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nao // 24 // she
feminine terms // nightlight transfem
i have mixed gonadal dysgenesis (MGD) and im a victim of igm
i do basically anything intersex related on this blog but be ready for venting and personal stuff, this started as a vent blog!
requests for flags/terms, intersex questions, and venting always open, keep in mind i might take a while! always open to dm's, anonymous or not.
creator of the IGM scarring guide / feel free to join my intercord!
I’m Elliot, and I made this blog for those with confirmed and suspected gonadal dysgenesis!
Inspired by @ovotestes-culture-is , @cah-culture-is , @pcos-culture , and @yourfaveisintersex
My main is @ursinefutchass (though for any minors, please do not follow this blog and block nsft tags as stated in my pinned thank you^^) and I also run @thisisfutchmisia .
Culture asks can be a range of topics related to gonadal dysgenesis. For asks including subjects dealing with IGM, ED’s, bigotry, SA, Medical abuse, etc, please include a tw in the beginning.
Gonadal dysgenesis refers to under- or absent development of the gonads and is something of an umbrella term that can include Swyer’s, Turner’s, Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis (note: although many conflate MGD with X0/XY mosaicism, anyone of any karyotype can have it), Partial and Complete Gonadal Dysgenesis, and others.
(Note: Although I am not diagnosed with gonadal dysgenesis of any form, I suspect having at least some form of it)
Could you possibly expand on labioscrotal rugae in relation to being intersex and IGM? I’ve never heard that term before but looking it up it definitely looks like something I have
of course!
this isn't exclusive to IGM by any means, but its a marker of ambiguous genitalia that often is not removed when trying to feminize someone's genitalia.
labioscrotal rugae is a marker of natal virilization; they're deep-set, horizontal wrinkles on the outer labioscrotal folds. they're a more direct marker of natal virilization of the genitalia than, say, outer labia hyperpigmentation, since that can occur at any age due to lack of estradiol. it is a difference in the labia where it started developing on a more "scrotal" pathway.
my friend @postmanic made a great diagram comparing labioscrotal rugae to standard outer labia wrinkles without real pictures of genitalia. ill link it here so tumblr doesn't get mad at me!
hey, I know this is a common misconception, but please do not imply that intersex people who went through IGM "appear perisex", "have peritypical genitals", or in other manners, demean their intersex genitalia and imply their intersexuality was altered or stolen from them due to their IGM.
IGM almost always does not result in peritypical genitalia. the genitalia often has aspects that you would not find in a perisex person. these include lack of gonads, lack of genital sensitivity, labioscrotal rugae or marked labial fusion on a vulva, perineum sensitivity or inability to have an erection in a penis, differing skin texture, differing elasticity and function, etc. our genitals never were perisex-appearing, and often never will be. this is why most of us had IGM inflicted on us.
we do not have peritypical genitalia! a lot of us who went through IGM still have prominently ambiguous or outwardly non-perisex appearing genitalia. please talk to your intersex siblings before making statements like this!
hello all, i noticed a lack of resource online for people who are curious about intersex genital mutilation scarring later in life without having to dig through surgery gore photos. i threw together some diagrams here (content warning for discussion of IGM and drawn genitalia diagrams) of the major surgeries that are completed on intersex children. worth noting this is based purely on my own research, and i am not a doctor, and i of course am not running around doing these surgeries myself. im absolutely free to corrections or adding more diagrams if other surgeries are brought up.
i wanted everyone to know that this document has been entirely rewritten and redrawn! all previous drawings and documents have been archived and are still accessible, but the document is now in an easier to consume PDF!
I'm so proud of you, Black intersex people. I know you may be thinking you didn't do anything to be proud of, but you have. Your mere existence is something that I am proud of in an inherently internoirist society- especially in the west and US. I am so proud that you continue to exist in spite of those who want to bring us down. It's okay to be scared, to mourn what could've been for different reasons, to wish you were in a different world. But you continuing to have a presence and taking up space takes courage.
I'm proud of you, okay?
i think its good that more people are being empowered by the intersex label actually. i think its good that intersex experiences are being viewed as "normal" experiences that not just a rare few have. i think its good that people are questioning their own bodies and questioning the sex binary. i think its good that our community can find common ground and more support than we had before. i think its good we're questioning the barriers between perisex and intersex. i think its good that we're not relying on doctors—a group of people that have been notoriously oppressive to us—to be the determiner of intersexuality. i think its good we're not relying on medicine to tell us who we are. i think its good to have more happy, comfortable intersex siblings. i think its all good.
