I am out of the box

By Sophia Siedlberg

In my writings there are two common threads and they are as follows:

• I was surgically messed with as a child and I resent it.

• During my late childhood and early teens, I was sexually abused as a "novelty".

Now today, even though I have the physical form of a woman, complete with vagina, if I am raped I get no protection. As a child when I was abused I got no protection, because the law in the UK says that as I am an intersexed individual. I am not even allowed to ask for legal protection.

Believe it or not, if I were transsexual I would fare better, not much better, but better all the same. I have had to think a little before writing this. The Gender Recognition Act, let's tell the brutal truth about it, shall we? This was basically the progeny of Press for Change and the UK Government spending hours and hours "discussing" how to allow transsexual people to gain recognition in their post operative sex. Basically they have to provide evidence they have lived for a given period of time in their new sex. This evidence in then reviewed by a board called a "Gender Recognition Panel" and then their name is entered on a "gender register". Whatever those who produced this legislation say, the fact remains that what many transsexual people wanted, full amendment of birth records to reflect their new sex, has not happened. What we have are gender commissars who have the power to give "gender recognition" and little else.

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