Leading obstetricians and gynaecologists have stated that individuals with female external features who were born with both male and female sexual organs (intersex) could father children.
The experts, however, clarified that this was possible in intersex females who have functional and developed male reproductive organs.
They noted that although such cases were rare, they were possible and had happened in medical history.
Their statement is coming on the heels of a recent interview with an intersex female, Queen Obukoko, who after failed relationships with men impregnated two women.
The report by Sunday PUNCH detailed how she had discovered a penile-like growth around her groin while growing up and had tried several things to ‘treat’ it.
Although Obukoko looks and has a female structure, she stated that she began to urinate through the male genitalia when she was 15 years old.
Obukoko further noted that she had trouble maintaining romantic relationships with men as they abandoned her whenever they discovered her condition.
After the failed relationships, the 30-year-old stated that she decided to have romantic relationships with women, which led to the birth of a son and daughter.
Although details of whether Obukoko knew a family member with such a condition were unclear, she hinted at the possibility of her newborn daughter being intersex.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, people who are intersex have a sexual and reproductive anatomy that does not fit into the exclusively male or female sex classification.
It added that although the intersex traits might be visible at birth, they were more pronounced during puberty and adulthood.
Also, it affirms that intersex is rare and only two per cent of people globally have the traits.
Cleveland Clinic also notes that intersex surgeries were often carried out before the child reached two years.
PUNCH Healthwise had earlier reported the confusion of parents of a 10-year-old intersex boy who after six correction surgeries, ended up with urinary incontinence and an unclear gender.
The experts, who spoke to PUNCH Healthwise, in separate interviews, explained intersex individuals could have partially functional sexual organs at birth.
The gynaecologists further noted that the dominant reproductive organ was more pronounced during puberty.
Providing clarifications on the issue, a former president of the Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, Professor Rotimi Akinola, stated that although rare, an intersex woman can impregnate another woman.
He explained that intersex individuals may possess both male and female reproductive organs that are developed and functional.
“It’s not impossible although it could be extremely rare. The reason it is not impossible is because there are some things they call mosaic. Mosaic is neither right nor left so you have both capabilities in the genital tract. It means that some cells in her body are in one line and the other in another line. The reason that you can be a hermaphrodite in the first place is the same reason why it depends on the organs and all those things.
“This is not a make-believe and it’s not the case of somebody who is trying to change sex. This is the genetic makeup and not a phenotype, like an appearance. It’s structurally so and she has both organs and they are all not rudimentary. So, to some extent, both can function,” the don said.
Akinola further stated that intersex females could have an ovary on one side and a testis on the other side.
He added that in Obukoko’s case, her physical appearance presented her as a woman but structurally, she could function as a man.
“Her appearance is such that she is better off as a woman. Yes. That’s the way she is made, that’s the way she will be accepted and that’s the way she grew up. But the fact remains that structurally she can function in another dimension,” the gynaecologist said.
Akinola, who practices at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, Ikeja, noted that Obukoko’s suspicion that her newborn daughter was intersex was valid as her condition was genetic and could be passed down to her children.
He further noted that undergoing intersex surgery was difficult for intersex adults because their sexual organs were fully developed, stating it was better done as a child.
“For her, it’s difficult because her sexual organs are all developed so it’s difficult to revert. She can start taking male hormones now and she’ll begin to grow a beard and then build muscles. That’s possible. But it’s going to be more difficult because of the acceptance that she has had in the past.
“But for a child, if it is confirmed, they can mask or obliterate one. In all human beings, the neutral expression of sex is female. If you don’t have androgens and testes, you will come out as a female, genetically.
“So when they talk about androgen insensitivity, that is the person is not sensitive to the male hormones and such a person will come out in the neutral gender, which is female. So the neutral gender is female for both sexes,” the gynaecologist said.
He also hinted that Obukoko could get pregnant if she had a well-developed womb.
Also, the Second Vice president of SOGON, Professor Chris Aimakhu, explained that intersex is a condition in which a human being is born with reproductive or sexual organs that cannot be characterised as male or female.
He added that it was mainly caused by abnormalities in the genetic chromosomes that are not male or female.
The don also asserted that intersex persons could have partially functional sexual organs at birth, noting that as they grow the dominant reproductive organs are more pronounced.
He further noted that most of the time, intersex persons are present in the hospital during puberty.
“Usually at puberty is when they present to the hospital when the sexual characteristics do not develop. However, surgical correction can be done to correct the organs,” Aimakhu said.
Speaking on the characteristics of an intersex, the don said, “Having ambiguous genitalia at birth, a very small penis, an enlarged clitoris, partly fused labia (labia is the inner, labia minora, and outer folds, labia majora, that forms the skin folds that protects the opening of the urethra and vagina), undescended testis that may eventually turn out to be ovaries in a male intersex and a labial or groin mass that may turn out to be testes in female intersex.”
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