You know, I think they might have surgically removed a lot of parts of my genitalia and made them less visible. Maybe I had masculinized ambiguous genitalia and they might have almost completely removed my phallus, and now I only have what’s left of it. They may have tried to create a vulva, but it was physically impossible. But all these surgeries were complicated, poorly done, and unsuccessful. I think that’s most likely the case, but I’m not sure
i think that's certainly possible. its hard to tell with a lot of cases of IGM what was intended because a lot of doctors just kinda come up with stuff. there's not very strict guidelines so whatever they decide to do is what they do. I'm sorry yours seemed so haphazard :(
Heeyy, thank you! You helped me a lot!! You’re so nice, I appreciate this. Can I be considered intersex? Besides this, I have many other atypical sex traits, but still… I keep thinking that maybe I made all of this up. Can my genitalia be considered ambiguous? I’ll write to your dms in the next few days. I’m a bit nervous, but you’ll recognize that it’s me. Tysm!!💛
from what you said I would absolutely say that you are intersex! we obviously cant confirm what genitalia setup you started out with, but even with the experiences you had at puberty (having to take HRT, having hypoandrogenism, etc) you would still be alright to say you're intersex. what you described is also ambiguous genitalia, at least that's a word i'd use for it!
I'm glad I could be of help to you :')
Hi! No, I don’t have any abdominal scarring at all, and I don’t struggle with bowel incontinence or anal prolapse. Yes, I have undergone pelvic ultrasounds multiple times per year since the onset of puberty..
it sounds like you may have had a surgery for other health issues then. I'm sorry I can't be of as much help that you need. :( regardless of where your experiences are coming from they sound like they affect you a lot and are incredibly distressing, which is all that matters. something definitely happened to you, which I would assume was a surgery on your genitalia, and you deserve to know what happened, I'm just unsure what may have occurred due to the variation in these surgeries and how complex urological issues can be. you're not crazy for questioning your own experiences and trying to find out what happened, and I'm sorry that I can't be of more help besides telling you something occurred.
hello anon that's ask starts with: "I don’t know if I can send this to you, but I’m curious. I’m sorry, I feel really bad about this. I want to know your thoughts. I’m not really good at english, so I’m sorry if I make any mistakes. Thank you."
ill be answering your ask here in a separate post so I don't violate your privacy, and feel free to dm me on a throw-away account if you want to be anonymous and talk more in-depth.
based on what you've said you may have been born with a cloaca, severe hernia, or cloacal exstrophy. do you have any scarring on your abdomen, do you struggle with any kind of bowel incontinence or anal prolapse? do you have testes, whether or not they're internal or external? have you ever had a pelvic MRI or ultrasound to see whats going on internally?
it doesn't sound like it fits exactly for your to have had a cloacal exstrophy repair, but it does sound like some kind of surgery/surgeries had to be done on your genitalia or were willfully done on your genitalia. i wouldn't assume "classical" IGM since you still have what seems to be a vaginal cavity left over, but you have a lot of signs of having gone through genital surgeries, and that doesn't change the hurt you're going through.
I'm glad you and your doctor are working to try and help you, though. i wish you a huge amount of luck and I'm sorry you're having so many issues with urinating and experiencing sexual stimulation. you're free to talk to me to ask questions or even just vent.
Is it possible to have vaginal hypoplasia (specifically horizontal) while having PCOS? It's kinda hard to find info on hypoplasia in general, but I really only see it being discussed professionally as a symptom of Mayer–Rokitansky–Küster–Hauser syndrome (MRKH syndrome), when the narrowness is created because there isn't a womb present.
any variation can come with vaginal hypoplasia! its not associated with one specifically, it just means the vaginal canal didn't fully form while in utero. MRKH is only one form of vaginal hypoplasia (in the form of vaginal agenesis, usually).
God, I don’t know what examples could even apply. I mean genitals that literally can’t be classified as anything, because they don’t resemble what’s considered «male» or «female», they aren’t even «somewhere in between». They do have certain features, but you absolutely can’t categorize them anywhere, because they don’t match anything. I think they could be considered ambiguous, but honestly, idk
i think that would be considered ambiguous, yes! genital ambiguity doesn't just mean "inbetween male or female", it means "cant be classified neatly into male or female". there's a lot of things that are ambiguous in genitalia that aren't classically understood to be ambiguous as well, such as hypospadias, marked labial rugae, aphallia or congenital absence of clitoris, internal testes, etc. so there's a lot that is ambiguous, but people just don't see it as such.
