How do u feel when your doctor tells you, “You have the genes of a man and should have born male. But because the genetic process went wrong in the womb, you were born a girl instead.” Perhaps, it would be too overwhelmed to react immediately to this bombshell. However, the news would sink in like hell that results in daily torture thinking that your whole life had been a lie. You keep wondering whether you had been a man all along, and people had known, but not been able to tell you.

No! I am not talking about lesbians at all; I'm talking about a very rare and devastating genetic condition called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS). In rare cases, some women have AIS i.e. women having male chromosome yet sexually, emotionally and legally they are female.

AIS women begin life as a male fetus with normal male XY chromosomes. Then, at about eight weeks, male hormones kick in which should trigger the foetus to grow normal male sex organs. Because of the male chromosomes, the AIS foetus cannot fully process female hormones, so neither can it create a womb, Fallopian tubes or ovaries. The result? A foetus with a mixture of male and female organs and few of which functions.

Most of the people would think AIS women would yearn to be a man. However, this is not true. AIS women do not usually want to change sex. And they are no more likely to be lesbian than women who haven't got AIS. Most of the AIS women are feminine. They are generally very attractive and have a tendency to be tall and slender.

AIS women can have sound and loving relationship. But, since AIS women are rare, some members of the medical profession still treat them like curiosities. Hence, AIS seems very upsetting and confusing. Another significant reason for fear of AIS women to have sound relationship is due to the doctors not taking time to fully explain AIS. To add this, women can have surgery in order to have normal relationship like normal women. Despite of AIS women's understandable fears, doctors insist there is no ambiguity over the gender of AIS baby girls – they're always female.

However, there is another form of this genetic disorder, Partial AIS (PAIS), in which the gender of the baby is less clear. The baby is conceived as a boy but unlike AIS, the fetus is able to partially respond to male hormones. The result is baby with male chromosomes, but genitals that don't look male or female. In this case, doctors tend to decide the baby's gender by looking upon the circumstances. But, unfortunately, this decision might not work out always.

AIS women can live happy life along with happy family which every women (be it normal or AIS) dream of. Being AIS doesn't affect on the chances of adoption. Telling future partners about the condition isn't a problem as the world has tremendously changed, so everyone can accept and understand the fact.

However, the worst reaction for AIS women is sympathy, which is awful. One should not be ashamed of having AIS, since you have done nothing wrong and AIS is part of life. You have to just get on with your life! Every gender, be it male or female can be regarded as a sliding scale with every nuance of difference between the extreme. Always remember, everyone is unique in themselves. Look at the immense variety of fishes that one can see on a coral reef and think how beautiful and wonderful they are and so you are.