Intersex Questions

By no means am I deleting this blog, but I find that as a disabled full-time college student, I am unable to run it regularly as I'm sure many people can see by how often I post. Yet, I still get asks in very frequently. I won't close my askbox, but please do not count on me ever answering an ask. I will likely answer asks I feel I can answer more easily and more quickly. I might also answer things with far shorter answers that are less personal as much as I would really like to. I will try to reblog more intersex content onto here and I am happy to keep answering things when I can, but there are 100+ asks I have and it often takes me several hours to answer just one because of how much thought I put into each answer. I will probably be answering newest asks if I answer any asks, with priorities on non-anonymous asks because I know they are more likely to be seen by their senders.

I am deeply sorry for this, and thank you to everyone who has ever engaged with this blog. I hope that I have helped at least a few people learn more about intersexuality, themselves, and others.

Please see this post on being altersex! There's absolutely ways to talk about this and I think that my altersex post might give you a good starting point!

You are not alone in how you feel and there is nothing wrong with your feelings, dysphoria, or desires for your body and what you want your body to look like. However, it is very important that you do not ever call yourself intersex. Being intersex is something you are either born as or are not born as. It isn't the same thing as a gender identity because intersex is defined by an inherent variance in sex and sex characteristics that affect one's body, medical treatment, trauma, societal treatment, etc., and is not caused by differences from HRT as a trans+ person.

Again, that's why I highly encourage people like you to look into the label altersex. There are many, many people who "wish" they could be intersex, which typically ultimately means they want to have mixed sex characteristics. Not only is that an entirely viable transition path both surgically (if someone desired that), but there are many labels that fall under the altersex umbrella that encompass this (bigenital or salmacian for example).

I hope this helps answer somewhat! You are not alone in how you feel. There are terms/language, communities, and resources for you out there.

I mean, it's whatever you all feel most comfortable with, but an alter can have traits that the body does not have such as being of a different age, gender, race, sexuality, mental conditions, and more. An alter can still be intersex in the headspace or their own understanding of themself, as long as that alter or any alters with this experience aren't claiming that the body is intersex, speaking over people with intersex bodies, etc. It's a nuanced situation of course, but again, alters can (and usually do) have traits that are different than the body. I personally don't think it's offensive for that alter to call themself intersex, but I can definitely understand those who would find it offensive or harmful. I would just be careful around the topic. Like, I think the alter themself can call themself intersex to describe their life, but the body isn't and it isn't the same as someone who has an intersex body. I think a lot of people might disagree with me on this. I don't really have any strong opinions.

i went through puberty shortly after 4th grade (basically a few months and i was fully developed as i am currently today,,) but i hear varying opinions on if thats percosius

i will add though, i had stunted growth for a few years because my disease made me malnourished so idk if that adds anything. probably wouldve happened sooner if i wasnt. (my disease made it impossible for my body to get anything out of the food i was eating..)

In order to answer this better, I would need an age rather than a grade level, as I do not know what country you are from (different countries use different ages for different grades) and people can be in grades earlier or later than their peers. I would also need to know what "starting" puberty means as well as if you're someone who gets periods or not. Many people often refer to getting a period for those who were assigned female at birth to be the start of puberty for that group, but puberty starts happening prior to that in that group.

If you are USAmerican and were in 4th grade at a typical age, you would then have been 9 or 10, which is considered a normal age to start puberty regardless of the sex you were assigned at birth. Again, more details would be helpful because you say you were as fully developed as you are now after you went through puberty at that time, which sounds atypical. There are various things that could contribute to this such as growth disorders, other conditions or diseases (which you mention having a disease, which also, if you're comfortable sharing, knowing what it would be could be helpful), and malnourishment (which you also mention).

Precocious puberty is often defined on a case-by-case basis, especially because there are many additional factors that can connect to whether one's puberty would be considered precocious or not. Generally speaking, precocious puberty can often be determined if the puberty starts before age 8 in those who were assigned female at birth and before age 9 in those who were assigned male at birth.

I've seen very conflicting information wether or not cryptochidism is under the intersex umbrella or only an indicator someone is more likely to be intersex. For context, I was born with chryptochidism and had surgery for it as a kid (something I only found out very recently, because i always wondered about the giant scar on my stomach). I had to do a karyotype thingie a few years ago for going on hrt (pronouns they/them) and it looked as expected, so no intersex markers there, but I had a somewhat minimal first puberty where I only got taller and my face changed with very little voice masculinazation, body hair and other typical stuff. Does stuff like that fall or likely fall under the intersex umbrella? I don't want to be disrespectful to actual intersex people at all.

