There is a 25-year-old woman in eastern China who failed to fall pregnant after 12 months of trying, was shocked to discover she was actually born male and is intersex.
The woman, whose external female genitalia never forced her to question her sex, stumbled upon the discovery after an X-ray of her injured ankle was taken in a hospital in her hometown.
When the X-ray revealed that her bones had not developed past the age of adolescence, the doctor’s further probing uncovered the fact that Pingping, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, had never menstruated. She said she’d turned a blind eye to it out of embarrassment.
"When I was young my mum took me to the doctor. The doctor said I was just developing slower than others sexually, and that I could have my period in a few years," she told the local doctor.
"After I grew up, I found this issue quite embarrassing so I didn't treat it seriously."
Despite the lack of menstruation, Pingping had no reason to suspect she was anything other than a biological woman because she had external female genitalia, the First Affiliated Hospital of College of Medicine, Zhejiang University said in a statement posted on WeChat this week.
During a visit to an endocrinologist at the hospital, Pingping said, "My husband and I have been trying to have a baby for a year although it’s been in vain. Is that also related [to my bone age and absence of a period]?"
Test results indicated that she suffered from high blood pressure and low blood potassium, a typical symptom of a disease called congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which could lead to a sexual development disorder. Doctors said this was possibly as a result of her parents being closely related.
The case highlighted the long-term problem of China’s sexual illiteracy and lack of compulsory sexual education in schools, one expert said.
A genetic test revealed her karyotype was 46,XY, a pattern normally found in males who have genitalia that is not clearly male or female, said Doctor Dong Fengqin, the endocrinologist.
Pingping learned that while she had no uterus or ovaries, she also lacked male genitalia or an Adam’s apple.