People who are intersex are born with bodies that look or function differently to what is considered ‘typical’. These differences may be visible and noticed at birth, or can develop naturally during puberty or later in life.

Widespread social and medical judgements about intersex variations can make people vulnerable to human rights abuses, including medical interventions without their informed consent.

Another way of talking about intersex people’s bodies is to refer to ‘innate variations of sex characteristics’ (IVSC). Sex characteristics are features we all have that are commonly used to differentiate between sexes: chromosomes, genitals, gonads and reproductive organs, hormones and other physical features like body hair or chest shape. Intersex people have sex characteristics that can vary from what we are taught is the norm. 

Sometimes people talk about having an intersex variation rather than being intersex. Medical professionals often refer to people’s variations by giving them specific diagnostic names. The InterACT glossary explains what many of these diagnostic terms mean. Although intersex variations can be given medical names, they don’t always present as medical problems, illnesses or disorders (although some medical conditions that cause intersex variations do include physical health needs that sometimes require immediate treatment or ongoing medical support). With over 40 different intersex variations known, IVSC demonstrates the diverse and natural ways that human bodies vary. 

Not everyone who has an innate variation of sex characteristics, or whose body could be described as intersex, uses these words for themself or to describe how they relate to their variation. Some people have not been given a specific name or term for the ways that their body might differ from social expectations or anatomical norms. Others only know about the medical terms they’ve been told that refer to their diagnosis and haven’t necessarily been encouraged to think of their experience as being shared with a wider group of people

A range of terms have been used in medical systems to talk about innate variations of sex characteristics, but most recently DSD - meaning ‘Disorders of Sex Development’ or ‘Differences of Sex Development’ has been common. We don’t think that DSD is the most useful framing, since it’s based on an incorrect and damaging understanding of intersex bodies as ‘disordered’. However, for some people with intersex variations, DSD is the only framework or terminology they have been given, so it can be important to include this terminology in resources or health information where relevant, to allow the broadest range of access to information and connection.

Some medical ideas about sex characteristics are based on specific diagnostic criteria, so sometimes when doctors or health systems are talking about intersex or DSD, they are referring to a smaller group of people, who have specific diagnoses. We share the view of InterACT and other intersex advocates who see intersex as a broad, more inclusive term.

Talking about intersex people in te reo Māori

There is no single term for intersex in te reo Māori. Some related words include:

  • ira tangata - a term offered by Tu Chapman in her work with Intersex Aotearoa and as a Māori intersex advocate, to talk about her experience and the place of intersex people in Te Ao Māori. Ira tangata is not a translation of intersex, but has a broader meaning referring to humanity, whakapapa and the uniqueness of each person.

  • ngā tāngata ruaruanga (intersex people); te ruaruanga taha wahine, taha tāne (intersex) - a translation offered by Dr Merimeri Penfold CNZM for the Human Rights Commission’s transgender inquiry. The term uses the imagery of intertwining male and female eels, as they move across each other in a narrow stream, as a way to convey the diverse combinations of male and female sex characteristics. 

  • taihemarua - a new kupu created by translator Hēmi Kelly as part of the project to translate the resource Supporting Aotearoa’s rainbow people: A practical guide for mental health professionals into te reo Māori. This project noted that “the kupu we introduce here describe the essence of western understandings of sexuality and gender – in te ao Māori terms are not broken down like they are in te ao Pākehā.” This term could be seen as an example of that tension - it gives the impression that it was derived from the incorrect understanding of intersex people having "both" male and female genitals. It has not been widely used by intersex communities, and we would not recommend it as a translation.

  • ngā rerekētanga āhuatanga ā-ira koiora - a translation for ‘variations of sex characteristics’ offered by translator Hēmi Kelly as part of the project to translate the resource Supporting Aotearoa’s rainbow people: A practical guide for mental health professionals into te reo Māori.

  • takatāpui - a reclaimed Māori term that was rediscovered in the 1970s by Emeritus Professor Ngahuia Te Awekotuku MNZM and Lee Smith, and has since been popularised through HIV activism including that of the Burnett Foundation, the work of Professor Elizabeth Kerekere (including community resources and academic writing) and many other takatāpui artists, activists and community leaders. Takatāpui was initially defined in English as ‘intimate companion of the same sex’, and has more recently come to refer to Māori whose genders, sexualities and sex characteristics differ from binary colonial norms. This term is not a translation for intersex, but is a broader term that can encompass Māori intersex people. 

  • tipua - a comparison proposed by Professor Elizabeth Kerekere between tipua - supernatural creatures who could change form or gender - and people whose gender or body “embody both female and male in remarkable ways”. Prof Kerekere developed the concept Mana Tipua “to recognise the inherent mana of trans, intersex and non-binary people, based on the acceptance of gender and sexual fluidity in the spiritual and physical realms of traditional Māori society.” Tipua is not a translation for intersex, but a broader term understood in the context of this concept of Mana Tipua.

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