Depathologizing and Decolonizing Intersex Lived Experiences in Canada

This hybrid event brings together leading intersex advocates, educators, and researchers to explore how intersex experiences in Canada are shaped by ongoing histories of medicalization, colonialism, and endosexism—and how communities are reclaiming their narratives toward more just futures.

Featuring Matteo Francino, educator, consultant, Intersex Canada board member, and founder of InterWednesday, the session will highlight community-led efforts to improve access to health and social services for intersex people across the Atlantic regions. Dr. Manvi Arora, educator, researcher, and Affiliate Assistant Professor at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, will offer perspectives as an endo cis woman of colour whose work bridges academic research and grassroots advocacy with transgender, intersex, and hijra communities. Dr. Celeste E. Orr, Associate Professor at UNB, will discuss how interphobia is maintained through ableism, racism, and queerphobia, and will share insights from their research on imagining anti-interphobic futures through academic–activist collaboration.

Following the speakers’ presentations, participants will engage in a 90-minute hands-on zine-making workshop, creating personal and collective art responses to the themes of depathologization, decolonization, and intersex justice. This creative session invites participants of all ages and experiences to contribute to a growing tapestry of visual reflections, resistance, and community knowledge.

Join us for an afternoon of learning, dialogue, creativity, and solidarity-building as we work together to challenge harmful systems and foreground intersex futures.

How can you participate? Join us in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca

Matteo Francino

Matteo Francino is an educator, consultant, Intersex Canada board member, and founder of InterWednesday. He is a francophone intersex, queer, ultersex, and has been advocating for intersex people on both of the Atlantic for over a decade. His focus has been on improving our access to health and social services.

Manvi Arora

Manvi Arora is an educator, researcher, and Affiliate Assistant Professor at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Concordia University. She identifies as an endo cis woman of color and brings an immigrant lens to discourses on gender and sexuality. Manvi holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Delhi and completed her postdoctoral research at the School of Social Work, University of Montreal. She has been actively engaged with the Indian transgender, intersex, and hijra communities for over a decade, advocating for their educational and identity-based rights at the grassroots level. Her work advocate for embedding community knowledge and lived experiences into academic research, challenging systemic barriers and driving transformative change for marginalized communities. She is currently working as research lead on this project with Intersex Canada.

Dr. Celeste E. Orr

Dr. Celeste E. Orr (Associate Professor, UNB) specializes in intersex studies via intersectional, feminist science studies, and sociology of medicine frameworks. Orr’s research reveals the ways interphobia is sustained by ableism, racism, and queerphobia and is embedded in every aspect of our culture (e.g. medicine, sport, education). Consequently, Orr’s work illustrates, intersex people are living in violent, eugenic, and dystopic conditions. To combat these conditions, Orr considers what anti-interphobic futures might look like and what academic-activist alliances are needed to create said futures. 

Organized by Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE), Intersex Canada, and Dr. Casey Burkholder / The JOYLab.