This issue, in our weekly showcase from our sister site Truly, Sydney, 24, shares the shock discovery she made as a teen
When Sydney was a teenager, she had more questions than most about her changing body.
The first time she visited the GP, she was concerned about her spots.
‘When I was around 15 years old, I decided to go to the doctor for severe cystic acne,’ says Sydney. ‘They were able to measure my hormones, thinking that could be a contributing factor.
‘It was found that I had a heightened level of androgens – or what are sometimes called male hormones.
‘They prescribed me hormones for my acne, to try and make me “normal”.
‘That’s the very first time that I noticed my body was different.’
Then, a year or so later, she visited the doctors again – with an even more alarming problem.
She found she had no vaginal opening.
‘When I was 16 turning 17, I realised I didn’t have an opening,’ she explains.
‘When I visited the gynaecologist, they didn’t really believe me. But when they finally looked and saw there was no opening there, that it hadn’t developed, then they decided it was time to do
The m of me surgery. And that’s what we proceeded with.’
I worry about how a date will react when I tell them
While Sydney was happy with the outcome of the surgery to create her a vagina, there were still questions about her body – and who she really was. It was in her early 20s that Sydney made friends with those in the queer community, and shared her experience with them.
‘I had a conversation with a friend who is transgender and they were like, “Huh, that’s kind of like being transgender,”’ says Sydney.
‘I knew that’s not who I am, I don’t actually have a transgender experience.
‘After hanging out with them, I googled what it means to have a body with these anatomical differences.
‘That’s when I learned the word intersex.’
People who are intersex have sexual characteristics associated with being male, and being female.
It explained why Sydney discovered she had no vaginal opening and elevated male hormones.
The discovery solved a mystery for Sydney and was a life-altering moment.
‘Life has changed tremendously since I began to identify as intersex.
‘I have been a lot happier with myself, because I can understand why my body is the way it is.
‘I wish that people would understand that it’s not bizarre to be intersex.
‘The biological sex, it is not binary, it exists on a spectrum.
‘People of intersex have bodies of all kinds of different characteristics, there’s no one way to be an intersex person.’
Since t
