Plumes of pink smoke. Explosions of blue. Expectant parents laughing, screaming, fainting, shooting arrows or even guns. The new documentary 鈥淓very Body鈥� opens with footage of the often absurd practice of elaborate 鈥済ender reveals.鈥�
But by the end of this illuminating film, we鈥檙e forced to confront something much deeper and more insidious: society鈥檚 need to divide humans into a binary system, and the sometimes disastrous results for those born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that isn't neatly 鈥渕ale鈥� or 鈥渇emale.鈥�
The term 鈥渋ntersex鈥� is one many are unfamiliar with (鈥渨hatever THAT is,鈥� scoffs a certain former Fox News pundit in an early news clip). Hopefully, director Julie Cohen's 鈥� deftly weaving hope and some joy, too, into its sobering lesson 鈥� will help change that.
Cohen, about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, chooses to tell her story through three main subjects who are now proudly open about their bodies and lives, despite childhoods shrouded in confusion, secrecy and often pain 鈥� especially from medically unnecessary corrective surgeries.
The filmmakers, citing experts, say up to 1.7% of the population is born with some intersex traits. One such person is Alicia Roth Weigel, a political consultant and activist in Austin, Texas. Roth Weigel, blonde and blue-eyed, notes she used to absolutely clean up in the online dating world 鈥� but that was before she came out publicly as intersex.
She tells us she was born with XY chromosomes 鈥� the typical genetic makeup of a male 鈥� and with a vagina, but no ovaries. Rather, she had testes, which were surgically removed when she was a child. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a castration,鈥� she says bluntly.
And although Roth Weigel shares photos depicting a happy youth surrounded by friends, she describes a painful side to her young life, carrying around tampons to give the impression that she, too, menstruated, or being instructed by doctors to use painful means to create a vaginal canal, alone in her room, as a child 鈥� a situation so secret, even her brother didn't know.
As for Sean Saifa Wall, he shows us birth documents where his gender is classified 鈥渁mbiguous,鈥� then crossed out and assigned 鈥渇emale.鈥� Born with a mix of male and female characteristics, he, like Weigel Roth, underwent a gonadectomy, and was treated as a girl even though he always felt like a boy.
Then there is River Gallo, a nonbinary artist and actor who at age 12 underwent surgery to implant prosthetic testes. Gallo, who uses they/them pronouns, describes telling an early girlfriend in college that they had had testicular cancer, rather than explaining the real reason she wouldn't get pregnant.
These conversations are instructive but also uplifting, showing three people who've found satisfaction and purpose in their activism, which is aimed at preventing invasive surgery on children too young to decide for themselves. (A slogan, at rallies: 鈥淯nless I say, scalpels away.鈥�)
The disturbing middle section of the film focuses on the late John Money, a sexologist at Johns Hopkins University who essentially posited that gender was determined by social conditioning, meaning one could raise a child to be a different gender than genetics dictated.
His influence was profound in the field, and also in the life of David Reimer, subject of what became known as the John/Joan case. One of a pair of twin boys, he was maimed during a botched circumcision. Reimer鈥檚 mother consulted with Money and decided to raise him as a girl, named Brenda.
In a story told in archival news clips, we learn how David was miserable as a girl, ripping off his dress, and reclaimed his male gender later through painful surgery, eventually marrying a woman and going public to spare others the same fate. He tragically ended his life at 38.
Reimer鈥檚 mother appears in clips, devastated that she hurt her son by forcing him to be female. Although he was not intersex, Reimer's story resonates deeply for the subjects of Cohen's film, who say their own parents were merely doing what they thought best. Cohen captures a particularly moving scene between Gallo and their mother, weeping as they embrace. Still, Gallo quips: "I don't think she鈥檒l ever get my pronouns right.鈥�
Near the end, harking back to those early scenes of gender reveals, it鈥檚 especially striking to hear one intersex activist express the wish that they'll someday see expectant parents erect a sign in their yard that's not pink or blue 鈥� but rather yellow.
And, that they will merely announce: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a baby.鈥�
鈥淓very Body,鈥� a Focus Features release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America 鈥渇or some language and graphic nude images.鈥� Running time: 92 minutes. Three stars out of four.
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MPAA definition of R: Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.
Jocelyn Noveck, The Associated Press
