Talk:Intersex

Proposal (discuss): addition of PCOS debate and its potential impact on interpretations of statistics

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Estimates range from 0.018% (one in 5,500 births) to 1.7%. The difference centers on whether conditions in which chromosomal sex matches a phenotypic sex which is clearly identifiable as male or female, such as [[late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia]] (1.5 percentage points) and [[Klinefelter syndrome]], should be counted as intersex. Whether intersex or not, people may be assigned and raised as a girl or boy but then [[gender identity|identify]] with another gender later in life, while most continue to identify with their assigned sex.

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Estimates often range from 0.018% (one in 5,500 births) to 1.7%. The difference centers on whether conditions in which chromosomal sex matches a phenotypic sex which is clearly identifiable as male or female, such as [[late onset congenital adrenal hyperplasia]] (1.5 percentage points) and [[Klinefelter syndrome]], should be counted as intersex. Whether intersex or not, people may be assigned and raised as a girl or boy but then [[gender identity|identify]] with another gender later in life, while most continue to identify with their assigned sex.Some estimates may be significantly higher than the 1.7% estimate, particularly when factoring in [[polycystic ovary syndrome]] (PCOS) statistics, which range from 4-20% in their own right. There is debate over whether or not PCOS is an intersex variation, and it is not officially medically recognized as one. However, proponents note that the medical establishment is committed to minimizing the prevalence of intersex people, both linguistically and physically, so this lack of medical recognition may not necessarily rule out the possibility of PCOS being an intersex variation. The hormonal differences associated with PCOS, as well as the noticeable differences in secondary sex characteristics that occur in some individuals with hyperandrogenic PCOS, are two major reasons that some include it under the intersex umbrella.Opponents are often uncomfortable with the idea of associating PCOS with intersexuality due to the stigma and marginalization that intersex communities experience. There are also many who feel that the inclusion of PCOS as an intersex variation would be a denial of [[womanhood]] towards women with PCOS. This stance is criticized for its lack of acknowledgment of [[transgender men]] and [[non-binary]] people with PCOS, as well as its implication that intersex women are not women. A major [[Intersex civil society organizations|intersex organization]], [[interACT]], includes PCOS in their list of intersex variations, and takes the stance that people with PCOS can be considered intersex. They also clarify, however, that they are not an authority on what can "count" as intersex. Despite their positive stance on PCOS inclusion, interACT generally sticks to the 1.7% estimate when stating the prevalence of intersexuality, possibly to avoid controversy and best represent the current common consensus on what constitutes an intersex variation.

KyloFC (talk) 09:04, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{Edit semi-protected}} template. As a side note, if you want to show differences in a talk page, you can use the {{textdiff}} template like this:

{{textdiff|Estimates range from 0.018% (one in 5,500 births) to 1.7%.|Estimates often range from 0.018% (one in 5,500 births) to 1.7%.}} →

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Estimates range from 0.018% (one in 5,500 births) to 1.7%.

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Estimates often range from 0.018% (one in 5,500 births) to 1.7%.

CamAnders (talk) 11:03, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Ah, thanks for the response! I was unaware that I had to do that first. Also was unaware of the textdiff template. KyloFC (talk) 11:16, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Oh, on the note of establishing consensus, should I start a separate post for that, or just use this one? KyloFC (talk) 11:23, 16 November 2025 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Health and Healing in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation–supported course assignment, between 15 January 2026 and 8 May 2026. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): SparklePomegranate (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Badgerbee12.

— Assignment last updated by Clear04 (talk) 20:19, 1 April 2026 (UTC)

"Sex differentiation disorder" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Sex differentiation disorder has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 May 10 § Sex differentiation disorders until a consensus is reached. LIrala (talk) 06:36, 10 May 2026 (UTC)

References

Prevalence table

This seems to contain many items that would not be "traits that medical experts consider to be intersex" - especially after discussions in both the lead and the section on both different definitions and different circumscriptions of the term this seems poor. Even including those where there are different views without notes would be wrong, but I doubt that cryptorchidism and polyorchidism are considered intersex by more than a very few, if any, medical experts. Testicular dysgenesis syndrome double counts with hypospadias and cryptorchidism. Hyperandrogenism would also be double counting with the not-necessarily-canonical LOCAH - if it had any estimate of prevalence. Can we remove those conditions not reliably sourced as intersex? All the best: Rich Farmbrough 20:17, 11 May 2025 (UTC).

