Dysex
A term for dyadic/perisex/endosex individuals who currently have or in the past had non-typical sex characteristics that are not inherently intersex by themself whether from birth or developed. Includes polymastia, polythelia, athelia, amastia, breast hypoplasia, breast hypertrophy, gynecomostia, hypotonia, bicornuate uterus, septate uterus, retroverted uterus, macropenis, macroorchidism, macrovagina, labial hypertrophy, etc.
Awesome term!!
If anyone wants to learn more about these terms (or perisex and intersex bodies in general) check out our intersex guide and our post on mulleripathians and wolffipathians!
[ID: A pride flag consisting of a black background, a yellow border at the top, a purple one on the bottom, and a white square in the middle, with purple and yellow border. End: ID]
Context:
Post on Mulleripathians and Wolffipathians (from dhddmods):
“Mulleripathians, also known as people with typical mullerian developmental pathway (people with TMDP), is a term to replace “the female sex.” This is done to separate the female gender from sex, as calling people “female” can misgender them. It is one of the forms of perisex.
Mulleripathians have the following:
- XX chromosomes.
- A vulva, which has a singular vaginal entry (with a width/length that is moderate or large), two labia, a pea-sized clitoris, and a urethra between the clitoris & vaginal entry.
- An average-sized uterus, two fallopian tubes, & two average-sized ovaries.
- (During puberty, without the influence of HRT) Estrogen as the main sex hormone, falling into the typical range compared to other mulleripathians. They typically grow breasts, have widened hips, lesser amounts of body/facial hair, and a higher pitched voice – however, these traits can vary based on genetics and race, and aren’t guaranteed.
Wolffipathians, also known as people with typical wolffian developmental pathway (people with TWDP), is a term to replace “the male sex.” This is done to separate the male gender from sex, as calling people “male” can misgender them.
Wolffipathians have the following:
- XY chromosomes.
- A penis, which has a moderately-sized (or large) phallus, a scrotum beneath the phallus, foreskin protecting the head of the phallus, and a urethra on the tip of the penis. The penis is straight or slightly curved when erect.
- Two average-sized testicles (that are descended into the scrotum), two vas deferens, an average-sized prostate, and two average-sized seminal vesicles.
- (During puberty, without the influence of HRT) Androgens as the main sex hormone, falling into the typical range compared to other wolffipathians. They typically experience an increase in muscle mass, higher amounts of body/facial hair, and a deeper pitched voice – however, these traits can vary based on genetics and race, and aren’t guaranteed.
TMDP & TWDP were created by @status-quo-hater. We created the terms mulleripathian and wolffipathian as alternatives, to be simpler to say.
Mulleripathian & wolffipathian describe the two types of perisex development. Intersex describes anyone whose developmental pathway falls outside of these (as you can read about in our intersex guide here, which we have updated to use mulleripathian and wolffipathian.)
Additional:
Interrupted Mulleripathians: People who are mulleripathian, but due to non-intersex related medical events (ie; genital mutilation, tumors that produce androgens, etc) they have experienced involuntary alterations within their anatomy.
Interrupted Wolffipathians: People who are wolffipathian, but due to non-intersex related medical events (ie; genital mutilation, a physical injury that caused the loss of gonads, etc) they have experienced involuntary alterations within their anatomy.
Altered Mulleripathians: People who are mulleripathian and chose HRT or sex altering procedures to change their sex traits.
Altered Wolffipathians: People who are wolffipathian and chose HRT or sex altering procedures to change their sex traits.
Absolutely do NOT use any of these terms in an attempt to claim it is what’s “normal” or to erase intersexuality. These terms were created for the sake of giving language to diagnose sex-based disabilities properly. (Read our post about that here.)”
Post on Deconstructing Sex (from dhddmods):
“Something some people don’t seem to understand about the concept of deconstructing sex is that deconstructing =/= ridding of all language to refer to sexual pathways.
