Luna Animisha, 24, from Puna, Hawaii, claims that she was assigned gender as medics “stitched up her v****a” and removed her uterus.
Her womb was removed and she was given her gender at birth yet she claims their “barbaric” actions left her with identity problems because she feels more feminine than masculine.
After years of struggle and torment from bullies, Luna has now rejected the male gender and instead adopted she/her pronouns. She is now hoping to raise $150,000 to get reconstructive surgery and a uterus implant.
In 2019, a woman in Cleveland became the first person in the world to give birth after receiving a uterus transplant from a deceased donor.
The yoga practitioner hopes this will “help put her back together” and return her to being intersex with both sets of genitalia.
“I only found out at 14-years-old that I was born intersex, but even before that I knew I wanted to present a different way than my parents raised me,” she said. “I’m not sure whether it was my parents’ decision or the doctors, but I was assigned male at birth and had my womb taken out and my v****a stitched up.”
“I think that is absolutely barbaric – infants can never give consent,” she added. “Intersex kids are treated the same as dogs and cats just having their organs removed and it’s really traumatic for us.”
Luna shared that this experience has caused her “identity problems” and has sometimes led to suicidal thoughts, which began at a very young age.
“This has caused me a lot of identity problems, at the worst of times I completely hated how I looked like a boy and thought I was destined to be alone,” she explained. “This is the first year I haven’t truly wanted to die, the first time I had suicidal thoughts was at five years old on the playground, which started with not being able to connect with people.”
“I eventually realized it was related to the way I saw and expressed myself but it took me years to realize that my gender identity was at the root of it all,” she added.point 274 |
“It would be a miracle to go back to being intersex because that is who I am.point 67 | If I transitioned to completely female I would just be in the same boat I am now, missing half of myself that I was born with.point 168 | ”point 171 | 1
Luna is currently taking estrogen and progesterone and seeing a plastic surgeon to talk about vaginal reconstructive surgery, and she is also looking into lab-grown uterus transplant options, costing around $100,00.
This type of transplant would require the uterus to grow from Luna’s own vulva tissue and would be as biologically close as possible to her original womb which was removed at birth.
Intersex genitalia can be surgically altered for reasons such as: to change physical appearance, to help urination or menstruation, improve fertility and sexual function, or ward off potential medical complications.
Although some intersex activists have argued that it is a violation of human rights.
On her GoFundMe page, Luna wrote: “So I was born intersex as a hermaphrodite, and they did surgery at birth (cut out my womb and sewed me up). And my parents raised me as a boy. I learned this later in life and started HRT which has saved my life. I’m starting to really want surgery to help put me back together, but I don’t want to take away from what I have.”
“I’ve always felt so unwell and hormonally imbalanced because of having my uterus removed – my body running on too much testosterone is like trying to put diesel in a petrol car when estrogen is my petrol. Getting a uterus transplant would mean the world to me – it would mean I could possibly carry my own child one day, which would be an honor and a blessing.”
From a young age, Luna felt different from the other kids in her class even before she knew she was born intersex. She felt more drawn towards female clothing and activities, but she became a target for bullies at school.
Now she hopes to raise awareness of intersex people to encourage others to become more accepting of different gender identities.
“I want to see the world become a place where everyone is free to be who they want to be,” Luna said. “Everyone, including trans and intersex people, should have the right to their own body.”
“We should all be able to be our authentic self.”