INTERSEX AWARENESS DAY COMes to COM
In honor of Intersex Awareness Day (October 26th), COM students advocated for the right for intersex people to choose and have agency over their own bodies. First-year students, Shadia Kawkabani, BS, BA, and Leah Steinberg, provided education and encouragement to the COM community to sign a petition supporting intersex rights.
Student Doctor Kawkabani said she initially heard of the initiative through the WPATH Transgender Health Scholars Program, a course offered by the American Student Medical Association. “The Intersex Justice Project, Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth, and MSPA called for medical students to show support for the autonomy, visibility, and rights of intersex individuals by holding signs to demonstrate their support of the community,” Student Doctor Kawkabani states. “As medical students, we have an obligation to do no harm to our patients. Historically the care of intersex people has been determined for them without their consent (especially in regards to non-emergent sexual reassignment surgery). A petition was created and circulated around medical schools to be signed before October 26th, in support of intersex bodily autonomy. HEAl and EDAC collaborated to host a photo shoot and tabling for signing this petition.”
The initiative supports the medical recommendations put forth by InterACT, the Intersex Justice Project, and AIS-DSD.
COM students, Bryar Hansen, COM ’22, Karissa Rajagopal, COM ’22, and Shadia Kawkabani, COM ’23 support Intersex Awareness Day