Hida Viloria
Author of Born Both: An Intersex Life
Works by Hida Viloria
Associated Works
Queer: A Collection of LGBTQ Writing from Ancient Times to Yesterday (2021) — Contributor, some editions — 65 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Viloria, Hida
- Legal name
- Viloria, Hida Patricia
- Birthdate
- 1968-05-29
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Wesleyan University (1986-1988)
University of California, Berkeley - Organizations
- Organization Intersex International
American affiliate OII-USA, aka The Intersex Campaign for Equality - Agent
- Molly Glick
- Short biography
- Hida Viloria (born May 29, 1968) is a Latine American writer, author, producer, and human rights activist. Viloria is intersex, non-binary, and gender nonconforming, using they/them pronouns. They are known for their writing and their intersex and non-binary human rights activism, as the first person to come out in national and international media as a non-binary intersex person, and to publish on intersex issues in mainstream national press. Viloria is Founding Director of the Intersex Campaign for Equality, which spearheaded, via its Associate Director Dana Zzyym's lawsuit against the U.S. State Department, the first American legal efforts for federal third sex/gender recognition, on passports. [Wikipedia] Hida Viloria is a human rights activist and writer whose work has appeared in The Advocate, CNN.com, Ms., The Global Herald, The New York Times, The Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, The American Journal of Bioethics, The Hastings Report Bioethics Forum, in her blog Intersex and Out, and in the college textbook, Queer: A Reader for Writers (Oxford University Press). Born in New York City to recently immigrated Colombian and Venezuelan parents, Viloria, who uses s/he and he/r pronouns, has been in the vanguard of intersex, non-binary and gender fluid education and advocacy since 1996 as a frequent lecturer, consultant (UN, Human Rights Watch, IOC) and television and radio guest (Oprah, HuffpostLive, Aljazeera, 20/20, BBC, Inside Edition...). In 2013, he/r pioneering human rights work was recognized when s/he became the first openly intersex person to speak at the United Nations, by invitation, for Human Rights Day. Viloria is Chairperson of the Organization Intersex International (OII), the world's first and largest international intersex advocacy organization, and founding director of its American affiliate OII-USA, aka The Intersex Campaign for Equality. S/he currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (Amazon.com Author Page)
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- New York, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
I recently read the book [b:XOXY, A Memoir: Intersex Woman, Mother, Activist|51321143|XOXY, A Memoir Intersex Woman, Mother, Activist|Kimberly Zieselman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580253076l/51321143._SX50_SY75_.jpg|72770500] (for my review of that book see here) and wanted to learn more about being intersex. This book is a nonfiction book which aims to educate on exactly that topic. It gives an interesting overview of the subject, although it was show more a quicker read than I expected it to be. It's not too dense and academic, with a good mix of hard science, historical context and personal stories. There was even some information on intersex in Greek mythology, and Judaism, which I found particularly interesting.
The biology is explained in detail, and not dumbed down, but I still found that I understood most of it, despite not being a scientist. Some of it gets quite complicated, but because the science is broken up by the history and personal stories, I found that the book managed to keep my interest the entire way through. I found it helpful that a prior knowledge of much biology wasn't assumed, for example DNA was described in detail before the subject of intersex DNA was covered. The book features some diagrams which are simple and helpful, but I would have appreciated more diagrams to really help with some of the more complex science. The book goes into detail about gonadal intersex, androgen insensitivity syndrome, Swyer syndrome, Turner syndrome, Kinefelter syndrome, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and 5-ARD, and really does get across the point that intersex people vary massively.
The most important thing about this book is that it is written by an intersex person, and is celebratory and positive about being intersex. The book explains in detail why unnecessary surgeries on intersex babies and children are wrong, and celebrates natural intersex bodies. This is important because intersex voices have been ignored and spoken over for so long. The personal pieces in this book were very insightful, in particular the one written from the perspective of a Navajo intersex person. If you only read one chapter from this book, make it that one. The commentary about the intersection between colonialism and racism and the intersex experience is very powerful, and particularly important for white and non intersex LGBTQ people to read. Intersex people should be leading these discussions, and in this book they are.
There was one thing that bothered me about this book, though, and that was the discussions about trans people. The start of the book felt very positive about trans people. Whilst the trans and intersex experiences are not the same, and intersex people face unique issues and prejudices due to being intersex, there are definitely overlaps between the two. However, later on in the book there is a personal piece written by the wife of a trans woman, where the pronoun 's/he' is used to refer to her during transition, only using 'she' once transition is 'complete'. This made me feel very uncomfortable, and isn't the way that trans people usually choose to talk about themselves. I don't know whether the trans woman in question was in favour of being referred to using s/he, but it didn't feel right.