There’s a reason why intersex variations have names (ie; persistent urogenital sinus, Klinefelter Syndrome, hyperestrogenism, etc.) It’s because each variation of sex comes with its own unique comorbidities, its own unique percentages, and its own unique risks & disabilities (ie; some intersex variations have a higher risk of heart disease.) If we erased all names for sexual variations, then it would become extremely difficult for doctors, caregivers, and patients to know what to look out for, what risks they have, etc.
Renaming “female” and “male” to mulleripathian and wolffipathian isn’t trying to “remake” the sexual “binary.” It is trying to create words to describe perisexuality without relying on AGAB (because ideally, AGAB won’t be a thing anymore someday), and without misgendering anyone (as male/female refers to gender.)
Perisex people and intersex people still need words to explain their sexual pathways. Doctors still need words to use when researching certain sex variations and what they are at higher percentages of. It can put someone in real danger of having unnoticed risks and comorbidities if doctors have no diagnoses to check, to see the statistical demographics of specific pathways.
Intersex pathways are also at a higher percentage of disability than perisex pathways, and its not intersexist to acknowledge that. In fact, it would be intersexist and ableist to ignore that aspect.
Deconstructing sex should not erase the ability to see demographics of people with your own variation. Deconstructing sex should not make it more difficult for people (particularly intersex people) from getting disability diagnoses.
Deconstructing sex should be about (properly) introducing intersexuality alongside perisexuality in sex ed/basic biology. It should be about renaming certain sex variations to less stigmatizing terms. It should be about degendering sex traits. It should be about the stop of misinformation and sex-based discrimination, and about creating a future where assigned gender, reassigned gender, and socially imposed genders do not exist.”
Post on HRT Language (from dhddmods):
“Can ya’ll please stop saying “feminizing” and “masculinizing” for HRT (or bottom surgery, for that matter?)
Call it androgenizing HRT. Call it estrogenizing HRT. But please stop applying femininity and masculinity to it as an inherent trait.
It’s really invalidating for transandrogynous, transneutral, transnull, transgenderless, transxenine, transoutherine, transaporine, and some multigender or mixed gender people who want to transition, and are being grouped into “feminizing” and “masculinizing” categories.
Not to mention intersex people with hormonal variations who need to use HRT. Or altersex/transsex people whose desired sex does not reflect their gender.
Transmasculine and transfeminine people aren’t the only ones in this community. Please stop treating transitioning as strictly masculine or feminine.
Some term ideas:
Androgenizing HRT: The usage of androgens.
Micro-androgenizing HRT: Using a microdosage of androgens.
Estrogenizing HRT: The usage of estrogens.
Micro-estrogenizing HRT: Using a microdosage of estrogen.
Androestrogenizing HRT: The usage of both androgens & estrogen.
Micro-androestrogenizing HRT: Using a microdosage of both androgens & estrogen.
@nonbinarynow”
Post on an Intersex Guide (from dhddmods):
“Intersex Guide! (Updated 7/19/2025)
(UPDATED: July 19th, 2025. Please reblog again if you only saw our old versions. Please also reblog if you’ve never seen this before, to spread awareness.)
Hello and happy pride! We wished to share a passion project we have been working on for months – a guide to intersex traits and variations!
Now, a question that many ask – what is intersex? Well, we will be answering that question for you here! Anything on this post that is written in red is NOT intersex, so if you wish to skip over any of it, you can. And if you wish to get straight into the intersex types, scroll down to the read-more and start from there.
Intersex, also known as The Intersex Spectrum, is a term used to describe when someone’s biological sex – as in the sex they are born with/what they naturally develop during puberty – is not clearly aligned with the typical perisex/endosex/dyadic (wolffipathian or mulleripathian) sex traits.
(Note: Wolffipathian is a term to mean “the male sex”, while mulleripathian is a term to mean “the female sex.” They were created in order to separate the male & female gender from sex, as calling people “males” or “females” could be misgendering them.)
