Mental Health

Belgian Super Model Hanne Gaby Odiele Opens Up About Being Intersex

By Abbie Kraft | Update Date: Jan 29, 2017 09:00 AM EST

Hanne Gaby Odiele opened up about her gender, wherein she openly confessed that she is intersex. The fashion model drew inspiration among young people as she opened up about her sexuality.

Hanne Gaby admittedly stated that she was born with testicles. She then added that the doctors decided to have it removed by the time she reached 10 as it can potentially cause cancer. BBC covered her story stating that Odiele decided to break the taboo in regards to intersex individuals.

In a statistic released by the United Nations, there is only 1.7 percent of intersex individuals worldwide. These are the people born with both male and female characteristics.

The Belgian model was born with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), where an individual is born genetically as a male but is resistant to male hormones. Individuals with AIS have physical traits of a woman, but they have a genetic make-up of a man.

Hanne Gaby Odiele then stated that she wished she openly talked about her condition when she was younger. Though she was fully aware that there must be something working with her, she didn't entirely understand what she was going through.

"It is very important to me in my life right now to break the taboo," Odiele told USA Today. "At this point, in this day and age, it should be perfectly all right to talk about this. I knew at one point after the surgery. I could not have kids, I was not having my period. I knew something was wrong with me."

Odiele stated that she decided to break the stigma stating that intersex individuals should be informed of their condition as early as possible. She then stated that her keeping her condition from her when she was younger caused scars and trauma.

"It's not that big of a deal being intersex," Odiele added. "If they were just honest from the beginning... It became a trauma because of what they did."

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