Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is typically characterized by evidence of feminization (i.e., undermasculinization) of the external genitalia at birth, abnormal secondary sexual development in puberty, and infertility in individuals with a 46,XY karyotype. AIS represents a spectrum of defects in androgen action and can be subdivided into three broad phenotypes: complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS), with typical female genitalia; partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS) with predominantly female, predominantly male, or ambiguous genitalia; and mild androgen insensitivity syndrome (MAIS) with typical male genitalia.



http://www.geneclinics.org/profiles/androgen/details.html


Many thousands of women around the world suffer from a disorder known as Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), or in old text books as Testicular Feminisation Syndrome.  The syndrome is of great interest because it conclusively proves (though perhaps still not to some judges and lawyers) that women can have XY genes, a fact which has considerable significance for genetically XY Male-to-Female (MTF) transsexuals.

Women with AIS look and feel like typical women, and in every practical, social, legal, and everyday sense they are women, even though congenitally they have testes and XY chromosomes, and can never bear children.  The fact that a "woman" has AIS and is genetically a "male" is often not discovered until puberty, when she does not start to menstruate and a gynaecological examination reveals the syndrome.






http://transwoman.tripod.com/ais.htm





tink

Those with CAIS are sometimes called super women because their bodies are incapable of absorbing testosterone.  They have larger breasts and typically more feminine features than their female siblings or other family members.  They never grow any pubic hair because of the inability of the body to absorb testosterone. 

Unabsorbed testosterone changes to estrogen and causes the feminization that creates a female appearance with XY born persons.  If you've ever noticed breast development or small male genitals in body builders taking steroids, that's because their body can't use all the T they are pumping into themselves and it turns to estrogen.

There was an episode on House that highlighted a girl with AIS.  The good doctor was less than sensitive with the issue though.

Julie

Thanks for this Tink.

Eden, in the video looks similar too Charlize Theron too me!

She even talks about the boxes "female" or "male"

Very informative Tink thanks.

Jay

Yes, these cAIS women are 100% female, even though they have XY chromosomes.

Unfortunately, there are those people in society who, upon learning they have XY chromosomes, see them as something less than human.

cAIS women have been barred from competing in sports where a karyotype is required to keep men from cheating by disguising themselves as women and entering womens' events.  Granted, reason prevailed in almost all cases, and the cAIS women were allowed to compete.

It's not them (cAIS women) who are the problem.

It's a portion of society.  Not enough of them KNOW about the variations in sexual/gender development to accept those of us who are (unfortunately) variant and act as allies and as counterbalance to those who will never accept the reality that a fraction of human beings are sex/gender variant.

Karen

On this video (let the video run for five minutes to get to the story), there's a girl with Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (PAIS).  She was born with a large clitoris but no vaginal opening.



tink