And then we get to the last chapter in the book. This was a discussion about the word 'cisgender'. Whilst there were some good points about the issues intersex people have with the word cis (are they cis if they are intersex but identify with their assigned sex? how can they be trans if they have a nonbinary body and a nonbinary identity? can someone be nonbinary and cis? intersex and cis?) but the perspective of the discussion seemed to come from a place of distrust towards trans people. The idea that talking about the difference between being trans and being gender nonconforming and using the word cis erases a gender non conforming persons identity is an argument used by TERFs to silence trans women. That trans people must say 'I am a man but I am female' or 'I am a woman but I am male' and can't transition their sex puts trans people, especially trans women, at risk of violence. It reiterates the belief that people need to know a trans person's assigned sex or else they are being dishonest. We need for all sexes and genders to be seen as valid, but this rhetoric hurts vulnerable people. I feel that there is a solution somewhere to the linguistic problems around the language used to describe trans and intersex people, but this chapter doesn't give any suggestions, just says that trans people are describing themselves wrong. This really bothered me. It felt like the attack was on the wrong people, on trans people for supposedly upholding a binary, when that binary is forced upon us by cis people, similarly to the way a binary is enforced on intersex people by people who aren't intersex. show less
The biology is explained in detail, and not dumbed down, but I still found that I understood most of it, despite not being a scientist. Some of it gets quite complicated, but because the science is broken up by the history and personal stories, I found that the book managed to keep my interest the entire way through. I found it helpful that a prior knowledge of much biology wasn't assumed, for example DNA was described in detail before the subject of intersex DNA was covered. The book features some diagrams which are simple and helpful, but I would have appreciated more diagrams to really help with some of the more complex science. The book goes into detail about gonadal intersex, androgen insensitivity syndrome, Swyer syndrome, Turner syndrome, Kinefelter syndrome, congenital adrenal hyperplasia and 5-ARD, and really does get across the point that intersex people vary massively.
The most important thing about this book is that it is written by an intersex person, and is celebratory and positive about being intersex. The book explains in detail why unnecessary surgeries on intersex babies and children are wrong, and celebrates natural intersex bodies. This is important because intersex voices have been ignored and spoken over for so long. The personal pieces in this book were very insightful, in particular the one written from the perspective of a Navajo intersex person. If you only read one chapter from this book, make it that one. The commentary about the intersection between colonialism and racism and the intersex experience is very powerful, and particularly important for white and non intersex LGBTQ people to read. Intersex people should be leading these discussions, and in this book they are.
There was one thing that bothered me about this book, though, and that was the discussions about trans people. The start of the book felt very positive about trans people. Whilst the trans and intersex experiences are not the same, and intersex people face unique issues and prejudices due to being intersex, there are definitely overlaps between the two. However, later on in the book there is a personal piece written by the wife of a trans woman, where the pronoun 's/he' is used to refer to her during transition, only using 'she' once transition is 'complete'. This made me feel very uncomfortable, and isn't the way that trans people usually choose to talk about themselves. I don't know whether the trans woman in question was in favour of being referred to using s/he, but it didn't feel right.
And then we get to the last chapter in the book. This was a discussion about the word 'cisgender'. Whilst there were some good points about the issues intersex people have with the word cis (are they cis if they are intersex but identify with their assigned sex? how can they be trans if they have a nonbinary body and a nonbinary identity? can someone be nonbinary and cis? intersex and cis?) but the perspective of the discussion seemed to come from a place of distrust towards trans people. The idea that talking about the difference between being trans and being gender nonconforming and using the word cis erases a gender non conforming persons identity is an argument used by TERFs to silence trans women. That trans people must say 'I am a man but I am female' or 'I am a woman but I am male' and can't transition their sex puts trans people, especially trans women, at risk of violence. It reiterates the belief that people need to know a trans person's assigned sex or else they are being dishonest. We need for all sexes and genders to be seen as valid, but this rhetoric hurts vulnerable people. I feel that there is a solution somewhere to the linguistic problems around the language used to describe trans and intersex people, but this chapter doesn't give any suggestions, just says that trans people are describing themselves wrong. This really bothered me. It felt like the attack was on the wrong people, on trans people for supposedly upholding a binary, when that binary is forced upon us by cis people, similarly to the way a binary is enforced on intersex people by people who aren't intersex. show less
When Hida Viloria was born, the doctor took he/r father (also a doctor) aside and they had a quiet conversation. Whatever the doctor told he/r father, he rejected, and Hida was presented to he/r mother as a baby girl, and that is how s/he was raised. Hida had a rough life; he/r father was abusive, s/he was drugged and raped at a bar, s/he was a budding lesbian in a culture that doesn’t take well to that. Along with that, s/he struggled with he/r gender identity: was s/he really the girl show more s/he was raised to be, was s/he male instead, or was s/he somewhere in between?