Kindly, a confused enbie

There are many variations/conditions/etc that are debated as to whether or not they are intersex, both by intersex individuals and by people who are not intersex. One of the driving reasons behind such debates is because, if we counted many things as inherently intersex, the amount/percentage of people who are considered intersex would go up dramatically. Many people do not think that is a good thing.

I support intersex as a label, identity, and experience as being as broad as it needs to be. This blog is highly inclusive to what is considered intersex and does not gatekeep or label any variations/conditions/etc as not intersex. My stance is firmly that, if you feel your experiences are explained by being intersex, you very likely are. Knowing all of that is important because the information and answers I give to anyone on this blog are ALWAYS inclusive and inherently biased. There are less inclusive intersex and non-intersex people who will give you different answers. It is up to you and anyone who reads anything I post on this blog to determine where they fall on their stances in debates around intersexuality. But, as this is my blog, I will be posting with my bias and with the belief that my opinion is the "correct" or "better" one.

Many people do not consider cryptochidism as inherently intersex, however, cryptochidism is something that is a very common indicator, symptom, or comorbidity with different intersex variations. Having it can often result in genetic testing done (like you had!) to determine if there are any chromosomal differences or related things happening. Based on what it sounds like you're saying, you didn't have any genetic differences that would be an intersex variation (such as Kleinfelter's, which can have cryptochidism as an indicator of it). But again, cryptorchidism is something that often can indicate being intersex and it can be connected to some differences/variations in how one develops. I'd also like to note that surgery done for cryptorchidism is something that is debated as to whether or not it is necessary as research currently often suggests it is linked to an increase risk of cancer, but there are also researchers who argue against that.

I tend to define intersex as something along the lines of "variations of primary and/or secondary sex characteristics that are innate to a person when they are born or as they develop through their lives/puberty" noting the important exclusions of how HRT for trans+ transition can affect bodies in ways that would be considered intersex if they were "naturally" born that way, as well as noting many experiences that people might face such as genital surgery/modification/mutilation due to falling out of the "norm", being on HRT as a child, having atypical puberties, etc. There's some better definitions of it and some better definition I've personally written for it that I'm blanking on at the moment. But what I'm saying is, if you personally feel like your experiences align with being intersex, such as having "oddities" in the development of your secondary sex characteristics, then I encourage you to decide if you feel the intersex label fits for you and if you wish to use it. For some variations, it's much more "obvious" if someone is intersex or not (like many chromosomal differences or ovotestes), whereas for others, it's more "opt-in" on if you want to label with intersex or not.

any intersex chimeras (this is the word i've seen used sorry if its the wrong one) out there wanna share some of the common experiences they have both in how their body is and just like,, societally so i can make it accurate? i want to do intersex rep in my own stories but i dont want to just use my own experience

I got puberty pretty early (think 3rd to 4rth), and I'm tall for someone assigned as a female. I have a weird abnormal look to my genitalia (looks female but the clit looks a bit big and the side things (forgot name) seem longer than necessary) But I have more puberty (pubic, armpit) hair, and oddly seeming to grow a mustache.

But what throws me off guard is that PAIS searching says no cramps or menstruations - which I have, but they're not bad.

What do you think? /Gen

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By things on the side, I'm not sure if you mean the outer labia or inner labia, but both of which can have certain differences that are associated with being intersex, BUT variation in them is also completely normal for perisex people as well. If you're interested in seeing variation, check out the Labia Library (https://www.labialibrary.org.au/). Please note these images don't give us information about who the person is--they could be trans or intersex for all we know. I'm assuming you mean USAmerican 3rd or 4th grade, but everyone's ages are different at that time so it's a bit hard to tell from that. Body hair variation is common and many even perisex people who were assigned female at birth have some level of facial hair. It's just more the degree to which these things are present and the combination of several things that can sometimes be why someone would be considered intersex, especially if you're looking at someone's chromosomes or someone's testosterone levels in their blood, for example.

These adjectives all mean different things and I don't know what context they're being used in. I understand what you're asking me, but I would need more context to answer this question. But without context, my answer would be: these words have different meanings and are thus applied differently with nuance to the situation.

