Frequently Asked Questions for Dating an Intersex Woman

Taylor Lianne Chandler is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant that came into fame after it was revealed that she was involved with Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer, Michael Phelps.

Her privacy went away as more stories, images and text were made public. She had a decision to make about what she wanted to do with her life after losing her career on Capitol Hill and shuttering her consulting company.

Lots of offers came pouring in. She went on to sign a book deal with Riverdale Avenue Books. They published The Making of Going for the Gold and Super Bowl Surprise in 2015. Her memoirs are expected to be released next year. She signed a three-year contract with Steven Hirsch, President of Vivid Corp. They released Going for the Gold which depicts a snapshot of her life after meeting Phelps on Tinder.

Taylor was outed to the world on the cover of The National Enquirer, RadarOnline and TMZ on November 19, 2014, the same day Michael left The Meadows, as not only Michael Phelps’ girlfriend, but that she was born intersex and had undergone corrective surgery in her early twenties to make her anatomically one gender, female. Since then she has appeared on tons of TV and radio shows: Entertainment Tonight, E! News, Huffington Post, Howard Stern, and many more.

She was also featured in print media like Time, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, The Guardian, The Advocate, The Washington Post, as well as podcasts like, The Toddcast Podcast, Cyberstation USA, U interview, The Reverend Bob Levy Show and many more.

Taylor’s interviews and articles about her are in over 100 countries and translated into over 45 different languages.

1. Are you Transgender?

Transgender is very different than intersex. Transgender feel like they were born in the wrong body, where as intersex, you are physically born both genders in some variation. The word intersex replaced hermaphrodite. There are more than 55 variations of intersex. Intersex people are born with any of several variations in sex characteristics including, chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals that according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “do not fit the typical definitions of male or female bodies”. I’m diagnosed Mosaic. In essence, they believe I was twins that morphed into one fetus. Growing up knowing you are the wrong gender feels the same regardless of gender marker. The experience and what you face by society is the same. Sadly, people are more accepting of intersex, as there is physical, scientific proof, not just a feeling. Studies have estimated that as many as 1 in 100 children will be born with bodies that “differ from standard male or female.”

2. When did you decide to become a man or a woman?

Thinking that I was born one gender is not only incorrect, but disrespectful! While stories of intersex people may have similarities to those of trans people, they are not the same.  Today doctors recommend assigning a gender at birth and allowing the child to develop physically and emotionally before deciding to undergo surgery to make the genitalia look more distinctly male or female. Many intersex individuals choose not to have surgery. When I was born they assigned me male at birth and did unnecessary genital mutilation. As soon as I could talk and walk I knew I was female. That started a long, painful process of surgeries and medications to undo the chaos that was done to me. I identify as female even though genetically I am both genders.

3. Does your vagina feel the same as a real girl?

Don’t get me started how this real girl conversation makes me feel. I have nothing to compare it to. I can tell you the men I have been with haven’t complained. I had vaginal rejuvenation in my 30’s so I am tighter than most women. I also had my outer labia removed so I only have one set of inner labia. I feel I became obsessed with surgeries to “make” me more female, or my vision of what female was. I did not tell the men in my life my intersex past, so until I was outed by The National Enquirer, Radar Online, and TMZ, no one knew. Watch my Vivid film, Going for the Gold, and you tell me what you think.

4. Does dating you make me gay?

I can’t help but laugh at this question. If you are a man that is attracted to women, how could dating me make you gay? You are attracted to a woman. There is nothing manly about me. Even if you are attracted to a trans woman that answer is the same. You are attracted to the female you see. Regardless of what is between our legs you are being turned on by the female image. A gay man is not attracted to a woman.

5. Can you have children?

As a matter of fact, yes I can. I have a Uterus and can carry a child through IVF, but I do not have eggs, so I can’t have a child in the traditional sense. Because I have so much scar tissue and have had so many surgeries, it would be a high risk pregnancy because I can’t dilate to give birth. I would have to have a C-section. The ability to have a baby doesn’t make you any more or less a female.

You may follow Taylor Lianne Chandler on Facebook at www.facebook.com/taylorliannechandler1, on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/realtaychatlc, on Instagram at www.Instagram.com/realtaychatlc and on her website www.taylorliannechandler.com.

Images courtesy of Taylor Lianne Chandler

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