For Janis Walworth, the inspiration to run the Center for Gender Sanity came from an experience with a transsexual friend more than 40 years ago.

Her friend, who Walworth said struggled with her gender identity, was found dead unexpectedly in her 20s. While the causes of her friend’s death remains unclear, Walworth said she felt as though she let her down. She said she could have been more supportive of her friend and more familiar with transgender issues.

From that moment on, Walworth said, she vowed to help as many people struggling with their identity as she could.

Her organization, the Center for Gender Sanity, offers training and resources for employers who have a transgender employee.

On Tuesday, Walworth visited Western for the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Alliance-sponsored “Intersex Info Session” event, where students came together in the Viking Union conference room 462  to talk about intersex identity and its misconceptions.

Walworth presented a history of reproduction, how intersex identities can happen and what the current controversies are. She also showed a short video followed by a question-and-answer period.

Walworth defines intersex identity as those who are born with genitalia and/or reproductive systems that do not fit into the standard of male or female. Studies have shown that one in 100 births results in unclear genitalia, she said.

“I find the whole topic of sex and gender challenging, and I like that,” Walworth said. “So many questions come up: what is gender identity? Where do we get our ideas about men and women? So many people live their whole lives not thinking about these questions, and it’s important that we raise them.”

Western employee Dylan Serdenia, 21, said that although he’s met intersex people, many of them were not as open to talking about their experiences.  He said Walworth’s presentation gave him a better perspective on an identity he does not know much about.  

Serdenia, who identifies as a man but was born female, said he feels a connection to those who are intersex. He said many people get the wrong idea about those with different identities regarding gender and incorrectly assume those people cannot live normal lives.

“I feel like intersex people go through a lot more stigma than transgender [people do], but we’re so often lumped together,” he said. “We are all so different, but can live regular lives at the same time.”

Walworth said transgender and intersex identities are different, but can overlap.

Transgender people are born with the anatomy of a particular sex assigned at birth, but something in their brains tells them they are different. Intersex people, however, may be born with ambiguous genitalia, and their sex cannot be fully identified, Walworth said.   

Serdenia said he came from a small town and did not know transgender people existed—until he came to Western. It was then that he became inspired to explore his personal options with his gender expression.  

LGBTA Program Coordinator Brian Harrison said he also came out of this event knowing more about intersex identities.

“Personally, I don’t know a lot about intersex identity,” Harrison said. “And that’s the beauty of this event: empower yourself through knowledge with the more you know.”

Harrison, who was part of the team that planned this event, contacted Walworth because he said she seemed like a helpful resource that students could benefit from.

Intersex Identity
Walworth said a variety of things can happen when humans reproduce, many of which can be natural and have no reason. While some people may say disorders of sex development are abnormal or wrong, she said she prefers to refer to them as “natural variations.”

“[Chromosomes] are not cut-and-dry, and it is not as simple as XX or XY,” she said.

Walworth said there are two main categories these variations fall into: chromosomal and hormonal. On a chromosomal level, she said, people may be missing a sex chromosome or may have an extra one. On a hormonal level, hormone, tissue and enzyme production may be different from the usual.

Because of these imbalances of sex chromosomes or hormones, reproductive organs and genitalia are not clearly male or female, Walworth said.

Signs of gender variations do not always occur at birth, she said.

An example is Turner Syndrome, in which a child is born with only one sex chromosome, which is an X. Walworth said that in this situation, the child appears female on the outside, but internally, the ovaries are slowly failing. Signs are sometimes not clear until later in life, such as when young girls experience few puberty changes and do not begin to menstruate.

Walworth said those with this syndrome can be given growth hormones and estrogen and live perfectly healthy lives.  

Western senior Kaelin Carson said events such as these are opportunities to learn about issues she doesn’t know much about but may be faced with in the future.

“No matter what you identify with, you will always be encountering diversity, such as gender diversity,” Carson said. “Understanding allows you to communicate and empathize with people who are different from you.”

Another example of a disorder of sex development  is Klinefelter’s syndrome, when a child is born with an extra X chromosome.

Walworth said this means that the child appears male on the outside, but his testes are so small that they cannot produce sperm. As they go through puberty, many children develop breasts and, as they age, tend to identify themselves as a women, she said.

Cosmetic Surgery Issue
Another issue Walworth addressed is the debate around infant “normalization” surgery. In some situations, parents and doctors of intersex children rush to do surgery that is, in most cases, not necessary until later in life, she said.

“If the parent has the right idea, it can be really positive,” Walworth said. “‘Hey, you’re right, you don’t look like everyone else, but you know what? That makes you special.’”

She used the example of David Reimer, a child whose penis was severely injured during a circumcision procedure. His parents and doctors decided to surgically make David a girl by removing his penis altogether, never telling him. Walworth said that as time went on, Reimer identified as a man. He eventually killed himself at the age of 39.

“This establishes the fact that you cannot be raised for a gender identity,” Walworth said. “People always believe if you raise your child as a girl, [the child] will grow to be a woman. But you are not born a blank slate.”

Walworth said many people who are born intersex face different problems in their lives — as a direct result of “normalization” surgery at infancy. She said she hopes that someday, parents will allow their children to live as they were born and give them the chance — when they are old enough — to make their own decision about their gender.  

“We’re inching in that direction,” she said. “But as of right now, in our society, you must fall into one of two categories: boy or girl.

Figuring out a person’s sex is complicated, and we are starting to recognize that.”

 

Definitions

Transgender: People whose biological sex and gender identity or expression may not be the same.
Transsexual: An individual who lives or identifies with the sex opposite the one which he or she was born. Transsexuals may or may not choose to take hormones or have surgery. Individual can be of any sexual orientation.
Intersex: Person who is born with a condition in which their genitalia is somewhere in between male and female. 

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