Intersex Woman Goes Viral After Saying She’s Female on the Outside but Not on the Inside

Jackie Blankenship, diagnosed with Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome at 4, spent years feeling she had to hide who she was. Crowned Mrs. America in 2022, she’s now embracing her differences and rewriting what it means to be an intersex woman.

The initial confusion

Jackie Blankenship, an intersex woman from Grandville, Michigan, spent much of her life feeling she had to lie about herself. Now, she’s embracing who she is and the unique characteristics of her body, using her platform to educate, advocate, and inspire.

Blankenship was diagnosed with Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (CAIS) at just four years old, a condition that makes a person resistant to testosterone and is one of more than 40 variations of intersex traits. At the time, the young Blankenship didn’t fully understand what it meant.

Her parents first broached the subject when she was around eight or nine, giving her “some basic information they thought [she] would be able to process,” she said. “But it was still incredibly hard to understand.”

“My mom has relatives with CAIS, so she asked the doctor to test me just in case. The results came back that their little girl had XY chromosomes, which is what we see in males,” Blankenship added.

Growing up, Blankenship was unaware of the differences between her body and that of other girls, but she was aware she could not conceive. “When I was 15, doctors advised my parents to have my testes (that were in my abdomen) removed. That was probably when I started having questions about my body, but I wasn’t emotionally ready to talk about it,” she recalled.

It wasn’t until her mid-twenties, when access to information via the internet became widespread, that Blankenship began to fully understand her body and condition. She remembers doctors’ advice: “Just don’t tell anybody.”

She was crowned Mrs. America

Jackie started participating in pageants at just 12 years old, yet it took over 15 years before she could compete fully as her true self. Her defining moment arrived in 2022, when she was crowned Mrs. America at 36.

In the semi-finals, during the top six contestants’ on-stage questions, Blankenship refused to sugarcoat her story despite advice from pageant trainers. “There were times when the people that I was preparing with were like, ’I don’t know if you should say that. I don’t know if you should put it that way,’” she recalls. “We were in the top six, and I thought, ’I cannot believe I got to this point.’”

Being crowned in Las Vegas was a personal victory, but it soon became much bigger—a win for the intersex community at large. Following her win, Blankenship toured Michigan and neighboring states, speaking about intersex awareness at universities, women’s conferences, and corporations.

Jackie uses TikTok to raise awareness about intersex

She also shares her experiences on TikTok (@mrsjackieblanks) and Instagram, with viral videos educating millions about intersex issues. In July, she launched her podcast, The Unedited Body, covering healthcare, medical trauma, and womanhood.

“I feel like I am reclaiming my body by sharing what I thought was so shameful about myself. I turned 40 and felt like I still was a little girl. I’ve had experiences that I know are not uncommon in the intersex community but are never talked about. So, I decided I needed to share my whole self and heal this kiddo still inside me,” Blankenship revealed.

She shared 9 facts about her intersex body in a viral video

Jackie turned a simple run into a viral lesson on what it means to be intersex. In a video that’s now passed 9 million views, she revealed one fact about her body for every mile she ran.

At mile one, she laid it out, “I have complete androgen insensitivity syndrome, which is an intersex condition. I have XY chromosomes.” A few miles later, she added, “On the outside, we look completely female, even though we have XY chromosomes.”

She didn’t shy away from harder truths either, “My body can’t process testosterone, so it was converted into estrogen, and that’s what made me develop female.” Jackie also explained she has no period, no uterus, and never grows body hair: “I’ve never shaved my underarms a day in my life.”

Her final point was the most striking: surgeries on intersex kids are still common, even when they aren’t medically necessary. “A lot of times... they’re trying to change it and fix it. But what if we’re not broken?”

The reaction? An outpouring of support. Thousands thanked Jackie for her honesty, and for challenging misconceptions with every mile.

Jackie’s story is both an inspiration and a wake-up call, shedding light on something many people know little about. In the same vein, there’s Lyss, a woman who went viral after revealing how she discovered at just 11 years old that she was biologically male. Here’s her story.