_ tend a plethora of work- s’. 33% :..'«"t».*«~?A. =n»1vr»7»'.'~»’?m' .' --cur. - ‘:=.-'r- '- TRANSLATING IDENTITY CONFERENCE flflfl# DSD: Another Acronym or an Important Leap Forward? By Jacsen Callanan his year marked the H fourth annual Translat- ing Identity Conference hosted at the University of Vermont. Leaping to a two-day conference in late February with events hosted on three days, the entirely student-run DSD may be the step to help intersex people translate their identity to the rest of the world. event was a huge hit. People came from all over the nation to at- shops and speeches to learn, discuss and de- bate about gender and gender identity topics. The keynote speak- er, Emi Koyama, is a well—known queer and intersex activist who tiation. It is the medical term that many are hoping will be used in place of hermaphrodite. Hermaphrodite, or pseudo-her- , maphrodite, has long been used by doctors and the medical community to describe persons born with sex characteristics Top: Presenters Gael Guevara and Julienne Brown. Bottom: Keynote speaker, runs the Intersex Initia- Emi K°Yama_ tive out of Portland, Oregon. She started much of her intersex work as an intern at the Intersex Society of North America and in 2003 founded the Intersex Initiative, a na- tional patient advocacy organi- zation for people born with in- tersex conditions. Emi’s work extends into many other areas of activism including disability, sex workers, survivors, trans- ferninism, and general multi- issue anti-oppression work. In the keynote speech, Emi addressed the newly emerging acronym DSD which stands for Disorders of Sexual Differen- that are not cut-and-dried male or female. This term has long been a source of shame for the people in the community, and it was hoped that the creation of the term “intersex” in the 1990's would allow people who embraced this identity to live more openly and free of shame. Additionally, the word her- maphrodite is not a biologically correct term for people born with these conditions, because it means animals that are both male and female simultane- ously and who can reproduce with themselves. This is impos- sible in humans, so the term was deemed inaccurate by the intersex community. Unfortu- nately, the medical community, for the most part, did not take up use of the term intersex and so the shame has lived on. The new term DSD has been better received by the medical community and also by some people already in the intersex community. Some people hope that DSD will replace not only hermaphrodite but also inter- sex. However, it is unlikely that “intersex” will disappear altogether, because of the activ- ist community who views these conditions as variations of na- ture and sees the tenn intersex as an identity to be proud of. It is possible, though, - that DSD can help all intersex people, as Emi Koyama dis- cussed in her speech. First of all, the term DSD carries a much less ne which have children with these con- ditions to create less, secrecy and shame in their child's lives, _ and adults with these condi- tions will be able to live lives with less secrecy and shame as well. Secondly, being labeled as having a disorder may help people living with these condi- tions to be seen more in the , disability spectrum, which can help them gain more rights and access to better medical care and services. Lastly, with the advent of DSD, intersex activ- ists hope that there will be more space for educationabout, these conditions in medical‘ schools and among doctors, so that intersex people can be seen as just another varia- tion on nature, and not freaks in need of medical treatment. DSD may be the step to help intersex people translate their identity to the rest of the world. For more information about the '1‘ranslatjng Identity Con- ference please contact tic@ uvm.edu. For more informa- tion about intersex topics see wwwjntersexinitiative. orgl or wwwjsnaorg. V Jacsen Callanan is a freelance writer currently living in the Burlington area. 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