full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Emily Quinn: The way we think about biological sex is wrong

Unscramble the Blue Letters


As I got older, I had another doctor tell me that I needed to have surgery on my vagina. She said that until I had an oeopiratn, until she operated, I would not be able to have "normal sex" with my husband one day. Her words. I didn't end up going through with the operation, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. I'm not here to talk about my sex life.

(Laughter)

But let's just say it's fine.

(leahtgur)

I'm fine, my body is fine. You actually wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between me and another person unless I told you; you wouldn't be able to tell that I was ietsnerx unless I told you. But again, because of the lack of uiteandndrsng about bodies, my doctor didn't understand the derniffcee. And for the most part, my sex life is fine. The only issue that really comes up is that sometimes, sexual situations bring up memories of doctors touching me, over and over again since I was 10. I've been really lucky to epasce — I didn't think I would get emotional — I've been really lucky to escape the physical harm that comes from these useecransny surgeries. But no intersex person is free from the emotional harm that comes from living in a society that tries to cover up your existence. Most of my intersex friends have had operations like these. Oftentimes, they will remove tteses like mine, even though my risk of testicular cancer is lower than the risk of breast cancer in a typical woman with no predisposition, no family hoistry. But we don't tell her to remove her brseats, do we?

Open Cloze


As I got older, I had another doctor tell me that I needed to have surgery on my vagina. She said that until I had an _________, until she operated, I would not be able to have "normal sex" with my husband one day. Her words. I didn't end up going through with the operation, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. I'm not here to talk about my sex life.

(Laughter)

But let's just say it's fine.

(________)

I'm fine, my body is fine. You actually wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between me and another person unless I told you; you wouldn't be able to tell that I was ________ unless I told you. But again, because of the lack of _____________ about bodies, my doctor didn't understand the __________. And for the most part, my sex life is fine. The only issue that really comes up is that sometimes, sexual situations bring up memories of doctors touching me, over and over again since I was 10. I've been really lucky to ______ — I didn't think I would get emotional — I've been really lucky to escape the physical harm that comes from these ___________ surgeries. But no intersex person is free from the emotional harm that comes from living in a society that tries to cover up your existence. Most of my intersex friends have had operations like these. Oftentimes, they will remove ______ like mine, even though my risk of testicular cancer is lower than the risk of breast cancer in a typical woman with no predisposition, no family _______. But we don't tell her to remove her _______, do we?

Solution


  1. breasts
  2. unnecessary
  3. laughter
  4. testes
  5. intersex
  6. escape
  7. difference
  8. operation
  9. history
  10. understanding

Original Text


As I got older, I had another doctor tell me that I needed to have surgery on my vagina. She said that until I had an operation, until she operated, I would not be able to have "normal sex" with my husband one day. Her words. I didn't end up going through with the operation, and I'm incredibly grateful for that. I'm not here to talk about my sex life.

(Laughter)

But let's just say it's fine.

(Laughter)

I'm fine, my body is fine. You actually wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between me and another person unless I told you; you wouldn't be able to tell that I was intersex unless I told you. But again, because of the lack of understanding about bodies, my doctor didn't understand the difference. And for the most part, my sex life is fine. The only issue that really comes up is that sometimes, sexual situations bring up memories of doctors touching me, over and over again since I was 10. I've been really lucky to escape — I didn't think I would get emotional — I've been really lucky to escape the physical harm that comes from these unnecessary surgeries. But no intersex person is free from the emotional harm that comes from living in a society that tries to cover up your existence. Most of my intersex friends have had operations like these. Oftentimes, they will remove testes like mine, even though my risk of testicular cancer is lower than the risk of breast cancer in a typical woman with no predisposition, no family history. But we don't tell her to remove her breasts, do we?

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
biological sex 4
intersex people 3
sex life 2
intersex person 2


Important Words


  1. bodies
  2. body
  3. breast
  4. breasts
  5. bring
  6. cancer
  7. cover
  8. day
  9. difference
  10. doctor
  11. doctors
  12. emotional
  13. escape
  14. existence
  15. family
  16. fine
  17. free
  18. friends
  19. grateful
  20. harm
  21. history
  22. husband
  23. incredibly
  24. intersex
  25. issue
  26. lack
  27. laughter
  28. life
  29. living
  30. lucky
  31. memories
  32. needed
  33. oftentimes
  34. older
  35. operated
  36. operation
  37. operations
  38. part
  39. person
  40. physical
  41. predisposition
  42. remove
  43. risk
  44. sex
  45. sexual
  46. situations
  47. society
  48. surgeries
  49. surgery
  50. talk
  51. testes
  52. testicular
  53. told
  54. touching
  55. typical
  56. understand
  57. understanding
  58. unnecessary
  59. vagina
  60. woman
  61. words