Today is a special day. It is the World Wide Day of Genital Autonomy. All of us here at 15 Square would like to pledge our fervent admiration for all the individuals and organisations that help to raise awareness and support for individual bodily rights. It has not always been easy to step forward and talk about this subject, but thanks to those who have bravely done so, this is steadily changing. We would also like to take this opportunity to recognise and pay special tribute to our Patron, Alan Cumming.
This year, the World Wide Day of Genital Autonomy was set to proceed in Köln, Germany. As our current situation prevents this, all the members who would be attending have instead started a video campaign to show support from around the world. It is great to see the movement strengthening in Europe more and more. Find out more about the projects that we have been participating in during this years WWDOGA.
-David Smith at the World Wide Day of Genital Autonomy, 2019
Many of our readers will be familiar with our Patron, Alan Cumming. Alan Cumming expressed support for 15 Square whilst we were still known as NORM-UK and has been aware of us for quite some time.
As well as being a great enthusiast and participant of many of the arts, including Hollywood performances, theatre, photography and cabaret, Alan is also a powerful supporter of the LGBTQ+ movement. He also stands against the social pressures and ideologies that perpetuate the archaic practice of circumcision. As our issue becomes more and more recognised, we wanted to pay a special tribute to him as he has supported our cause even whilst the topic was still somewhat taboo.
In a 2018 interview Alan Cumming was talking about some of his film roles, and shared an amazing facet of his activist-meets-artist philosophy:
“I say much more than most well known people say. It’s not about daring, it’s just who I am, I just say what I think because I don’t see why I shouldn’t… It”s rare to speak out. I think you have more power to change people, hopefully in a a good way by introducing people to things in the mainstream.”
– Alan Cumming, 2018, Interview on Homo Sapiens
He has been featured as a co-host on Homo Sapiens, a podcast that has interviewed many people within the LGBT community. You can find them here. Notable among interviewees is Stephen Fry. Not only are both Stephen and Alan absolute national treasures in their own rights, but both have a great record when it comes to individual rights to bodily integrity and supporting causes that they believe in.
“I never thought anything about my foreskin… And then I came to America and I was having sex and people would just be gasping because they’d never seen a foreskin before. I was made to feel weird and freakish because I had an intact body… It’s genital mutilation. And I think people say: ‘Oh, that’s hysterical.’ But we do it to girls and it’s called genital mutilation.”
– Alan Cumming, 2020, Interview with The Guardian
In a recent TV appearance Stephen Fry joined with Intersex activists Amazon Jackson, Ela Xora and Sara Gillingham in visiting Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum. The awareness and recognition project was to celebrate the Ancient Greek concept of the “Sacred Hermaphrodite” and to explore the representation of intersex people through the arts. You can read more here on the BBC website.
Interestingly, mild intersex characteristics could be as common as 1 in 100, so the chances almost certain that we have met several people who have had some variations of a-typical sex characteristics before. Fry has had a history of showing this kind of support and has endorsed the work of River Gallo, intersex film maker of the award winning short film “Ponyboi”.
Rights of all individuals to have their own choice (regardless of gender) is the quintessence of 15 Square’s values.
We are incredibly grateful to all supporters, activists, and organisations who openly support the rights of children and individuals to determine the choices made regarding their own bodies. We hope that this trend of greater and greater recognition carries on growing in the years to come and we can work towards understanding the difficulties of people who have been adversely psychologically and physically affected by their experiences.
Happy World Wide Day of Genital Autonomy!
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