Orchids; My Intersex Adventure

Bravo to the ABC for showing this documentary: Orchids: my intersex adventure. Phoebe Hart and her sister, Bonnie were born with AIS (androgen insensitivity syndrome). They are genetically male (XY) but failed to develop male sexual characteristics. If there is one drawback to the program it’s that Phoebe decided to gloss over the physiological detail. Whilst I can understand why I think it’s important that the public know exactly what intersex means.

From their description they had Complete AIS (CAIS). This means that they looked externally genitally female. However, boys (girls) with CAIS have underdeveloped labia minora and clitoris and a much shorter vagina – hypoplasia (in some cases it is non existent). Their testes remain undescended and often need to be removed in case they develop bilateral inguinal hernia. Puberty is generally delayed and they often do not grow pubic hair, although they do develop breasts. To allow normal genital sex the vaginal hypoplasia is stretched using medicalised dildos, which both Phoebe and Bonnie show in the documentary. Interestingly most CAIS subjects identify as female and very few as male.

Two men/women with CAIS

Anyway, bravo to Phoebe and her sister for bringing this condition to the public’s attention. Perhaps the saddest part of the documentary was the guilt and shame around the condition, and the fact that it was kept from both sisters. There is one cause for this. The Judeo-Christian refusal to recognise any variation from gender norms and therefore to keep all variations a secret.

Anyway, a couple of videos from CAISers. A fragment of Phoebe’s doco and one from Imogen stating the 5 best things about CAIS.

The really interesting thing about CAIS is the absence of testosterone in the genetically XY individual’s development.