Latest news with #JackieBlankenship
Buzz Feed
a day ago
- Health
- Buzz Feed
This Former Mrs. America Went Viral Sharing What It Means To Be Intersex
Up to 1.7% of the population is born into an intersex body — meaning, they are born with sex characteristics that don't fit neatly into typical definitions of male or female bodies. Despite this, intersex people are often left out of conversations, or worse, forced into surgeries performed without medical necessity or consent, often as children, to mold their bodies into binary ideas of sex and gender. Such was the case for Jackie Blankenship, a 40-year-old radio personality from Michigan — and former Mrs. America — who spent much of her life feeling like she had to keep a part of herself hidden. Jackie's parents learned she had complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS), a condition where the body can't respond to androgens, or male sex hormones, when she was 4 years old. At 15, she had her testes surgically removed. At 18, she learned she didn't have a fully formed vagina and would need to undergo dilation therapy if she ever wanted to be sexually active. Still, Jackie says she didn't fully understand what was happening to her body until well into adulthood. "It has been a long road to say the least," she told BuzzFeed. "Intersex people often don't even know they are intersex until puberty, some even later. I was diagnosed at 4 years old but really only had a vague understanding of what this meant about me and my body until I was in my mid-20s." Today, Jackie uses TikTok to share her story and raise awareness about intersex, hoping to help others better understand what it means to be intersex and why representation matters. In one viral video that's now been viewed over 9 million times, Jackie shared one fact about her intersex body for every mile she ran, sparking a powerful and educational conversation around an identity that's far too misunderstood. "I hated this part of me for a long time, that hatred turned more into fear as I got older. I was afraid of people finding out or not thinking I was a girl or woman," she told BuzzFeed. But turning 40 in May marked a shift, she said. "I felt like I had kept so much of myself a secret. I carried a LOT of senseless shame and secrecy regarding this and so decided talking about it to my circle wasn't enough, I needed to start talking about it out loud and tell my story." Here's everything she shared: "Mile one, 9:08. Fact number one: I have complete androgen insensitivity syndrome, which is an intersex condition. I have XY chromosomes. We typically see XY in males, but when you have CAIS, you have XY chromosomes, too." "Mile two, 8:52. Fact number two: People with complete androgen insensitivity syndrome have external female genitalia. We have full breast development, and on the outside, we look completely female, even though — going back to fact one — we have XY chromosomes." "Mile three, 8:45. I'm not trying to pick it up; I probably should slow down. Fact number three: While I do have external female genitalia and breast development, I do not have a vagina. Yeah, so see, we have a urethra; we have the whole outer exterior, but our vaginal opening leads to what they call a blind pouch, meaning it goes nowhere. I don't have a cervix or anything inside, so dilation therapy is required if you wanna create that kind of vagina." "Mile four, 8:39 — I have no business going this fast. Fact four: I was born with testicles, yes. Now, here's the thing. Like a male, my testes produce testosterone. But my body can't process testosterone cause I have complete androgen insensitivity syndrome, so that testosterone was converted into estrogen, and that's what made me develop female. Now, due to the lack of testosterone, the testes were never gonna drop. They wouldn't be like a sack; they would just remain in my abdomen." "Mile five, 8:26, and I'm not trying to go faster every mile. I just apparently am. Fact five: I don't have a period. I've never had a period. I was born without ovaries, or uterus, or cervix, or fallopian tubes, or any of that, so I don't have periods. So frankly, I know nothing about them and I don't understand them." "Mile six, 8:09. I swear I'm probably gonna crash and burn these last few miles. Anyway, next fact: I don't create any body odor, and I don't grow any body hair because my body can't respond to testosterone. So, I don't get BO. I don't