Intersex representation in television
Intersex, in humans and other animals, describes variations in sex characteristics including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that, according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies".
Intersex people and themes appear in numerous television episodes. Representations have often lacked realism, and in some cases described as stigmatizing or garbage by intersex advocates, with some examples of "everyday social types" but many cases of medical dilemmas, murderers, and ciphers for discussions about sex and gender.
Intersex representations in drama
Intersex people have been portrayed in fiction as monsters, murderers and medical dilemmas. Canadian sociologist Morgan Holmes, a former activist with the Intersex Society of North America describes fictional representations of intersex people as monsters or ciphers for discussions about sex and gender. Academic and filmmaker Phoebe Hart suggests that television representations of intersex people fulfil "sensational and unsubtle" stereotypes: the Australian drama All Saints portrayed a woman with androgen insensitivity syndrome as both "superwoman" and "genetic glitch", while Grey's Anatomy failed to adequately inform audiences about intersex in an episode that explored gender identity and medical disclosure. Hart highlights Faking It and Freaks and Geeks for presenting realistic characters, or everyday social types. She suggests that other television representations have been more controversial, and sometimes potentially harmful.''Renascer''
In the original 1993 version of the Brazilian soap opera "Renascer", Buba, played by Maria Luísa Mendonça, was an intersex character who got involved with José Inocêncio's children. At the time, the term "hermaphrodite" was used to describe Buba's variation.In the 2024 remake of Renascer, the character Buba was reimagined as a trans woman, played by. This change generated controversy, especially within the intersex community, who felt that the representation of intersex people was being made invisible. The author Bruno Luperi explained that the decision to change the character was to broaden the discussion on gender issues and give more visibility to trans experiences. In addition, the plot included an intersex child, Teca's daughter, to address intersex issues from childhood.
Documentary episodes
Intersex was discussed on British TV for the first time in 1966, and became a topic of interest for broadcast TV and radio in the United States and other countries from 1989.Drama episodes
An intersex murderer plot twist trope has been repeated in the TV programs Nip/Tuck, Janet King, and Passions. Examples of a medical dilemmas trope include the 2010 Childrens Hospital episode Show Me on Montana, the 2012 Emily Owens, M.D. episode "Emily and... the Question of Faith", a 2009 episode of House entitled "The Softer Side", and Masters of Sex episode 3 in season 2, "Fight".The MTV series Faking It marked the first intersex series regular in a TV show, Lauren Cooper, and also the first intersex character played by an intersex person, Raven.