A supermodel who yesterday revealed that she is intersex has attacked the practice of carrying out irrevocable gender surgery on children too young to understand it.
Gaby Odiele – a star of the catwalk – revealed her condition in major interviews with USA Today and Vogue, winning widespread praise from activists.
Odiele, a Vogue cover model with campaigns for DKNY and Mulberry under her belt, said that she has a biological condition which left her with male and female anatomical traits.
She has XY chromosomes – like a male – and had undescended testes until they were surgically removed when she was 10. She later had surgery to construct a vagina.
Describing her anatomy to Vogue, Odiele, now 29, said:
I will never know how it is to have a period, have a baby. But I also don’t stand up peeing! I don’t have a penis! I am intersex, but I am much more female. I am not facing a biological clock—I have no clock!
She is using the opportunity of discussing her condition to try to oppose the practice of surgery to “fix” intersex people – often backed up by the sometimes-spurious threat that if untreated the children will develop cancer.
She told Vogue she is now dedicated to stopping “crazy surgeries that are irreversible and nonconsensual, done when you are much too young”, and said “the hormones they gave me were fucking up my body”.
Her stance could grate with some in the transgender community, who advocate early medical action when children identify as transgender.
A recent BBC documentary, Transgender Kids: Who Knows Best showcased the increasingly popular “trans affirmative” view, whereby objections to a child’s stated desires by parents, therapists etc. are brushed away.
Although invasive surgery isn’t allowed on those under 18, many teens are given hormones to counter puberty before it occurs.
