How do people find out they are intersex?
People find out they are intersex in one of four ways. • At birth because they are physically different. However a child who is born physically different might not find out until they are much older because doctors and parents often conspire to keep intersex a secret from their community and from the child. • As a teenager when puberty fails to take place or happens differently. • As a young adult when fertility is a problem. • Serendipitously (by chance). Two events stand out as ways that people discover they are intersex by chance. • Paternity and less commonly, maternity testing. When the biological parent of a child is in question and the mother and father have genetic tests those tests may reveal either the mother, farther or child has a genetic variation that can be seen as intersex. • During so called ‘sex reassignment surgery.’ Sometimes a person who has struggled with their assigned gender (see sex and gender assignment) and is given a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder goe
