Anton Krzyzanowski or Anton Kryzhanovsky (, born 3 March 1995) is a Russian

intersex Intersex people are those born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binar ...

activist and

sound designer In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

. He is the founder of the intersex human rights initiative group Interseks.ru () and is known for speaking openly about living with

ovotestis An ovotestis is a gonad with both Testicle, testicular and Ovary, ovarian aspects. In humans, ovotestes are an infrequent anatomical variation associated with gonadal dysgenesis. The only mammals where ovotestes are not characteristic of an infrequ ...

Early life

Krzyzanowski was born in a small town in Ural, Russia. He was

assigned female at birth Sex assignment (also known as gender assignment) is the discernment of an infant's sex, typically made at birth based on an examination of the baby's external genitalia by a healthcare provider such as a midwife, nurse, or physician. In the ...

based on the appearance of his genitals but, when he was 13 years old, he went through puberty according to the male pattern. He showed male secondary sex characteristics: his voice broke, he developed facial hair, and did not start

menstruating The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that makes pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs ...

. Because of his religious family, in 2010 Krzyzanowski was sent to a monastery as family members believed that "demons were sitting in him." Krzyzanowski has stated that he was advised to pray in order to be "cured" and become a "normal" woman. When he was 15 years old, he was sent to the hospital due to intense stomach pains; the priests suspected that it was the result of not menstruating for a long time. However, the hospital found that Krzyzanowski did not have a uterus and consequently could not have periods. Due to the discrimination and bullying he faced for being legally designated as female despite having a male body, Krzyzanowski changed his identification documents when he was 18.

Activism

Krzyzanowski is known for being the founder of the intersex human rights initiative group, "Интерсекс.ру" ("interseks.ru"). He engages in media work to promote awareness about the existence and needs of intersex people: * Anton Krzyzanowski was one of the individuals featured in the Russian

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary film about intersex people, in BBC article about Sredneuralsk Women's Monastery and in BBC article about Mizulina legislation against trans and intersex rights for marriage. * The Belarusian website Onliner.by made a video highlighting Krzyzanowski's story. * He was interviewed by

Ksenia Sobchak Ksenia Anatolyevna Sobchak (, ; born 5 November 1981) is a Russian public figure, TV anchor, journalist, socialite and actress who also holds Israeli citizenship. She is the younger daughter of the first democratically elected mayor of Saint P ...

in her documentary movie about Sredneuralsk Women's Monastery. * Krzyzanowski has been interviewed by various Russian media, such as ''

Moskovskij Komsomolets ''Moskovskij Komsomolets'' (''MK''; ) is a Moscow-based daily newspaper with a circulation approaching one million, covering general news. Founded in 1919, it is famed for its topical reporting on Russian politics and society. History The news ...

'', ''

Kommersant (, , ''The Businessman'' or Commerce Man, often shortened to Ъ) is a nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia mostly devoted to politics and business. The TNS Media and NRS Russia certified July 2013 circulation of the daily ...

'', and

Lenta.ru ''Lenta.ru'' (; stylised as LƐNTA.RU) is a Russian-language online newspaper. Based in Moscow, it is owned by Rambler Media Group. In 2013, the Alexander Mamut-owned companies "SUP Media" and "Rambler-Afisha" merged to form "Afisha.Rambler.S ...

References

External links

Anton Krzyzanowski
on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

Anton Krzyzanowski
on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krzyzanowski, Anton Intersex rights activists Intersex rights in Russia Intersex men 1995 births Living people Russian intersex people Russian audio engineers 21st-century Russian LGBTQ people 21st-century Russian engineers Intersex transgender men