Being an XY Female: An Analysis of Accounts From the Website of the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group

Abstract

We report an investigation of the experience of being an XY female through the analysis of accounts posted on an Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome support group website. We investigated management of narrative identity following diagnosis, focusing on barriers and aids to narrative revision. Barriers included the sense of stigma arising from secrecy imposed by doctors and families in a society assuming binary sex and gender. Women were assisted in deriving new meaning from their condition by finding that others share a collective narrative of XY womanhood. The results of this research have implications for the medical and psychological management of XY females.

We thank the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group UK for permission to use the accounts posted on their website (www.aissg.org).

The research reported here was conducted as part of the first author's requirements for the degree of Master of Women's Health, supervised by the second author.