bjones
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People definitely exist who think they are both genders because people exist that are both genders. These people were once called hermaphrodites, but now they are known as intersex people. Hermaphroditic people come in two basic types, true hermaphrodites and pseudohermaphrodites. True hermaphrodites have both male and female sexual organs and genitalia. Pseudohermaphrodites are chromosomally male, but they developed with primary sex characteristics of one gender and secondary sex characteristics of the other.
If you are asking if there are people who only think they are male and female without being male and female, I have no concrete evidence. However, I would hazard a guess that there is at least one. I’ve heard of people who think they are animals or even inanimate objects, so thinking you are both genders is no big stretch of the imagination.
Some intersex people have to think they are both genders because they are both genders. However, a lot of intersex people still only identify with one gender. This is due to societal pressure. In many modern societies, intersex babies are identified before they are born. Doctors usually advise the parents to choose a sex for the child. Surgery is then performed shortly after birth to remove one set of sex organs.
Some of these surgically altered intersex people may have feelings of being both sexes even though one set of sex organs was removed. People who have limbs amputated experience something called phantom limb where they can feel like the amputated limb is still attached. Some intersex people who were made female may have feelings of a phantom penis. I’m not making this up.
One study out of Japan reports that “Phantom penises were first observed in 1951.” However, a review in 1999 came to the conclusion that such occurrences are extremely rare. Most reports of phantom penises are from male-to-female transsexuals who underwent sex reassignment surgery. Also, in most cases, the feeling of a phantom penis subsides in less than six months.
 Posted 4781 day ago
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