The thing is, I'm no biologist. I considered not explaining it, but I don't want to perpetuate the idea that intersex is something "Mystical" or some form of plot-convenience.

I genuinely just want to write an intersex superhero, and I'd appreciate any perspective you might have on that, especially in regards to his powers.

(He's an intersex trans man if this helps)

Thank you so, so much

Sorry for taking so long to reply, thank you for waiting.

I think it's an interesting concept, but definitely something you should be very careful with (and I'm glad you're aware of that)!

First off, since you mention not wanting to have him come across as "mystical" (which I think is a very fair concern), some things you can do to mitigate this are

have other intersex characters in the same world and/or

have other characters with "similar" things also be linked to their powers (like having a character whose powers are contingent on them being transgender, somehow)

It makes him feel less like an outlier and the intersex status as something that only exists for powers but rather a fact of the world he is in that facts of life like being intersex or trans+ can intersect with superpowers. That's just the first ideas that come to MY mind though. People from any marginalized communities often are very split on portrayals sometimes like this, where some love to see a character whose identity contingency relates to something cool like superpowers, whereas others want to see characters who just exist and might feel like the only reason someone is writing a character with said identity contingency is in order to use them for something like superpowers. Unfortunately, you cannot ever please everyone with a character, and it is even harder to do so with characters of marginalized statuses, as people nitpick them even more. What you are doing is the right thing--being conscientious and asking for advice on how to avoid or mitigate problems in character portrayal.

On a worldbuilding level, I'd try to address things like

why does it affect him differently because he's intersex? how does it work differently? in what ways does it interact with his intersex variation?

what other people might be affected by this? is it only some intersex variations? (which I think makes the most sense, as it avoids it feeling like intersex people are like, "inherently different/special/mystical", and also just makes more "sense" biologically, although yes, it's still superpowers.) are there maybe other conditions that could have caused it for some other people, like hormonal problems that aren't necessarily an intersex variation?

I definitely think you need to explain it on some level, otherwise it does come across in that more negative "mystical" way you mention, and it doesn't make sense in a way that might be hard to suspend disbelief for. And the superpower stuff doesn't have to necessarily make sense--I'd just make sure that the intersex variation your character has is grounded in reality and be accurate in portraying that. You can make up whatever BS for superpowers though, in my opinion, since they're superpowers! How it engages with a body doesn't have to necessarily make that much sense, like how it doesn't really make any sense for someone to get superpowers from a radioactive spider, but the lore DOES explain that it just does transfer it to him, and it just Works because it Does.

Thanks for the compliment

My only or main feedback would mostly be how you are conceptualizing their intersex variation, specifically on how you say their female parts are fertile but their male parts aren't (which is realistic, people are rarely if ever fertile with "both" if they have "both"), so how exactly are you visualizing this? Do they have those parts internally without being able to access them and are fertile with them, etc... I recommend researching or choosing a real intersex variation and sticking to it (Müllerian duct syndrome sounds like what you're describing, or closest to it). I don't see anything wrong with varying from it a bit because not everyone IRL nearly fits a variation's "criteria", but I would make sure you don't like, over-fantasize it and make it realistic (which it sounds like you're doing)! It seems though like you're probably already aware of this, but I just wanted to make sure.

It is Müllerian duct syndrome basically. In the story this condition is sex-linked (like hemophilia), where the female is a carrier (Xx), and the carrier's sons have a 50% chance of being affected by it (xy) whilst daughters have a 50% chance of being a carrier (Xx). Affected females are the same as carriers except there's a 100% chance (xx) their daughters will be carriers and their sons will be affected (xy). Affected males have those parts (uterus, ovaries and part of the upper vagina) internally without being able to access them and are fertile with them. Much like real-life Müllerian duct syndrome, most of their male parts are infertile.

The only other personal tidbit I can think of is, if being trans+ is incredibly widely accepted, I find it super interesting that being intersex is maybe less accepted, because concepts like AGAB and a gender binary still exist in this world. You could either consider that and how to address that or use it to your advantage to make a stronger point on intersexism or intersex experiencs—just something to consider. I am a purveyor of fantasy-based homophobia, transphobia, etc, and really enjoy considering how sexuality and gender exist in a certain fictional world based on the pre-existing worldbuilding of their gender and sexuality roles, if that makes sense.

