No Box For Me: An Intersex Story

Intersex humans account for 1.7% of the population, the same percentage as redheads. Yet, few know what this "I" in LGBTQIA stand for. It used to be called hermaphroditism: Children born with the genitalia of both sexes.

The hour-long documentary "No Box for Me: An Intersex Story" (in French with English subtitles) follows a female-presenting, 27-year-old in Paris. She found out she was intersex at age 22. In order to understand, and to heal emotionally, she decided to study intersex people, and how doctors and parents decide about surgery. Should it be performed in early childhood, or when the person is older and more sentient? How is gender determined?

Through an innovative mix of interviews, images, and animation, several journeys of self-discovery are documented. The researcher looks at representation in the arts, notably the Louvre's Sleeping Hermaphroditus statue, and has an intimate correspondence with a Swiss intersex person.

They talk about being unicorns, being "the silent minority," as well as being "the best drag queen in the world" because some "pass" as females.

The researcher talks with an intersex person who is taking testosterone and presents as male. He says the hormone makes him angry and lusty, but, overall, he feels bad for "regular" people.

"I pity them," he says. "They will be normal all their lives, and we will be different."