With world-class documentary filmmaker Julie Cohen (RBG, Julia, I Am Pauli Murray, Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down), Every Body is an absolutely essential and sensitive investigation into the lives of intersex people, telling the stories of three individuals who were diagnosed at birth or shortly thereafter as some type of medical mystery or "mistake" that could only be treated by highly invasive and non-consensual surgery.
To be clear, “intersex” is a general term used for a variety of naturally occurring (but rare) situations in which a person is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t fit the binary boxes of “female” or “male.” And just because a doctor may assign a person a gender identity at birth doesn’t mean that’s the gender identity they’ll grow up to have—which calls into question the ethics of any gender-assignment surgery at such a young age. And it doesn’t take long to see why this subject is ripe for a revelatory documentary such as this one.
The film’s three subjects spent most of their childhoods and early adulthoods living in secrecy and feeling shame. When we meet them as adults, they are people who have come out as their authentic selves, turning to activism to stop these surgeries and other forms of exclusion by turning what makes them unique into their greatest strength. When political consultant Alicia Roth Weigel (she/they) spoke before the Texas legislature as it was debating the so-called “bathroom bill,” she made it clear that while she presented as female, she had male sex organs inside her body and XY (male) chromosomes. So which bathrooms are meant for her?
Actor/filmmaker River Gallo (they/them) was raised a boy, but discovering the world of acting and the arts made them come to terms with the chasm between how they were raised and what they were becoming. But their very loving mother still uses male pronouns when referring to River, and while it stings, River understands that mom is trying. Ph.D. student Sean Saifa Wall (he/him) is one of the most vocal leaders in this fast-growing global movement, advocating for greater understanding of the community and a total ban to unnecessary surgeries.
With archival footage, the film tracks the history of both the treatment of intersex people and the growth of the movement to bring their unique issues out of the shadows (when they were incorrectly referred to as “hermaphrodites” by no less than Oprah Winfrey in her early years as a broadcaster) and into the light. There’s a very funny sequence in which director Cohen shows us the protestors (including a couple of the subjects) making signs for a march later that day and coming up with clever or funny expressions, which are screamingly funny. It’s not an essential scene as far as the narrative goes, but it is the perfect evidence that being an activist isn’t all doom and gloom. Every Body is part education, part inspiration, and entirely worth seeking out. It’s difficult to hear these stories and not be moved, but once you get past the tears, there’s a clear path to making a change.
The film is now playing in theaters.
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