Intersex people are born with sex characteristics, such as genitals, gonads and chromosome patterns, "that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies". Literary descriptions may use older or different language for intersex traits, including describing intersex people as hermaphrodites, neither wholly male or female, or a combination of male and female.
Intersex characters and tropes
Intersex people have been portrayed in literature, television and film as monsters, murderers and medical dilemmas. Characters in award-winning literature include Cal Stephanides in the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and Max Walker in the novel Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin.
Morgan Holmes, Canadian sociologist and a former activist with the (now defunct) Intersex Society of North America comments on constructions of intersex people as monsters, or ciphers for discussions about sex and gender. Holmes describes her weariness "of writers who had contacted me for a number of years during my intersex-activist days, trying to determine if their proposed ‘hermaphrodites’ could do things like impregnate or have sex with themselves", and how depictions of intersex people are "stalled", reifying "the proper place of traditional visions and modes of masculinity in opposition to femininity" or "beyond and outside the realm of gender altogether"; the character of Annabel/Wayne, in the Canadian novel Annabel by Kathleen Winter, provides an example of monstrous auto-impregnation.
An intersex murderer plot twist trope has been repeated in the TV programs Nip/Tuck (Quentin Costa), Passions (Vincent Clarkson) and Janet King. This has been criticised as hackneyed and offensive, characterizing intersex people as deceitful.
Examples of the 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. MTV worked with intersex civil society organization interACT on Faking It; the program was praised for creating a groundbreaking character. A Freaks and Geeks story has also been credited as commendable. In film, the character Rebeca Duarte in movie Both was created by an intersex woman, Lisett Barcellos.
Amy, girlfriend of Ken Miller in Freaks and Geeks teen comedy/drama TV series.
Annabel/Wayne, character in novel by Kathleen Winter.
Cornelius Brunner, the result of a physical merging of the protagonist Jerry Cornelius and Miss Brunner in Michael Moorcock's novel The Final Programme.
Vincent Clarkson, character in NBC/DirecTV soap opera Passions.
Comet (DC Comics).
Lauren Cooper, character in MTV scripted comedy Faking It; the first intersex series regular on television.
Quentin Costa, character in Nip/Tuck.
Desire, one of the Endless, from Neil Gaiman The Sandman, (DC Comics).
Rebeca Duarte in the movie Both. The movie is unusual for being a film about an intersex issue directed by an intersex person.
Therem Harth rem ir Estraven, character in the science fiction novel The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin.
Fawn Singleton Farrell, half-sister of main character Vidamía Farrell, in Edgardo Vega Yunqué's novel No Matter How Much You Promise to Cook or Pay the Rent You Blew It Cauze Bill Bailey Ain't Never Coming Home Again.
Swan Er Hong, lead character in science fiction novel 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Ilario, lead character in alternate history novels by Mary Gentle.
Jake, in the 2012 Emily Owens, M.D. episode "Emily and... the Question of Faith" featured an intersex baby.
Keral, a member of an alien species in The World Wreckers science fiction novel by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Berg Katse, leader of evil organisation Galactor in the 1972 anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman.
Alex Kraken, lead character in the Argentinian movie XXY.
Kainé, a companion in the 2010 game NieR
Kirsten Lattimer, homecoming queen and champion hurdler, finds her life turned upside-down after a diagnosis with androgen insensitivity syndrome, in the novel None of the Above, by I. W. Gregorio.
Laurence/Laurent in the novel The Hermaphrodite by Julia Ward Howe.
Ruby Moon, Manga character.
Peta, character revealed as intersex in the final episode of the second series of Janet King.
Richard Plantagenet, later Richard III of England in the manga Requiem of the Rose King, an adaptation of Richard III. Portrayed as intersex instead of hunchbacked as the character is normally depicted in the original play.
Rachel, in Friends TV sitcom, was rumored to be intersex in episode The One with the Rumor.
Raven in the MTV series Faking It. This character, played by Amanda Saenz, was notable for being the first intersex character played by an intersex person.
Rebis, character in the comic series Doom Patrol.
Sailor Starlights, Manga characters.
Shining Knight, revealed as DC Comics's first intersex character in Demon Knights #14.
Jackson Smith, basketball player in The Softer Side episode of House.
Spork lead character in the eponymous movie.
Cal (or Callie) Stephanides in the novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.
Thorn the Mannamavi, lead character in the historical novel Raptor by Gary Jennings.
Bel Thorne, character in Vorkosigan Saga science fiction novels by Lois McMaster Bujold. Ship captain.
Tintomara, character in classic Swedish novel Drottningens juvelsmycke (The Queen's Tiara) by Carl Jonas Love Almquist. The book was also adapted for film in 1970.
Fitz Wahram, character in science fiction novel 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Max Walker, lead character in the award-winning novel Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin.
Wraeththu, post-apocalyptic species in novels by Storm Constantine.
Sadako Yamamura, antagonist in novel by Koji Suzuki.
Yue, Manga character and guardian.