(Intersex does not include someone that is wolffipathian or mulleripathian, and later chose to have their sex traits changed due to being transgender, transsex, or altersex. It also does not include wolffipathians that experienced circumcision/dorsal slits or penis splitting, mulleripathians that experienced genital mutilation, or wollfipathians & mulleripathians that indulged in modifications such as piercings and beading.)
This only applies to primary sex traits – chromosomes, genitals, reproductive organs, hormones, and hormone responsiveness. Atypical secondary sex traits (breasts, muscle tone, body/facial hair, deepness of voice) do not make someone intersex unless it is paired with “abnormalities” in primary sex traits.
Before you can understand what it means to be intersex, first we must clarify what it means to not be intersex.
A typical wolffipathian has XY chromosomes, a moderate (or large) penis, two moderately-sized testicles within the scrotum, an average-sized prostate, two vas deferens, two average-sized seminal vesicles, and (without the influence of HRT) more androgens (mostly testosterone) than mulleripathians. Their androgen levels fall into a typical range compared to other wolffipathians. Upon puberty, they usually experience an increase in muscle mass, higher amounts of body/facial hair, and a deeper pitched voice – however, these traits can vary based on genetics and race, and aren’t guaranteed.
Note: A penis has a phallus, a scrotum beneath the phallus, foreskin protecting the head of the phallus, and a urethra on the tip of the penis. It is straight or slightly curved when erect.
A typical mulleripathian has XX chromosomes, a vulva, two average-sized ovaries, a single average-sized (or large) uterus, two fallopian tubes, and (without the influence of HRT) more estrogen than wolffipathians. Their estrogen levels fall into the typical range compared to other mulleripathians. Upon puberty, they usually (but not always) grow breasts, have widened hips, lesser amounts of body/facial hair, and a higher pitched voice – however, these traits can vary based on genetics and race, and aren’t guaranteed.
Note: A vulva has two labia, a single pea-sized clitoris, a single moderate (or deep) vaginal entry, and a urethra above the vaginal entry and under the clitoris.
Here is a list of non-typical sex traits that, by themselves, are not intersex.
- Accessory Breasts (Polymastia): Having more than two breasts.
- Accessory Nipples (Polythelia): Having more than two nipples.
- Athelia: Having only one nipple, or no nipples at all.
- Amastia: Having only one breast & nipple, or no breasts & nipples at all.
- Breast Hypertrophy/Macromastia/Gigantomastia: Having extremely large breasts
- Gynecomostia: Breasts on a wolffipathian. The reason this is not considered intersex is because all sexes (except for people with amastia) have breast tissue, which can vary in size regardless of sex.
- Mulleripathians can have small breasts, and wolffipathians can have larger breasts than is expected. Often, however, this diagnosis is used for wolffipathian-passing intersex people who have breasts (ie; some people with Klinefelter syndrome.)
- Hypotonia: Low muscle tone.
- Bicornuate Uterus: A heart-shaped uterus.
- There are exceptions where this diagnosis is considered intersex, if the two sides of the uterus are distinct enough to be two separate spaces (in which case, the term uterus didelphys – which is discussed in the reproductive traits segment – would be more fitting.)
- Septate Uterus: A uterus that internally has a partition down the middle.
- There are exceptions where this diagnosis is considered intersex, if the two sides of the uterus are split enough to be two separate spaces (in which case, the term uterus didelphys – which is discussed in the reproductive traits segment – would be more fitting.)
- Retroverted Uterus: A uterus that is rotated differently than typical. This can sometimes cause a vagina (if one is present) to curve a bit as well.
- Macropenis: A penis that is 7 inches/17.78 centimeters or larger.
- Macroorchidism: Testicles that are 4 milliliters or above pre-puberty, and above 30 milliliters as an adult.
- Macrovagina: A vagina that is deeper than 5 inches/13 centimeters.
- Labial Hypertrophy: Labia that is longer than average (above 2 inches/5 centimeters)