If you’re a longtime subscriber, you already know the answer to this question. If you follow me on Instagram and TikTok, you also know the answer.

But there are a lot of new people to this newsletter since I answered this very basic question, so it’s time to reiterate.

Intersex is an umbrella term for a variety of biological conditions that place individuals somewhere outside the binary development of male and female. These variations may be visibly physical in nature, internal, or chromosomal. Personally, I was born with severe hypospadias and undescended testicles. For three days, my name was Baby while my parents awaited test results.

Hence, the name of my forthcoming memoir is My Name Was Baby: An Intersex Memoir.

Transgenderism is when someone’s biological sex does not match who they feel they are. In other words, there’s a mismatch between their sex and their gender. Transgender people are often born without any intersex variations, slowly discovering over time that they don’t belong in the body to which they were born.

However, there are plenty of people who are intersex and transgender.

According to a study from Brown University, intersex children make up roughly 1.7% of births, so roughly the same number as people with red hair.

Yeah, that means you’ve probably met several intersex people. Maybe they’re not out. Maybe they don’t even know that they’re intersex. I only knew that I had birth defects until I was well into my 30s, for example.

Here is a good list, though each one is a spectrum and they frequently come together:

From the Intersex Society of North America:

Tell other people. The current conservative attack on transgender people is also trying to erase intersex people from the national conversation. Why? Because our very existence undercuts their primary argument: that sex is binary and immutable. It’s why I write this newsletter, why I talk so candidly about my body, and why my memoir is coming. The best thing you can do is help amplify intersex voices.

Don’t let us be erased.