The MTV comedy Faking It premiered last night and broke new ground for TV audiences when it was revealed that queen bee Lauren (Bailey De Young) is intersex and has been taking hormone replacement pills. De Young teamed up with intersex advocate Emily Quinn from youth advocacy group Inter/Act (who have consulted with the show on Lauren's story) to educate the public on what being intersex means and how to be an ally to the community. Check out "9 Things You Need to Know about Being Intersex" below.
MTV's Look Different campaign - which aims to give youth the tools and the forum to discuss hidden racial, gender and LGBT inequality in society – today also posted a short interview with Amanda, a lesbian intersex college student, about her story and tips for allies.
An estimated one in every 2,000 people is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy and/or a chromosome pattern that doesn't fit the typical male or female definition. The conditions that cause these variations are intersex traits or Differences of Sex Development (DSD). Lauren's character on Faking It was born with Androgen Insensitive Syndrome, one of over 30 intersex conditions. Learn more at Inter/Act's page.
“This is something that’s been a secret her entire life, and so now that her secret is starting to come out, she’s gotten lots of reactions,” De Young told Buzzfeed of Lauren's journey for the season.“She maybe gets some surprise acceptance that she doesn’t expect from people she doesn’t expect that from. But that doesn’t mean she all of the sudden accepts it. So she has her own journey of loving herself and being open and comfortable and secure.”
Faking It airs Tuesdays at 10:30pm on MTV, you can catch up on last night's episode now on MTV.com.