。

To put it another way,

换句话说，

to give you an idea of the intersex experience,

为了让你们体会间性人的感受，

what if when you were an infant,

可以假设你现在是个婴儿，

your parents or your doctors looked at your labia,

你的父母或医生 看着你的阴唇、

your penis, your testicles,

你的阴茎、睾丸，

and thought,

在想，

"They're healthy, feeling,

“它们很健康，功能完好，

but they're not 'normal,'"

但不‘正常’，”

even before you knew what you wanted to do with them,

这甚至发生在你知道自己 要怎样处理它们之前，

or you know, want to put them.

或者说， 想要把它们放到哪里之前。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

What if they went so far

如果他们矫枉过正到

as to assign you a different sex based off these measurements ...

基于这些量度就给你 分配了另一种性别…

And then they lied to you about what they'd done?

然后还针对这些所作所为撒谎呢？

What if these surgeries sterilized you?

如果这些手术 让你绝育了怎么办？

What if they resulted in immense pain and scarring?

如果它们导致了剧痛和疤痕呢？

What if you had to take medicine for the rest of your life

如果你余生必须吃药

to replace the healthy organs they took away,

来补偿被切除的健康器官，

and you had to pay for that medicine yourself?

并且你得自己掏医药费呢？

And then every time you went to a doctor's office for a cold,

然后，每次你感冒去看医生时，

you were questioned about your sex life,

你的性生活，

your gender identity,

你的性别身份，

what your private parts looked like.

你私处的样子都会被质疑。

And then more doctors and medical students were invited

然后更多的医生和 医学院学生被邀请来

to add to these questions,

问更多的问题，

ask you to drop your trousers

要你脱掉裤子

or submit to an unnecessary medical exam.

或接受不必要的医学检查。

This is a picture of what is happening to the intersex community --

这是发生在间性人群体中的画面——

people like me, every day, around the world.

全球各地像我这样的人， 每天都要面对的画面。

我们的群体并不反对医药或手术。

Our community is not antimedicine or antisurgery.

We are for the right to make decisions about our bodies

我们是想要对自己的身体和生活

有决定权。

and our lives.

The current approach to intersex people stems from a now-debunked academic study

目前研究间性人的方法 是源于 50 多年前某个人的

一项现已被揭穿的学术研究，

from a man who, over 50 years ago,

believed that you could raise a child in any gender

当时的结论是，你可以通过 瞒着孩子更改他们的生殖器，

并且一次又一次强化这种性别

by changing their genitals, never telling them

and reinforcing that gender over and over again.

去把他们抚养成任何性别的人。

It also stems from referring to healthy intersex variations as abnormal

它也源于把健康的间性变体 称为异常

or disordered.

或者失调。

This makes sense.

这似乎也有道理。

If you refer to something as a disorder, it suggests there's a fix.

如果你把某个事情说成失调， 就意味着需要修正。

It also stems [from] the fear and stigma of being intersex,

它还源于对间性人的恐惧和污名，

from homophobia, transphobia, sexism

源于对同性恋的憎恶、 变性恐惧症、性别歧视，

and ultimately, our colonial past.

最终还源于我们的殖民历史。

I am not here to say that the categories of men and women don't exist.

我并不是说 男性和女性的分类不存在。

I'm saying, like most things in this world,

我是说，性别就像 这个世上很多其他事情一样，

it is more complicated than that.

要复杂的多。

The world is complex,

世界是复杂的，

and we can choose to see that as beautiful,

我们可以选择把复杂视为美好，

or we can choose to continue to deny the existence of that complexity,

或者我们可以选择 继续否定那种复杂性的存在，

push people into artificial, binary boxes,

把人们推进虚假的、 二元的盒子里，

fix what isn't broken

去修理没有坏的东西，

and restrict our own field of vision.

并且去限制我们自己的视野。

One of the challenges that intersex people face today

当前，间性人面临的挑战之一

is making ourselves visible

是让我们被看到，

and making ourselves safe at the same time.

同时让我们自己安全。

By that, I mean we are appealing to the humanity of lawmakers

也就是说，我们呼立法者的人道精神，

to make us safe

让我们安全，

whilst putting ourselves into the public eye,

同时把我们自己 置于公众的视野中，

sharing our stories,

分享我们的故事，

trying to build community with people like us ...

努力与像我们这样的人 共同建立社区……

Even when it isn't safe to do so.

即便这样做并不安全。

For parents of intersex children listening and watching,

对那些正在收听和观看 这段演讲的间性人的父母，

for those in the audience

对在座的

who may become the guardians of intersex people,

可能成为间性人的监护者的各位，

I want you to know I love my life,

我想让你们知道，我爱我的生活，

but it has not be free of issue,

但这并非完全没有困难，

especially in relation to being intersex.

特别是对于间性人来说。

No life is free of issue.

没有生活是没有难题的。

All coins have two sides.

硬币均有双面。

On the one side,

硬币的一面是，

I have been humiliated in doctors' offices.

我曾在医生的办公室被羞辱过。

I have stood in front of prospective partners and felt afraid

我曾在潜在的伴侣们面前 感到害怕，

and so not good enough.

觉得自己不够好。

I have watched other women pass me in the street

我曾看着街上其他女士走过，

and imagine the ways that they were more woman than me,

想象她们如何比我更像女人，

more human than me.

更像人类。

I have questioned whether I have a place in this world.

我怀疑过我是否在 这个世界上有立足之地。

On the other,

硬币的另一面是，

I have been deeply loved for everything that I am,

我的一切也曾深深地被爱着，

in friendship and romantically.

无论是在友情还是爱情中。

I have learned compassion and empathy for a wider range of society.

我学会了对广泛的社会群体 表达同情，怀有同理心。

I have taken the time to love my body

我会花时间去爱自己的身体，

and not judge the bodies of others.

并且不去评判别人的身体。

I have developed a strength and a hope

我生出了一种力量和希望，

that would have been impossible without this particular life.

如果不是这种特殊的生活， 这些都是不可能的。

The instinct to protect children is instinctive and it's admirable,

保护孩子的本能 是天生的，也令人钦佩，

but the truth is that love, acceptance

但事实上，爱、接纳，

and refusing to bathe that child in shame

并且拒绝让孩子沉浸在耻辱中，

will protect them more than trying to fix something that isn't broken.

远比试图修复完好的东西 更加能够保护他们。

This is why it is in our interest to protect intersex people

这就是为何保护间性人， 让他们被人们看到

and make them visible.

才符合我们的利益。

For as long as societies reinforce one form of acceptable,

只要社会强化一种形式的接受，

of "normal,"

一种形式的“正常”，

everyone will face insecurity for being different in any way.

那么每个人都会因为在任何方面的 与众不同而面临不安全感。

Simply trying to erase variation, difference,

只是试图消除变体和差异，

builds shame.

就会促成羞耻感。

Being intersex has not materialized the powers

作为间性人，我并没有实现

that I wished for as a teenager ...

自己在少年时所憧憬的超能力…

beyond being able to see where this false sex binary harms us all.

除了看到这种虚假的性别二元化 对我们所有人的伤害之外。

It is my belief

我相信，

that if intersex people can gain equality,

如果间性人可以获得平等，

can be seen,

能够被看见，

can be accepted

能够被接受，

and can be loved,

能够被爱，

then we all will.

那么我们所有人都可以做到。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause and cheers)

（鼓掌和欢呼）