have pubes, and I don't have underarm hair. I've never shaved my underarms a day in my life." "[Mile] seven, 7:56. I'm crazy today. Okay, another fact about me: I'm completely infertile. All people with CAIS are infertile. We don't have ovaries and our testes do not produce anything that could create life, so we can't have biological children." "Mile eight, 8:28. Slowing down a little bit. So, our next fact: Women with CAIS are typically pretty tall. So, I'm only 5'6", which isn't super tall, but my mom's only 4'10"; my sister's only 5'2", so I'm tall considering the family." "Mile nine, 8:05, and I'm spent. And my last fact: Intersex people like me are operated on every day, especially children, babies, and teens, minors, and they don't really need it most of the time. A lot of times, because people don't understand a body that doesn't fit the mould, they're trying to change it and fix it. But what if we're not broken?" The response to her video was overwhelmingly supportive. Thousands of commenters thanked Jackie for opening up. One person wrote, "I just looked up the statistics -- 1.7% of humans are born intersex. That's a lot of humans. and yet, this is rarely talked about! Thank you for making this video and educating is Tiktokers!" Another said, "I have red hair and blue eyes. The fact that there are 10x as many intersex people in the world as people like me has always been one of the reasons why I stand up for intersex and trans rights. No one has ever looked at me and told me I'm not real. Much love to you." And yes — plenty of people were a little jealous of Jackie's side effects. "NO body odor, NO body hair, NO period???" one person said, echoing dozens of similar comments. Of course, normalizing intersex is what we should all be doing, but for Jackie, being intersex has not felt like a "superpower" as she never got a choice to live in any other body. "Do the side effects of this condition sound like nothing but good? Yeah, of course," she said in another video. "... But, like honestly, I would take being a, you know, a fertile woman with body odor and hair that I had to shave, and a period over the fact of having to do dilation therapy just to be intimate with my husband." Jackie's story is just one of many. Intersex bodies are far more common than people realize, with over 30 known variations. "The common misconception is that 'intersex' is visible," Jackie told BuzzFeed. "People think if you have an intersex variation, you'll be able to see it, but in many cases, being intersex is something that may affect your internal reproductive system, your hormones, or your chromosomes, all things you can't see with the naked eye." And despite being a naturally occurring variation, in many cases, doctors perform surgeries on intersex babies or children, like the removal of Jackie's testes at age 15, to make their bodies conform to binary ideas of "female" or "male." Intersex babies are also legally assigned a sex at birth, even if their bodies don't fully align with those categories. For Jackie, she said one of the hardest parts of being intersex is navigating the medical system. In some of her videos, she shares experiences of going to the doctor and being asked the same questions repeatedly, like when her last period was, and having to explain her condition over and over to her providers. "I wish doctors had more information about intersex conditions. Often, most medical providers have never met a person with my variation and have little to no answers about my body," she told BuzzFeed. "I am normally stuck providing information to them instead of them answering questions for me. It starts at the beginning, though — recognizing intersex people in health class and basic education, so as we get older, it's not such a foreign concept." Jackie's story is a reminder that bodies don't always fit neatly into boxes, and that's not something to fix. It's something to understand. "I've stopped caring what others may think or what political agenda they want to tie to my biology. I'm not as rare as people may think," Jackie said. "And if me talking about it can help another intersex teen or young adult, then it's all worth it." You can keep up with Jackie on TikTok, where she shares videos to help people better understand intersex conditions. She also hosts a podcast called The Unedited Body on Apple and Spotify, where she dives deeper into what it has meant to be intersex.
