On the rare times I see people remember intersex folks exist, I see it quite often in the form of someone going "hey, check out the greek god Hermaphroditus, the living proof that intersex people have always existed and can be pretty badass!"

I... appreciate the sentiment. Really, I do. But it also leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

First of all, my understanding of Hermaphroditus as a god (which granted might be flawed) is that he's much closer to what we'd call today a futanari; someone who has every attribute of every sex and looking hot about it. Meaning I have the same issues with "Hermaphroditus is an intersex icon" as I do with every person tagging their futa porn as intersex: that's not what intersex means, few if not none intersex folk actually look like that, why are you acting like I should feel represented by someone who has nothing to do with my body. Stay on fucking topic.

And second of all, the adjective "hermaphrodite" is at best an extremely rude thing to call someone, and at worst an outright slur to call intersex people with. "Look at this historical representation of you! Mr McSlur himse!f" is not the compliment you think it is.

I don't know man, maybe it's just me on this one, but it feels really really weird to be constantly compared to this guy. There are plenty of other historical intersex folks you could compare us to, why always go for him?