Last Thursday we had a workshop to commemorate Intersex Awareness Day which is on 26th of October.

It was divided into a couple of parts. Firstly, there was an icebreaker during which we got acquainted with each other. Secondly, we were informed the basic information about intersex. Thirdly, we had an exercise to complete. We were split into groups and had to read and analyse a text, then comment about our findings. The texts were about medical conditions, associated with intersex: Turner syndrome, androgen insensitivity syndrome and others. We gained more knowledge about them and learned that biological sex is more of a spectrum than a binary of „man“ and „woman“. New insights on its relation to transsexuality, surgical procedures on intersex infants which may lead to mental health problems, were explained. After a coffee break, we were split into two groups again: Lithuanian speakers had a task to offer or invent a new word which would be gender-neutral for a person who prefers „they“, „them“ pronouns in English. We wrote our suggestions. Our last activity was watching a documentary about intersex person, it was a touching story about their journey of understanding oneself.

We concluded our workshop with a discussion and clarification of some key points, regarding the surgical procedures and the stigma associated with a heteronormative society. Fortunately, more and more doctors in Western society are opening up to the possibilities of accepting intersex without unnecessary interventions to their bodies. We have to raise awareness more as human rights are everyone‘s concern. We have to create a society in which respect and empathy are the main points!

LGL is carrying out the 10-month project “Heading Towards Visibility and Equality” under the Erasmus+ program EVS (European Voluntary Service).