I paid alone and handsomely for the appropriate treatment and for my psychotherapy, only to reach the conclusion that in principle someone should have told me that my body is normal and that I have the right to live and be loved as I am.

…if you were born now, we would kill you because you’re an anomaly of nature, and children like you shouldn’t live as they have nothing to offer out there.

…the doctor, started taking pictures of our child’s breasts in front of me and my husband without our prior permission to do so.

In particular, I never felt that the doctors took me seriously, they often talked to my parents about me in my absence and did not inform me, personally, about what was happening or would happen to my body, even though I asked them to (I was 14-15 years old).

…at the time of their birthday, out of 24 kids only one came.

In kindergarten, my child was mocked and bullied by some children for their long hair, their thin voice, their reduced muscle strength, and for taking ballet classes.

At school, I received daily and systematically abusive, derogatory, or insulting comments about my appearance, because my secondary sex characteristics were very masculine.

I felt uncomfortable with my partners, many times, because they did not accept the term intersex. They inscribed upon me the gay identity because that was all they could understand…

The doctors’ attitude set the course for interpreting my situation and drove my mother to deep shame and depression.

After the surgery, they (the doctors) told us that we should by all means keep it a secret from everyone, even the child’s siblings, so they wouldn’t make fun of them or use it against them later.

It’s a shame to tell friends, family, and partner. It’s only you and five other people all over the world. Don’t tell anyone, act normal…

It is not possible to get the support you need, because intersex differentiation is incomprehensible to the “average” person and society is not at all educated in such matters.

My first therapist had a hard time when I revealed to him that I am an XY woman but he clearly worked it out with himself and was very supportive of me…

I don’t think any mental health professional in Greece would understand this.

The teacher in charge of the school observatory treated me rather indifferently and negatively, as if I was crazy asking something absolutely absurd…

…the doctors who saw me obviously had the God syndrome, something that brought me into submission.

It didn’t even occur to me to report the above incident, because I thought it should remain a secret between me and my child…

I did not denounce the unacceptable medical treatment I suffered in two public hospitals. If I had realized in time that it was a deep psychosomatic injury, I would have denounced them…