Woman explains how she found out she was biologically male at 11 years old

A woman has shared her story of how she found out she was born biologically male after being unaware until she was 11 years old.

Lyss, who posts on TikTok as @intersexwitch, revealed the she only found out she was born intersex after she started asking her mom about periods.

Intersex is a broad term that describes bodies that fall outside of the male/female binary according to Planned Parenthood. 

There can be many variations of what is considered intersex, with some being born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't fit the box of 'male' or 'female', and often interventions on children are not medically necessary.

See Lyss's TikTok below: 

Taking to her TikTok account, Lyss explained: "When I was 11 years old, my mom sat me down and told me I was biologically male."

She added: "What, I don't look like a biological male to you?"

Describing how the life-changing conversation went down, Lyss continued: "So my mum goes, 'We should probably have the talk'", revealing that she sat her daughter down to discuss periods.

"I was so curious, I was like, 'I just want to know when am I gonna get my period? When am I gonna get my boobs? When do I get to use tampons?'", she revealed.

"She sat me down at the dining room table, all formal, with a folder of medical information, and says, 'You are biologically male. You are not going to get a period. You are not gonna have kids. And, you are intersex.'"

Lyss revealed that the "entire world as [she] knew it crumbled" at the words, which left her "sweating and freezing" and imagining the wallpaper "melting off the walls".

She added that doctors and her mother told her to "keep it a secret", revealing that she did hide it for most of her life until deciding to share her story on TikTok about how she was "born with balls in my belly".

When asked whether her parents "chose" which gender she would grow up as Lyss revealed that she was born with female genitalia on the outside, but it was discovered she had premature undescended internal testes when she underwent an operation to fix a hernia she had as a baby.

She added that she has had to be on hormone replacement therapy since the age of 11 after doctors removed the internal testes during the surgery, which meant she could grow and develop as a woman through puberty.

Lyss explained that many intersex people need hormone replacement therapy as their bodies do not always have the parts that would create those hormones on their own, which are vital for other things such as brain health and heart health as well.

Being intersex is more common that most people realize, with Planned Parenthood revealing that estimates suggest around one to two people per every 100 born in the US are intersex.

Medical interventions such as the operation Lyss had also aren't always medically necessary, as is hormone replacement therapy depending on each individual case.

Featured image credit: Getty Images