Experience: I’m a woman who is genetically male

‘Initially I liked being “different”, but when at last I was given a diagnosis, I was distraught’

I had always been unusually small for my age, and people often thought I was three or four years younger. Although I initially liked being “different”, towards the end of primary school I began to tire of it and underwent tests to find out if there was a reason for my short stature. They didn’t reveal the real cause.

As my early secondary years rolled by and I watched my friends turn into women one by one, I remained defiantly prepubescent. I was at boarding school, which didn’t make things easier – frequently teased, I became increasingly self-conscious. In my GCSE year, having still not had a growth spurt or entered puberty, I had further tests, and at last I was given a diagnosis. As a result of a rare and little-known condition called Swyer syndrome, I had been born with male chromosomes.

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