Intersex Pretenders

Abstract

False claims of having an intersex condition have been observed in print, video, Internet media, and in live presentations. Claims of being intersexed in publicly accessible media were examined and evidence that they were false was considered sufficiently conclusive in 37 cases. Falsity was most often detected due to medical implausibility and/or inconsistency, but sometimes also using information from third-party or published sources. The majority, 26/37, of cases were natal males; 11/37 were natal females. Almost all (34/37) were transgendered, living, or aspiring to live, in their non-natal sex or as socially intergender. The most commonly claimed diagnosis was ovotesticular disorder (“true hermaphroditism”) due to chimerism, an actually uncommon cause of authentic intersexuality. Motivations for pretending to be intersexed were inferred from statements and behaviors and were varied. Some such pretenders appear to be avoiding the external or internalized stigma of an actual transgendered condition. Some appear, similarly to persons with factitious disorder, to be seeking attention and/or the role of a sick, disadvantaged, or victimized person. Some showed evidence of paraphilia, most frequently autogynephilia, and, in several cases, paraphilic diaperism. For some cases, such claims had been accepted as authentic by journalists or social scientists and repeated as true in published material.