Kimberly Zieselman

In 2009, Zieselman discovered the peer support group AIS-DSD Support Group, and she later became a member of the board.[6] Zieselman is now executive director of interACT, an organization that promotes the rights of intersex youth, including through law and policy, development of youth leadership, and media work.[9]

The main goal of interACT is to end medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children. Zieselman describes how intersex children just have a different type of body, and genital surgeries are not medical or social emergencies.[10] Zieselman describes how shame and secrecy,[10] and medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex infants causes devastating physical and psychological harm,[11] but they take place for sociological reasons.[10][12] She calls for a moratorium on surgeries until children are old enough to choose for themselves, with parents given a "full spectrum of choices".[10]

Zieselman is quoted by the United Nations Human Rights Office in New York stating:

Doctors often claim there's a "silent majority" of intersex people satisfied with the way they were treated as young patients. I used to be part of that "silent majority" - but I certainly wasn't happy. Doctors draw this false conclusion because most of their young patients haven't returned as adults to complain. But their silence is just as likely to be caused by stigma and shame.[13]

Zieselman has described how the LGBT community has helped open doors, but how intersex rights are broader: "at its core this is a children's rights issue. It is also about health and reproductive rights, because these operations can lead to infertility".[10] She has described the MTV series Faking It as ground-breaking,[14] and the public disclosure by model Hanne Gaby Odiele of their intersex trait as a tipping point for the intersex movement.[15]

Zieselman is a signatory of the Yogyakarta Principles plus 10, on the application of international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics.[16]

In 2020, her memoir XOXY was published. Chicago Review of Books described the memoir as an "impressie introduction the powerhouse that is Kimberly M. Zieselman" that "carries the weight of what it means to be a first", showing "both the complexity and the ordinariness of intersex experiences".[4] Los Angeles Review of Books described the book as a "gripping journey she takes readers on as she slowly unravels the truth of her identity as an intersex woman", "written with the sharp, unflinching and often hilarous prose of a woman on a mission to be her authentic self".[7] In discussion with the Los Angeles Review of Books, Zieselman describes the memoir as about empowerment.[7]

The book received the Stonewall Honor Books in Non-Fiction Award in 2021.[17]