When XX = Male

When you read some of the comments on news stories about transgender people you usually find comments from people who say XY equals males and you can’t change your chromosomes. Well nature isn’t as simple as that, in China there is a man who just had his period… Surprise!

44-Year-Old Married Chinese Man Finds Out he is Woman
The International Business Times
By Roshni Mahesh
July 25, 2014

It took 44 years for a Chinese man to realize that he is actually a woman.

Chen, who has been married for the past 10 years, came to know about his original biological identity only when he approached doctors complaining of stomach pain and blood in his urine, Shanghaiist reported.

A CT scan performed at the Yongkang hospital, Zheijang Province in China, revealed that Chen possessed ovaries and uterus and the discomforts he suffered were due to menstruation. Making the picture clearer, a chromosome test exposed the pair of XX sex chromosomes Chen possessed. A physical examination conducted by the doctors revealed that Chen did not possess male characteristics, such as an Adam's apple or facial hair and normal male genitalia.
[…]
Doctors said that Chen was suffering from congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a condition that leads to an increased production of male sex hormone androgen. The condition occurs mainly due to the absence of an enzyme adrenal glands required to produce basic hormones like cortisol and aldosterone. The condition, according to experts at the March of Dimes, can affect the development of a baby's sex organs, making a baby girl's genitals to look like that of a boy child.

The article goes on to say that although it is a rare condition there are a number of others case of CAH that go undiagnosed for many years, usually until another medical condition finds their intersex. In XX men it is caused by as the article said an increased production of male sex hormone androgen and in XY women it is caused not having androgen receptors, the body produces male hormones but just does know what to do with the hormone.