Yes, please remove any that are not reliably sourced to medical references or are otherwise a problem (e.g. redundant). Crossroads ^-talk- 20:44, 12 May 2025 (UTC)

I've unarchived this section. I made a start by removing all items with no prevalence, which might have some utility elsewhere in the article - if they are recognised as intersex, but have little in this table. An editor has reverted this work, but has added prevalence to one of the items. All the best: Rich Farmbrough 13:12, 31 May 2026 (UTC).

The Terminology section

The terminology section seems a bit imprecise. Maybe it needs a new title? As instead of going in to a glossary of intersex terminology (eg intersex, sex intergrade, Variations of sex, and other culturally specific terms etc), it mediately asks questions about what falls under the term "intersex", possibly something like "Intersex Defined" instead of "Terminology"

And under the Etymology sub header it dose go in to the history, coining and popularisation but not much else. ~2026-36216-09 (talk) 01:46, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

edit request for linking

At the beginning of Intersex#Fiction, literature and media, please change

Heinlein's acclaimed 1959 "'—All You Zombies—'" is an early intersex science fiction story

[[Robert A. Heinlein|Heinlein]]'s acclaimed 1959 "'—All You Zombies—'" is an early intersex science fiction story

to

Robert A. Heinlein's acclaimed 1959 "'—All You Zombies—'" is an early intersex science fiction story

[[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s acclaimed 1959 "[['—All You Zombies—']]" is an early intersex science fiction story

(Maybe also link to science fiction?)

Thanks. Wishing everyone safe, happy, productive editing. --~2026-44744-43 (talk) 10:53, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

 Done -- Maddy from Celeste (WAVEDASH) 11:35, 16 August 2026 (UTC)

Prevalence of xx/xy

I was a bit disappointed at the lack of prevalence of xx/xy condition reading the page. Im surprised no one really studies or tracks chimerism. According to litterature there are only a few hundred cases in the world.. Yet I see many describing having it on forums etc.. But somewhat informal

Well turns out my country, Sweden, tracks almost all diagnosis in a statistical database. Where it is recorded as Q99.0, xx/xy. One can there search the prevalence each year from 1998-2025. Where the average occurence is 16 cases per years of xx/xy.

If you multiply that by the average lifespan in Sweden, 16 * 81 = 1301 people per lifespan. So a population of 9 000 000 people and 1301 cases. I think one can deduct from that a pretty good estimate: 9 000 000 / 1301 =6917. So 1 in 6917 people are found to have xx/xy in Sweden approximately.

Here is where the amount of cases per year can be looked up:

https://sdb.socialstyrelsen.se/if_par/val.aspx

There is also this article which states xx/xy chimerism in half of cases doesnt show up clearly as ambiguous genitals or hermaphrodites. Which implies half of the cases go undetected. More likely the number of xx/xy is half of that I reported above: that is to say 1 in 3458 people likely have it in approximation.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1769721220302895

I've been researching things like this on my own for a year now. And I think this could slightly enlighten the world. The information is out there but apparently no one cares to look

Vessa77 (talk) 08:28, 28 September 2026 (UTC)

Separate page for ambiguous genitalia

I was a bit surprised that Wikipedia doesn't seem to have a separate page for ambiguous genitalia, which simply redirects here instead. Going by the definition of "intersex" presented here, most intersex people don't even have ambiguous genitalia, so having it redirect here maybe seems misleading. Ambiguous genitalia is listed as a condition on many medical websites, and there seems to be quite a lot of good info to make an article with, so it seems reasonable to have a separate article instead of just a little section here.

Thoughts on this? If I don't receive any opposition I'll draft an article later, or someone else can Ngarrtjapiri (talk) 15:25, 29 September 2026 (UTC)