The answer turned out to be ‘in between’. It took Hida years to figure that out; s/he’d didn’t hear the word ‘intersex’ until 1995. After that, things started falling into place. S/he also learned about female genital mutilation and the common practice in the US of surgically altering intersex babies so their genitals ‘look like’ girls- depriving them of a source of sexual pleasure. S/he has become a writer and an activist for the intersex community, trying to educate the world on gender fluidity and letting babies grow up as they are born.
I found the first part of the book very interesting, as Hida told about he/r journey of discovery. The latter part I found less interesting; it was all about he/r activism and it was very rushed. While I agree he/r activism is incredibly important, it’s just not as interesting to read about. Warning to the sensitive: there are graphic descriptions of sex and violence, as well as liberal use of The Big Swear Word.
Four and a half stars out of five. show less
The answer turned out to be ‘in between’. It took Hida years to figure that out; s/he’d didn’t hear the word ‘intersex’ until 1995. After that, things started falling into place. S/he also learned about female genital mutilation and the common practice in the US of surgically altering intersex babies so their genitals ‘look like’ girls- depriving them of a source of sexual pleasure. S/he has become a writer and an activist for the intersex community, trying to educate the world on gender fluidity and letting babies grow up as they are born.
I found the first part of the book very interesting, as Hida told about he/r journey of discovery. The latter part I found less interesting; it was all about he/r activism and it was very rushed. While I agree he/r activism is incredibly important, it’s just not as interesting to read about. Warning to the sensitive: there are graphic descriptions of sex and violence, as well as liberal use of The Big Swear Word.
Four and a half stars out of five. show less
This is a memoir of growing up intersex and becoming an activist for intersex visibility. Unlike many intersex children, Hida was not subjected to surgery, hormones, or other "treatments" to try and make he/r more boy or girl. Hida was raised as a girl, though s/he often felt much more masculine. Some people might be surprised to discover that Hida lived a largely unremarkable and happy life. S/he suspects that is because unlike most intersex people of h/er generation, s/he was not subjected show more to disfiguring surgery. This creates legitimacy issues for Hida, as s/he feels illegitimate claiming an identity that is grounded in suffering for so many.
As an adult Hida becomes very involved in intersex activism. S/he wants to make the frequency and existence of intersex visible. S/he also wants intersex to be declassified as a disorder, so it can no longer be called a "disorder of sexual development." I really enjoyed reading aobut Hida's experiences growing up, and about her activism work. I was less interested in h/er discussions about trying to "find" he/rself, via drug use, attending Burning Man, and other activities that were just not that relatable to me. There were plenty of points reading this book where I felt like I was just not cool enough to relate. There's quite a bit of focus on going to the hottest and latest clubs in San Francisco, and whatnot. That said, I did enjoy reading about the other parts of Viloria's journey. show less
As an adult Hida becomes very involved in intersex activism. S/he wants to make the frequency and existence of intersex visible. S/he also wants intersex to be declassified as a disorder, so it can no longer be called a "disorder of sexual development." I really enjoyed reading aobut Hida's experiences growing up, and about her activism work. I was less interested in h/er discussions about trying to "find" he/rself, via drug use, attending Burning Man, and other activities that were just not that relatable to me. There were plenty of points reading this book where I felt like I was just not cool enough to relate. There's quite a bit of focus on going to the hottest and latest clubs in San Francisco, and whatnot. That said, I did enjoy reading about the other parts of Viloria's journey. show less
A very interesting look at gender, the way it is perceived and what it means to not fit the norm. It really opened my eyes. It is a tender subject with more facets than I initially imagined. An important introduction to the issue. I hope it gets a wide audience.
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 2
- Also by
- 2
- Members
- 147
- Popularity
- #140,981
- Rating
- 4.1
- Reviews
- 5
- ISBNs
- 9
- Favorited
- 1