Neither Boy Nor Girl

Like one in about every hundred infants, I was born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, a genetic disorder that can cause a newborn to be born with ambiguous genitalia. At my birth in the early 1960s, the doctors couldn't tell if I was a boy or a girl. As a result, the decision was made to raise me as a boy, but I knew from an early age that I wanted to be a girl. As a child, I knew I was different but could not express my feelings. At a routine physical examination when I was 17, I found out that I was a hermaphrodite (now called Intersex). This was the beginning of naming some of my feelings, and it helped me formulate a plan to become a woman. Since I was raised as a boy, I needed to get permission from a group of physicians in order to have surgery. In my memoir, NEITHER BOY NOR GIRL: GROWING UP INTERSEX, I chronicle my life as an intersex individual who was raised as a boy and chose to become a woman in my early 20s. I share the joys, insights, and struggles throughout my journey. Today, I am a mother and a nurse practitioner who has worked mainly with under-served populations: drug addicts, sex workers, the LGBTQ+ community, and women living in poverty. I have a doctorate in nursing and currently teach at a Midwestern University.