Newsweek
5 days ago
- Health
- Newsweek
Woman Shares 9 Facts About Her Intersex Body, No Longer Feels 'Shameful'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. An intersex woman who grew up feeling like she had to lie about herself is finally learning to embrace who she is and what makes her body different. When Jackie Blankenship was 4 years old, she was diagnosed with Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, meaning she's intersex. It was a lifechanging diagnosis, but at the time, Blankenship had no idea what it meant. Her parents broached the subject when she was around 8 or 9 years old. Blankenship told Newsweek that they gave her some basic information they thought she would be able to process, but it was still incredibly hard to understand. "My mom has relatives with CAIS, so she asked the doctor to test me just in case. The results came back that their little girl had XY chromosomes, which is what we see in males," Blankenship said. "When I was 15, doctors advised my parents to have my testes (that were in my abdomen) removed. That was probably when I started having questions about my body, but I wasn't emotionally ready to talk about it." Jackie Blankenship, 40, attending a pageant event. Jackie Blankenship, 40, attending a pageant event. @mrsjackieblanks / TikTok Indeed, it wasn't until Blankenship, of Grandville, Michigan, reached her mid-twenties that she finally started to realize that her body was different. By that time, there was a world of information at her fingertips with the likes of Google taking off, and it was a way for her to become knowledgeable without having to ask doctors personally. Intersex refers to people who have genitals, chromosomes, or reproductive organs that don't fit into a binary definition of male or female. There are approximately 40 different ways that being intersex can present itself, with the most common types including a combination of chromosomes or having mixed genitals and sex organs. The Intersex Society of North America explains that it can be difficult to quantify the number of intersex cases because there is so much ambiguity. But it's estimated that androgen insensitivity syndrome occurs in one in every 130,000 births. While Blankenship was born with external genitalia, she has no internal reproductive organs. She had her testes surgically removed, but she didn't understand what was going on. In her young naivete, she thought she was having a hysterectomy. When she turned 18, she underwent dilation therapy to extend the vaginal canal, which was "definitely not a fun experience." But the impact of being intersex was more mental than physical. Her body seemed different to the girls around her, and from a young age she was encouraged not to speak about it. Living in silence and having to lie about who she is was a massive burden. Jackie Blankenship at a pageant event where she was competing. Jackie Blankenship at a pageant event where she was competing. @mrsjackieblanks / TikTok "I felt like I was more childish than my peers," Blankenship said. "My condition leaves me unable to grow body hair, and I never menstruate due to lack of ovaries or a uterus. So, as my friends went through those changes, I stayed the same on the outside with my height and breast development. I felt like there was a secret that I wasn't let in on." Despite knowing she couldn't menstruate, Blankenship recalls frequently taking a tampon or sanitary pad out of her mom's bathroom just so she could be like her friends. For so many years, she was filled with "shame and secrecy," and she felt embarrassed about her anatomy. Being told by doctors that she shouldn't tell anyone about it only added to that. Pageants were a big part of Blankenship's life during her twenties, but she never felt like she could speak openly about being intersex out of fear they wouldn't let her compete. She didn't want to be considered less of a woman, and there was (and still is) so much judgment. Over the years, Blankenship has done therapy, endless research, and even tried to find other people like her. But after getting married, becoming a mom (through a gestational carrier) and turning 40, she decided it was finally time to speak publicly and create a platform for acceptance. Jackie Blankenship pictured with her husband and daughter. Jackie Blankenship pictured with her husband and daughter. @mrsjackieblanks / TikTok Blankenship began sharing her experiences on TikTok (@mrsjackieblanks) in which she discusses being intersex. Many of her videos have gone viral with millions of views, including one which revealed nine facts about her that people might not have known. She no longer wants it to be an embarrassing secret—she wants to use her voice to advocate. Blankenship told Newsweek: "I feel like I am reclaiming my body by sharing what I thought was so shameful about myself. I turned 40 and felt like I still was a little girl. I've had experiences that I know are not uncommon in the intersex community but are never talked about. So, I decided I needed to share my whole self and heal this kiddo still inside me." Blankenship is still working on healing and embracing who she is, but she refuses to conceal it or lie. There are many misconceptions about those who are intersex. By using her social media platform to educate and speak positively, Blankenship hopes to tackle the stigma and misinformation. "The biggest misconception is that we are disordered and need fixing, when in fact more often than not, our bodies are functioning fine as they are. The fixing stems from doctors trying to normalize us into neat 'male' or 'female' boxes," she said. Is there a health issue you'd like to understand? Let us know via health@ We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
