Sean Saifa Wall

Sean Saifa Wall is a published speaker, researcher, and long-time advocate for intersex rights. He is a queer intersex man of color and former president of Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth.[1][2] He approaches his work to end intersex oppression through an intersectional lens.[3]

External video
" What It’s Like To Be Intersex", Lizz Warner, BuzzFeed
Sean Saifa Wall
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWilliams College
OccupationIntersex activist and researcher
Known forIntersex and HIV advocacy
Home townThe Bronx, New York
Websitesaifaemerges.com

Early life and career

Sean Saifa Wall has described growing up in the Bronx in the 1980s in a family with other intersex members. In an interview by Pidgeon Pagonis, he describes how an uncle of his was forced to sleep outside on the porch of his hospital after a surgery, and how his intersex and black identities are inseparable.[4] Drawing parallels, Wall has stated, "Although seemingly different subjects, they share the same common denominator, state-sponsored violence against marginalized individuals".[5] Diagnosed with partial androgen insensitivity syndrome, he was subjected to a gonadectomy at age 13, necessitating lifelong hormone replacement therapy.[5]

Wall volunteered for Gay Men's Health Crisis at age 14, prior to studying at Williams College. He later travelled to Cuba with Pastors for Peace, documenting the local health system.[6]

Activism

Wall served as president of Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth for three years.[6] During that time, Interact filed a lawsuit, M.C. v. Medical University of South Carolina, in the County of Richmond, South Carolina, in partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center.[7][8]

In 2015, Wall joined an international advisory board for a first philanthropic Intersex Human Rights Fund established by the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.[9] He has also developed an art project entitled EMERGE.[6]

As part of his advocacy work, Wall has been interviewed by Nightline, in a segment where he also confronted his childhood surgeon,[10] BuzzFeed,[11][12] HuffPost Live,[13] and written for The Advocate[2] and Quartz.[14] Wall spoke at TEDxGrandRapids in May 2015.[15]

Selected bibliography
  • Wall, Sean Saifa (November 8, 2016). "Love, complexity and inter-sectionality". Intersex Day. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  • Wall, Sean Saifa (2015). "Standing at the Intersections: Navigating Life as a Black Intersex Man". Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics. 5 (2): 117–119.
  • Wall, Sean Saifa (April 26, 2015). "American surgeons are still mutilating children who don't look "normal"". Quartz. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  • Wall, Sean Saifa; Davis, Georgiann (February 26, 2014). "Op-ed: Hey, Fox News, Intersex Is Not A Punchline". The Advocate. Retrieved August 29, 2016.

References
  1. Wall, Sean Saifa (2015). "Standing at the Intersections: Navigating Life as a Black Intersex Man". Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics. 5 (2): 117–119.
  2. Wall, Sean Saifa; Davis, Georgiann (February 26, 2014). "Op-ed: Hey, Fox News, Intersex Is Not A Punchline". The Advocate. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
  3. "Celebrating Black History Month: Sean Saifa Wall – Intersex Campaign for Equality". Retrieved 2019-04-27.
  4. Pagonis, Pidgeon (June 3, 2016). "6 Things Intersex Folks Need to Know About How We Perpetuate Anti-Black Racism". Everyday Feminism. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
  5. Wall, Sean Saifa (November 8, 2016). "Love, complexity and inter-sectionality". Intersex Day. Retrieved 2017-01-19.
  6. "About Sean Saifa Wall". EMERGE. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  7. Southern Poverty Law Center (2013-05-14), "Groundbreaking SPLC lawsuit accuses South Carolina, doctors and hospitals of unnecessary surgery on infant", Southern Poverty Law Center
  8. "Turning the Lens Inward: Sean Saifa Wall". Interact Advocates for Intersex Youth. October 15, 2014. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  9. "Introducing the Intersex Fund team at Astraea!". Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice. June 16, 2015. Archived from the original on July 3, 2015. Retrieved 2015-07-02.
  10. Murray, Ross (March 11, 2015). "Intersex advocates correct and clarify Nightline news report". GLAAD.
  11. "What It's Like To Be Intersex". BuzzFeed. March 29, 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  12. "This Video Explains What It's Like — And What It Isn't Like — To Be Intersex". Mic.com. March 30, 2015. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  13. Bolles, Alexandra (April 22, 2014). "VIDEO: Intersex advocates talk stigma, health care, & family support on HuffPost Live". GLAAD. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  14. Wall, Sean Saifa (April 26, 2015). "American surgeons are still mutilating children who don't look "normal"". Quartz. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
  15. "Theme: Constant / Change". TEDxGrandRapids. Retrieved 2016-08-29.
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