In 2023, more than 560 anti-trans bills were introduced in legislatures across the country. Some have failed, many have succeeded, and more than 350 are currently active, as elected officials debate the relationship between gender identity and biology, while trans individuals and allies continue to fight for their rights to access medical care and exist in public space.
In this cultural and political context, Julie Cohen’s documentary, “Every Body” — which focuses on the “I” in LGBTQIA (intersex) — becomes a radical text, a crucial component in our evolving understanding of gender, and an important representation of the intersex experience.
The existence of intersex people is walking, talking, living, breathing proof that biological sex has never been so binary. In fact, there are some 35 to 45 chromosomal and physical variations that intersex people can present that complicate the XX/XY chromosome delineation, proving that our concept of just two genders with corresponding physical features is just too limiting as to the lived experience of nearly 2% of the population.
