Kimberly Zieselman

Kimberly Zieselman is an attorney, human rights advocate, author, and intersex woman, with androgen insensitivity syndrome. She currently serves as executive director of interACT (formerly Advocates for Informed Choice), and is a signatory of the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10. In 2020, her memoir XOXY was published. a teaching hospital, and told that her ovaries and uterus needed to be removed to eliminate a risk of cancer.

Career

Zieselman trained as a lawyer, and worked in the field of family law and assisted reproductive technology.

The main goal of interACT is to end medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children. Zieselman describes how intersex children just have a different type of body, and genital surgeries are not medical or social emergencies. and medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex infants causes devastating physical and psychological harm, but they take place for sociological reasons. She calls for a moratorium on surgeries until children are old enough to choose for themselves, with parents given a "full spectrum of choices".

Zieselman has described how the LGBT community has helped open doors, but how intersex rights are broader: "at its core this is a children's rights issue. It is also about health and reproductive rights, because these operations can lead to infertility". and the public disclosure by model Hanne Gaby Odiele of their intersex trait as a tipping point for the intersex movement.

Zieselman is a signatory of the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10, on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.

Memoir In 2020, her memoir XOXY was published. Chicago Review of Books described the memoir as an "impressive introduction to the powerhouse that is Kimberly M. Zieselman" that "carries the weight of what it means to be a first", showing "both the complexity and the ordinariness of intersex experiences". Los Angeles Review of Books described the book as a "gripping journey she takes readers on as she slowly unravels the truth of her identity as an intersex woman", "written with the sharp, unflinching and often hilarious prose of a woman on a mission to be her authentic self". In discussion with the Los Angeles Review of Books, Zieselman describes the memoir as about empowerment.

Selected bibliography Selected publications include:

Personal life Zieselman is married to Steven. They are parents of adopted twin girls.