Mother born intersex responds to accusations she 'hoodwinked' her husband

An intersex woman has brushed off accusations that she 'hoodwinked' her husband into believing she was a woman.

Jackie Blankenship was born with a rare condition called androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), which meant that although she possesses XY - or genetically male - chromosomes, her body is unable to produce androgen hormones such as testosterone.

This meant that Jackie developed externally and presents as a woman, but does not possess a uterus or ovaries. She was born with undescended testicles; however, these were non-functional and did not produce sperm.

"I was born with XY chromosomes," the 40-year-old US radio personality explained. "I don't grow any body hair or pubic hair. I don't have a period - don't have ovaries or uterus."

Jackie was diagnosed with the condition at the age of four and later had surgery to remove the internal testes as a teenager.

The 40-year-old wants to raise awareness about the rare condition (SWNS)

She also went through vaginal dilation therapy as a young adult to have intercourse – a process which she recalls as 'traumatic'.

"The only thing we were worrying about was normalising my body for a male," Jackie explained, adding: "It was very triggering for me - what about me? Is it going to hurt? The only goal was to be as normal as you can."

Jackie would ultimately find love and marry her husband, Jim Blankenship, and now wants to raise awareness about being intersex.

She has received mostly positive responses to sharing her journey; however, she hasn't been immune to experiencing online trolling.

"I get comments that I'm hoodwinking my husband," she revealed. "I get comments that I'm a man.

"They don't understand it. We are taught so little about how our bodies work. We're only told black and white of male and female."

Jackie has also spoken out about the lengths she had to go to in order to have a child.

Jackie was able to achieve her dream of having a child thanks to the help of her sister (SWNS)

Without any working sex organs, she was completely infertile.

"I have no eggs, no ovaries, no uterus, fallopian tubes, no cervix, no vagina technically and I don't have testes that produce sperm," she explained in a recent TikTok on the subject. "So there is no way I can procreate. That's just how my body is."

This meant that if Jackie wanted to have children of her own, it would have to be through either, and she would only be able to have a child through adoption or an egg donor and IVF.

Despite this, Jackie was able to achieve her dream of becoming a mother despite not having a reproductive system.

Thanks to the support of her sister Danielle, who offered to carry her child, the couple went through a process of selecting a donor egg and IVF, which allowed them to have their nine-year-old daughter, Greenleigh.