Susan's Place Transgender Resources

hi, girls!

I'm a transwoman as far as I'm concerned.

So, I've always thought that I'm intersex simply because my body shape is totally feminine, my hips are wide, I have a narrow waist and so on and so on. Now, I learned something about human anatomy yesterday that kind of shocked me and I was wondering if anyone else has this  trait. The navel in men is located above the pelvis bone and the waist while in women it's located at the same level as the pelvis with the waist above it. This makes your belly look masculine or delicately feminine...and invariably the anatomy of my belly is totally feminine.

So, the question that comes to mind is: is it possible that I don't have any genetic condition but still have a very feminine body or while having these traits I can't possibly be a genetic male? I just wonder if this means that I have internal structures that are incongruent with my external genitals, such as ovaries and a womb.

What are you thoughts? 

Hi Dany, my naval is level with my pelvis, but my waist appears lower.  Maybe I'm defining my waist incorrectly,  but there seems to be various configurations.  Our individual bodies are effected by influence of hormones, environmental differences, diet, heredity and more in different ways from each other as we grow.  There is probably a range of body orientations that we all fit into, set by those influences.

I doubt if it means enything genetically.  There is really only one gendered characteristic of the body that is determined genetically.  If you have a functioning SRY gene (usually located on on the Y chromosome), your gonads will develop as testes.  If you don't have a functioning SRY gene, they will develop as ovaries.

Everything else is controlled by hormones.  It is certainly possible that unusual hormone levels caused feminization of some features.  Some of us who were born during the 1950s were affected by a synthetic estrogen called DES that was in use back then.  It can feminize some features, such as body hair patterns and finger length ratios, as well as making some of us trans.

So having some feminine features does not necessarily imply anything genetic.

Hi there! Sounds like you are very much life myself and a few others wondering about ourselves. I have a skeletal form much like you describe. I have a wide pelvic bones and other skeletal features that by anthropologic skeletal sexing standards would all indicate female. In my case I had a CT scan done to check for possible kidney stones some years ago. I requested the scan CD and found a free program that allows the scan slices to be viewed as 3D images. Curious as I was I read up a great deal. I also asked a couple of doctors and PAs about the images. The only thing they all said was that bone shapes are formed early in pregnancy. Certain joint profiles are effected by the presence of testosterone.

Some more common visable joint profile differences:

Knee joint pivot profile.
Average pivot angle is much greater on females. This makes the lower leg straight as the pelvis widens during puberty. The knees angle is often refered to as Q-angle or quadracept angle. This is also why more women athletes suffer from tendon issues.
Knowing what to look for I now even see this knee difference in my young girls.

Elbow angles are similarly greater on average but there is more overlap in the elbow angle between female and male average ranges.

Less visable the joint between the sacrum and ilium bones is much shorter in females. This makes the adult pelvis much more flexable. The sacral angle is also much more rearward.

Sacrum visibly angled rearward slightly less than 80 degrees. Male normal is around 60degrees.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5518/31436575385_79ebba2386_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/PTWECr)image (https://flic.kr/p/PTWECr) by Josie H (https://www.flickr.com/photos/149006210@N03/), on Flickr

Wide greater sciatic notch. Males normally have a U shape following the sacrum.
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5590/30614889434_590f5b1cc6.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/NDkj2h)image (https://flic.kr/p/NDkj2h) by Josie H (https://www.flickr.com/photos/149006210@N03/), on Flickr


Wide flaring ilium (pelvic edges you can feel on your sides)
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5480/31400140576_4e18e1cb34_z.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/PQHVQ5)image (https://flic.kr/p/PQHVQ5) by Josie H (https://www.flickr.com/photos/149006210@N03/), on Flickr


I did not get estrogen when I was young and before my pelvic bones fused. For those under 30, estrogen will add bone growth at the pelvic synthesis and widen the hips along with the ischium moved verticle or outward angled. My ischium are near verticle while male skeletons are angled inward toward the pelvic outlet.

There seem to be a few of us with feminine skeletons. My pelvis is wider than my chest/rib cage. For my entire life until I finally decided to transition i felt ashamed of my body shape. I did what I could with my large shirts to hide it the best I could. Now I feel lucky to be me. If I had to be born trans that is. ;)
I do not have any unusual internal structures. Always used to dream maybe I did. I do have a couple of signs of interference in DHT activity during the time my genetal folds form my male outside parts. I have a split penial raphe and what seems to have been an unfused perienial raphe. Also from what I can tell my pelvic floor muscles have a open gap where a vagina would have formed through them. Its all kind of freaky in a way.

Alot depends on body type. I'm an ectomorph (tall/skinny). There is very little difference between men and women.

I occasionally get confused for a woman if a cashier or waitress only catches a glimpse of my long hair. On the flip side if I am clean shaven and wearing my jeans and a tee shirt, my female alter can come to front and will have no problems with people recognizing her as a girl.