A man who was born intersex has opened up about his life and what it's like living with the condition.
Roshaante Andersen was born with a vagina, ovaries and internal testicles, and didn't find out he was intersex until he was 11 years old.
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Speaking to UNILAD for the Minutes With series, Roshaante said: "I was having really bad abdominal pains, and I thought it might have been stones - it could have been anything. So I went to the hospital and got an ultrasound done and they saw the testicles."
Finding out about his internal testicles 'made everything make sense' for Roshaante.
He added: "I felt like everything made sense. I felt like, at the end of the day, I had a hunch - I kind of already knew."
The term intersex covers a variety of conditions in which someone is born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't fit the typical definitions of male or female.
Roshaante was raised as a girl but now identifies as a man, explaining: "I thought I looked like a girl, but according to everybody at school, and everyone who has known me for the last 25 years, I look like a boy.
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"There was nothing about me that screamed girl, other than the fact that I had a vagina. I never hung out with any other girls, I never, like interacted with them - I never related to them.
"I always had a very raspy voice. I had no chest. I was in the football team, I was in the basketball team. I was doing the best in all of my sports."
Roshaante says even other kids' parents would approach him 'in shock' and tell him 'there's no way you're a girl, you're a boy', but he didn't find it offensive because he just thought of those who questioned him as 'dumb'.
He said: "If I've told you that I'm one thing and you're telling me I'm another thing and you're 30, 35 that makes you look stupid."
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At 13, Roshaante decided to live as a male and had the full support of his parents - particularly his mum who attended all his appointments with him as he went through the process.
Roshaante went on testosterone and has since had metoidioplasty - surgery to create a penis using existing genital tissue - and phalloplasty, which is the actual construction of a penis and often involves the use of tissue from somewhere else in the body, such as the forearm.
He said: "I'm happy that I did it now. I'm also looking forward to having the rest done. Once I get my erectile device in - I'm getting the one where you can squeeze the balls and the d*** goes up like a natural erection, I can't wait."
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You can watch Roshaante's full interview here.
Featured Image Credit: UNILADTopics: Interesting, UK