"Nobody Needs to Know" Book Talk w/ Pidgeon Pagonis
Oct
03
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
University of Richmond, Humanities , Humanities Commons
The Hub for Student Inclusion & Community and the will Program invite you to kickoff LGBTQ+ History Month with Pidgeon Pagonis (they/them), a Chicago-based intersex activist, academic, writer, and artist. They will be coming to campus to speak about their new memoir, “Nobody Needs to Know” (2023) on Friday, October 3rd, from 12 – 1:30 PM in the Humanities Commons. Lunch and drinks will be provided, and there will be some copies of the book to hand out to attendees.
Book Description
From intersex activist, Pidgeon Pagonis, comes a candid and life-affirming true story of identity, lies, family secrets, and the healing power of truth.
Pidgeon Pagonis always felt like their life was a constant attempt to fit in with other girls―a feeling that was only exacerbated when puberty failed to hit. They never understood why…until they uncovered the secret that had haunted their childhood.
Bouncing between their Chicago home and the city’s children’s hospital, Pidgeon weathered a series of traumatic surgeries, fabrications, and misdirections. It wasn’t until college that Pidgeon pieced together the puzzle of their identity: they’d been born intersex but raised as a girl, their life shaped by lies that left them physically and mentally scarred. But for Pidgeon, what began as a shameful and traumatic discovery transforms into a painful yet joyous journey of self-love, truth, and healing.
Pidgeon’s inspiring memoir is for everyone whose body and spirit defy expectations, a fierce challenge to a system hell-bent on enforcing binary definitions. Ultimately, it’s a celebration of the freedom and empowerment that come from learning the truth about who you are―and living it.
Speaker Background
Pidgeon Pagonis, M.A. (Chicago, IL) has worked for over a decade as an intersex advocate, speaker, consultant, photographer and filmmaker to shed light on the human rights violations endured by intersex people. Their goal is to help end the non-consensual irreversible medical procedures meant to discipline unruly intersex bodies. Pidgeon’s accessible advocacy helps people complicate their preconceived binary notions about “biological differences”. Their work has been essential for those who want to show up for intersex people in their lives, but aren’t sure where to start.
Throughout the years, Pidgeon has advanced youth advocacy with interACT, launched an intersex YouTube channel, written for Everyday Feminism, cofounded the Intersex Justice Project (IJP) and the #EndIntersexSurgery campaign, and introduced the intersex and nonbinary clothing line, Too Cute to Be Binary. In 2020, IJP’s #EndIntersexSurgery campaign succeeded in getting Lurie Children’s to become the first hospital in the nation to apologize and halt surgeries.
They’ve created two short documentaries, The Son I Never Had, which premiered at Outfest, and A Normal Girl, which screened at the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival. They appeared on the cover of National Geographic’s “Gender Revolution” special issue and were honored as an LGBT Champion of Change by the Obama White House. They are currently documenting intersex people of color for Physical Record, a new photo series subsidized by Astraea’s Intersex Human Rights Fund. Their memoir, Nobody Needs to Know, was published in 2023 by Little A Press. For more information, visit www.pid.ge.
Book Description
From intersex activist, Pidgeon Pagonis, comes a candid and life-affirming true story of identity, lies, family secrets, and the healing power of truth.
Pidgeon Pagonis always felt like their life was a constant attempt to fit in with other girls―a feeling that was only exacerbated when puberty failed to hit. They never understood why…until they uncovered the secret that had haunted their childhood.
Bouncing between their Chicago home and the city’s children’s hospital, Pidgeon weathered a series of traumatic surgeries, fabrications, and misdirections. It wasn’t until college that Pidgeon pieced together the puzzle of their identity: they’d been born intersex but raised as a girl, their life shaped by lies that left them physically and mentally scarred. But for Pidgeon, what began as a shameful and traumatic discovery transforms into a painful yet joyous journey of self-love, truth, and healing.
Pidgeon’s inspiring memoir is for everyone whose body and spirit defy expectations, a fierce challenge to a system hell-bent on enforcing binary definitions. Ultimately, it’s a celebration of the freedom and empowerment that come from learning the truth about who you are―and living it.
Speaker Background
Pidgeon Pagonis, M.A. (Chicago, IL) has worked for over a decade as an intersex advocate, speaker, consultant, photographer and filmmaker to shed light on the human rights violations endured by intersex people. Their goal is to help end the non-consensual irreversible medical procedures meant to discipline unruly intersex bodies. Pidgeon’s accessible advocacy helps people complicate their preconceived binary notions about “biological differences”. Their work has been essential for those who want to show up for intersex people in their lives, but aren’t sure where to start.
Throughout the years, Pidgeon has advanced youth advocacy with interACT, launched an intersex YouTube channel, written for Everyday Feminism, cofounded the Intersex Justice Project (IJP) and the #EndIntersexSurgery campaign, and introduced the intersex and nonbinary clothing line, Too Cute to Be Binary. In 2020, IJP’s #EndIntersexSurgery campaign succeeded in getting Lurie Children’s to become the first hospital in the nation to apologize and halt surgeries.
They’ve created two short documentaries, The Son I Never Had, which premiered at Outfest, and A Normal Girl, which screened at the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival. They appeared on the cover of National Geographic’s “Gender Revolution” special issue and were honored as an LGBT Champion of Change by the Obama White House. They are currently documenting intersex people of color for Physical Record, a new photo series subsidized by Astraea’s Intersex Human Rights Fund. Their memoir, Nobody Needs to Know, was published in 2023 by Little A Press. For more information, visit www.pid.ge.