Intersex surgery

Okay kiddo, you know how sometimes when a baby is born everyone wants to know if it's a boy or a girl? Well, sometimes when the baby is born, their body parts don't look exactly like a boy's or a girl's. This is called being intersex.

Some people who are intersex might not look obviously one way or the other, but others might have more noticeable differences. Doctors used to think that the best thing to do was to "fix" the baby's body so that it looked more like either a boy's or a girl's. They would do this with surgery.

But now we know that it's not always the right thing to do. Sometimes it can hurt the person's body or their feelings. So doctors try to wait until the person is old enough to decide what they want to do about their body, if anything.

If someone decides they want to have surgery, they will talk to a doctor and decide exactly what they want to change. It's very important that they have a say in this and that they understand what will happen during and after the surgery. They might need to take medicine or go to physical therapy to help their body heal.

Some people who are intersex choose not to have surgery at all. They might be happy the way they are, or they might be comfortable enough with their body to not want to change it. And that's okay too! Everyone is different and should be allowed to make their own choices about their body.