I will say this, given how commonplace gender reassignment is (1 in 10 of the galaxy's population had a gender reassignment operation), LGBTQI+ stuff (yes I include intersex people as part of it) would be normalized. Ofc there are a number of people who are homophobic and/or heteronormative but such people are usually seen as backwards and behind the times. That being said, this normalization is not uniform. Some parts of the galaxy are more accepting, others less so.

Maybe some people might feel that it could be saying intersex people must be trans or can't be binary or cis, but that is definitely not what you're saying, so maybe be aware of how some people think that and make it clear your character is going on their own personal journey. Especially since because trans intersex people do exist and we deserve to have our stories told and shown!

It is definitely their own personal journey. As I said earlier, the doctor was stunned that the main character chose to get the gender reassignment operation to become a woman over getting a hysterectomy and testicular transplant, implying that the doctor has dealt with such patients and they all went for the hysterectomy and testicular transplant so they can continue living as guys.

That being said, later on in the story (when the main character has her first menstrual cycle), the main character confides to the therapist some more reasons why she went through the gender reassignment oepration upon finding out she has female reproductive organs and that her male parts are infertile but her female parts are fertile. If you wanna hear those more reasons why be my guest.

Thinking more on it, the only other thing I would be careful on prior to the new info you gave me is making sure it's clear that she is getting SRS because she WANTS it and NOT as an intersex correction, because it could easily accidentally draw parallels to that (and I know that's not what you're doing, but someone could interpret it that way).

Note that in this story's universe, medical technology has advanced far enough to create lab-grown reproductive systems tailor-made for the patient. This also has led to far more people getting a gender reassignment to the point that as much as 1 in 10 of the world's population has had a gender reassignment so trans people are fairly normalized and commonplace. Also the story takes place in the future where humanity's reached beyond the stars so that helps too.

The main character began to feel discomfort with their own gender after learning of this fact, leading to them realizing that they're a girl. When the doctor returns, the main character tells the doctor that they're rejecting the recommended procedure, instead telling the doctor that they want to live as a female and requesting feminizing bottom surgery. The doctor himself is surprised at such a decision and the main character's eagerness to live as a girl, but he goes through with it anyway and the main character gets the gender reassignment operation to become a woman.

The rest of the story after that consists of the main character's transition to a woman, including adopting feminine gender norms and acting more like a woman.

Considering that the main character didn't doubt their gender that much, if at all, throughout their life until recent circumstances made them rethink their entire identity, I don't wanna cause Unfortunate Implications with this. So I'm looking for feedback and tips to do if there's anything wrong with it.

That story sounds absolutely incredible and interesting and I'd love to read it. It's a much neglected fact that one, intersex people can be transgender and two, someone might realize they are transgender because they are intersex or their transgenderness and intersexuality are uniquely or inherently connected.

Many people go their entire lives without realizing they're trans or questioning their gender until something happens to cause it. In the case of this character, it comes from being intersex.

My only or main feedback would mostly be how you are conceptualizing their intersex variation, specifically on how you say their female parts are fertile but their male parts aren't (which is realistic, people are rarely if ever fertile with "both" if they have "both"), so how exactly are you visualizing this? Do they have those parts internally without being able to access them and are fertile with them, etc... I recommend researching or choosing a real intersex variation and sticking to it (Müllerian duct syndrome sounds like what you're describing, or closest to it). I don't see anything wrong with varying from it a bit because not everyone IRL nearly fits a variation's "criteria", but I would make sure you don't like, over-fantasize it and make it realistic (which it sounds like you're doing)! It seems though like you're probably already aware of this, but I just wanted to make sure.

The only other personal tidbit I can think of is, if being trans+ is incredibly widely accepted, I find it super interesting that being intersex is maybe less accepted, because concepts like AGAB and a gender binary still exist in this world. You could either consider that and how to address that or use it to your advantage to make a stronger point on intersexism or intersex experiencs—just something to consider. I am a purveyor of fantasy-based homophobia, transphobia, etc, and really enjoy considering how sexuality and gender exist in a certain fictional world based on the pre-existing worldbuilding of their gender and sexuality roles, if that makes sense.

I honestly can't think of any really unfortunate implications with this. Maybe some people might feel that it could be saying intersex people must be trans or can't be binary or cis, but that is definitely not what you're saying, so maybe be aware of how some people think that and make it clear your character is going on their own personal journey. Especially since because trans intersex people do exist and we deserve to have our stories told and shown!