Intersex characters in fiction
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. This page examines intersex characters in fictional works as a whole, focusing on characters and tropes over time. For more information about fictional characters in other parts of the LGBTQ community, see the corresponding pages about asexual, pansexual, non-binary, lesbian, and gay characters in fiction. 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, Max Walker in the novel Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin and Anjum in the novel The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. 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