OII receives a large volume of requests for research subjects. While we are generally happy to help in any research that benefits intersex people, we now have the following policies in respect of such requests.

The level of disclosure for such research is high and we receive several such requests each month. Researchers should bear in mind that to continually and repeatedly disclose personal information at that rate is an unreasonable impost on intersex individuals, and in fact continues to underline our differences as being the only interesting thing about us.

There exist adequate resources on our webpage containing personal stories. Further information from OII members should only be sought if the research is significant and will contribute to the wellbeing and greater understanding of Intersex.

Research is often worded in ways that indicates to the subject that researchers have not done basic groundwork in relation to language, or even more fundamentally into the nature of intersex. We expect researchers to have at least familiarised themselves with key contents from OII web sites, and the basic literature on the subject.

The level of supervisory and ethical oversight for research projects needs to be adequate for both researcher and participant. Research projects conducted by universities, government or similar institutions will have a board of ethics, privacy is guaranteed, unauthorised disclosure is protected at law, and provision to appeal process is available through standard complaint channels.

OII is not able to pass on information regarding research to our membership unless:

• rights to privacy are guaranteed
• there is free prior and fully informed consent
• research results are made available to our membership
• papers are able to be viewed without cost to those involved in the research
• the research has ethical oversight
• the research will benefit intersex people.

Thanks for your understanding.