If they weren't already, they're intersex now!

"I feel like my body isn't responding to testosterone"... so uh, like, I dunno if you know this yet cause you will now, but androgen insensitivity/AIS can effect people without a Y chromosome, too. (well-meaning lighthearted sarcasm)

It's just rarer to notice because androgens aren't nearly as vital in the female pathway to develop as intended, and bodies down that pathway typically don't have a ton of androgens floating around to notice any insensitivity to— especially if the insensitivity is incomplete (complete AIS can prevent terminal body hair growth as that's driven by androgens, and what I would imagine is likely the most obvious sign in someone down the female pathway?). It's also straight-up genetically rarer for someone with more than one X chromosome to have, since androgen insensitivity is inherited in an X-linked recessive pattern which means each X chromosome needs to have the gene to present in one's phenotype.

thank yoooou :^) I always wish I have more to say in response to asks sometimes even if it doesn't really matter as much as I think it does. But I really do always appreciate these sort of stories in my inbox even if I can't say something in particular. Like this is another someone who may influence someone else to identify as intersex... and to be hornets I do enjoy looking at a blog in my notifications and seeing "intersex" (or an adjacent label like extersex mesosex perintersex etc) in their bio I consistently go Fuck Yea Hell Yea about it

PMS effects, like, a broad swathe of people who have a menstrual cycle and is considered a very typical experience...? I slot PMDD as intersex adjacent on this blog as there really isn't a whole lot of information out there to catagorize it under the umbrella more confidently in my opinion, but it's reported to be commonly caused by atypical reactions to and/or amounts of sex hormones? Usually like hyperestrogenism or vaguely progesterone stuff or whatever I recall. Thus why people like to include it under the intersex umbrella?

Posted a while back! Though I decided to give the post a clean-up edit when I saw it, especially the fact "Oh hey wait I could probably toss a short stature tag on this post".

wauuurrrr thank you :) I Really wish I had more to say about this ask I love details like this and admittedly it's been sitting in my drafts for a second because I really appreciate this one ... but alas. Nothing. Maybe the fact I really like the details given about your OCs I am a sucker for 'em

Yup that would fall under intersex variation, and would be called unilateral cryptorchidism. May have further applicable labels depending on the cause, i.e. "monorchidism" if the reason he only has a single teste in his scrotum is because the other one doesn't exist. But there's many many reasons why a teste doesn't descend, I only listed one.

This is a really wonderful anon to me. The gonadism siblings... I wanted to make the image myself but when I tried looking for templates it seems like the original meme and its close derivatives feature a whole Three cats? And then I kinda made myself give up. Sad.

I mean, kinda yeah depending on if we're talking about the same thing? Congenital hypoplasia of the prostate is very much a thing, especially recorded in 5ARD because of the variant often causing low DHT, which is an androgen most responsible for prostate growth. The tissue being talked about that can grow on testosterone HRT is specifically prostatic metaplasia in the vagina, "metaplasia" meaning the cells change— in this case specifically vaginal cells start appearing as prostate cells (link), and explicitly Not a whole prostate gland growing. This isn't exclusive to just folks on testosterone HRT however, any body with hyperandrogenism and a vagina also seems to be able to create prostatic metaplasia? (link)

That's a really good question I think! It's something I ponder about just in terms of language and how differently it's used when being intentionally intersex-inclusive (triple i language? I've been thinking about making a dictionary/thesaurus of such language. shrug). This sort of dilemma in particular between variation versus intersex trait— because yes cryptorchidism (undescended testes) can happen in someone who's otherwise a perisex male, but it is still an intersex trait, which often can but don't always imply broader intersex variation, especially depending on said trait and if it can be caused by decidedly non-intersex causes i.e. testosterone HRT causing clitoromegaly in perisex trans men & mascs. like obviously this is an instance of clitoromegaly, an intersex trait, where it *isn't* intersex.

Honestly I've just changed my language and opted to using specifically "variant" when describing named intersex variants such as PMOS, Klinefelter, MRKH, etc. Not including ovotestes (I would describe them as a trait, just on the "almost definitely always intersex" end as opposed to the "probably not on its own but it shows up with intersex variation" end), because I don't like the pathologizing of treating having both gonadal tissue as a whole condition?? And instead treating the word "variation" more as something to describe anything under the intersex umbrella and varying from the perisex norm, like how I used it in those parentheses after I said ovotestes.

So for your example to continue it, I think having isolated cryptorchidism would fall under having intersex variation, because they have an intersex trait, but not an intersex *variant* that causes cryptorchidism (ex. like. mild or partial AIS idk)? It could be completely idiopathic, meaning a cause Such As an intersex variant couldn't be found and we have no idea why it happened. More importantly to consider anyway I believe is whether or not that individual's experiences with their variation would incline them to identify as intersex?

Also a little fact to note for again your example specifically, cryptorchidism isn't very atypical to see within like the first year of life, and only definitively diagnosed if they don't drop themselves within that timeframe.

For some reason I thought I already answered a question like this on here, but apparently not. Even if I did and I just missed it, I'm happy to help cause I've had to learn this myself lol.

