viviphilia

Thank you for doing this AMA and thank you for finding the strength and courage to share your story with others. I do a lot of intersex activism here on reddit because I know how important awareness is. Also, I find variations of human sex to be extremely fascinating.

Please forgive me if these questions are bothersome at all. I have read that many CAIS women have some anxiety about their legitimacy as women. As a trans woman, my legitimacy as a woman is questioned frequently and so I deeply sympathize.

Here are my questions. I'm wondering what are your thoughts about "gender identity" and "gender roles." Do you "feel like" a woman? Do you put much thought into it or is it totally natural? Is it worth thinking about? And finally, what are your thoughts about adding the "I" into "LGBT"? Do you, as an intersex person, associate with the LGBT movement?

The labia are homologous to the scrotum. Given sufficient testosterone (DHT) and androgen receptor, any developing fetus' labia will grow and fuse into a scrotum. So if the testes were to descend, then they would descend into the labia. But as Ms. Quinn said, hers are undescended.

Here's a diagram.

I definitely check in with myself every now and then just to make sure I still feel like a woman, if that makes sense.

I definitely know what you mean, I do the same thing. When I didn't know better I would frequently question myself. But reading the available research and understanding the science of gender-sex variance has given me a lot of confidence. I'm a lot happier after accepting who I am, imperfections and all.

I think adding the I is SO important to the LGBT movement. Even though not all intersex people will agree. We all share the same feelings of shame, isolation, being closeted, etc. though, I think we can really learn a lot from each other.

Great answer. I think we are all stronger when we work together to understand each other and help resolve our common problems. Thanks for responding!

[Le Reddit Armee reporting in intensifies]