In short you are going to stick your finger up your butt. WITH LUBE!!! please god use lube. you Cccould without if you were really desperate, but I Strongly recommend you don't, or at least to be very gentle and go slow if you decide to. It WILL hurt immensely if you force anything up there, not to mention the dangers of injuring anal skin i.e. infection because friction increases force. The only reason I'm not saying Don't Stick Anything Up There Without Lube At All as much as I'd prefer to, is because honestly I tried without lube at first (like a fool. I tried again later with lube it was much easier) and I'm not gonna sit here like someone isn't gonna get curious randomly one day and not think it necessary to prepare first? Harm reduction tips, if it happens. But christ, I would really try and find personal lubricant if you can. A natural oil like olive, avocado, or (unrefined/virgin) coconut oil among others can function in a pinch if you're desperate. Stray away from synthetic ones like mineral oil (i.e. vaseline).

Anyways lube spiel over sorry that's the bulk of this post. It really isn't dissimilar to perisex expectations to check ones' prostate, you stick your finger up your butt (about to the second knuckle or so I'd say) and press anteriorly, or towards your belly button. A (perisex-)typical prostate is about the size of a walnut, and it feels like a smooth rubbery button— one you press down to make something happen, to be clear. And if you indeed have a prostate you may (mildly) feel like you need to urinate after pressing down on it?

Also obligatory "if you have a prostate it doesn't mean you may not also have skene's glands (homologous structures). intersex people famously do not follow the sex binary and its expectations". Tangentially related it makes me want to learn more about homologous structures like that showing up on the ""wrong"" genital set, either replacing the expected structure or growing alongside it and having both. like what Do skene's glands look like on penoscrotal genitalia y'know

Not reliably enough to go around recommending it to folks off-rip? Because yeah hormones can help some people (not exclusively hyperandrogenic individuals to be clear, but this is particularly common with intersex folks obviously) with their chronic pain symptoms, but that's just cause of the hormones' effects across the entire body; testosterone in specific assisting with muscle mass + strength and bone density, promoting anti-inflammatory activity and nerve protection + repair, and higher levels potentially increasing ones' pain tolerance through supportive effects on opioid receptors and neurotransmitters.

Some folks' symptoms may be exacerbated because of their hormone levels not being ideal for their body causing all the things described above to be Not Quite Right, thus HRT helping with pain. But will YOU specifically be helped, I don't feel comfortable in personally claiming anything? Maybe it'll help a lot, or a little, or not at all, or god forbid it somehow worsens things (/lighthearted, I doubt it would), we have no idea because neither of us know if your androgens being weird is why you're in pain, or if changing them will help in any meaningful way. But if you already want to go on testosterone for unrelated reasons, it doesn't hurt to see if it does anything?

You're focusing too hard on the numbers as a source of validity when they aren't; someone isn't Not hyperandrogenic the moment their T reads 68 ng/dl instead of 72, ESPECIALLY when those levels tend to shift and vary. Blood test results aren't hard values that apply universally (because it's impossible, what may be a normal level for one body may be too much or too little for another, and with regards to sex hormones people can have wildly different and unique responses to identical hormone levels) and are moreso a general guideline which can be different from lab to lab, such as the one your blood was sent to deciding "hey we think hyperandrogenism counts as 45 ng/dl and higher", while other guidelines online decide otherwise.

I don't know how else to word this simply besides tl;dr you can literally just say you have hyperandrogenism. Because. Like. It is. The levels are elevated, and even if some guidelines agree it should be higher to "count"... you're literally growing facial hair dawg That Is A Trait Under Hyperandrogenism.

Ohhhh I've been thinking about this and I would love input myself cause I'm planning on doing a bilateral gynandromorph luna moth. Cliché I know they're freakang pretty and I wanna incorporate it with like lily of the valley flowers anyway... I haven't rlly done any thought on intersex symbolism that represents My specific variation but at the very least for that luna moth gynandromorphism may not be immediately obvious (like my variation is/was) because the sexual dimorphism of luna moths isn't Super visibly distinct.

also the. mars symbol is the typical "male" symbol </3 you may be thinking of mercury? because if so I think that would be a solid general choice. for more your-variation-specific stuff maybe the bleeding heart flower somewhere becos I've seen it used as a symbol for uterus didelphys (link) ?

Yes it's possible, urethral duplication doesn't imply (hell I would say it shouldn't (link)) the openings will be or appear typical.

I feel like I'm confident enough in saying she's either incompetent and miserably uninformed and you need to see a second opinion from someone who actually cared about medical school or hell Learning, or that she's plain lying to you to make you feel "normal" (medicine systemically does Not want intersex people knowing they're intersex. like to the point of lying that intersex people will naturally become suicidal if they learn they're not perisex. not exaggerating this was a real documented reason that was used in history) and you should see a second opinion from someone who's going to communicate honestly with you.

I am personally inclined to believe the latter, because it seems like SHE said you had an "elongated clitoris" (it's called clitoromegaly or macroclitoris.), and assuming you have a form of hypospadias as well based on your implication of "allegedly normal position", meaning it is probably Pretty big... yeah I am REALLY inclined to believe she decided to lie to you. Either way you should absolutely go get a second opinion(s), if you have the resources and care about a doctor looking at you and going "yup that ain't typical" and/or "hmm. wonder why this exists, let's try and find a cause".

Context (link)

Okay yup explained via further context, not a major cause for concern then imo. Funnily enough not having sex for a prolonged while and then starting again actually CAN be a cause for blood in sperm happening too? But again your period so likely that, either way likely to go away at some point (not including further expected periods of course), so watch it and how you're feeling for now and if it continues or gets worse I would say it's not exactly a CVS-fixable issue afaik (what. would you even get. genuine question /not at you), and more something I'd see urgent care or your primary care physician for.