 Hi, my name's Anik. I'm a creative producer based in London and I'm also a researcher on intersex issues. One of the reasons why I talk about being intersex so much now is because I want other people to grow up, not feeling the way I did. Intersex is probably something that you haven't heard of. It's an umbrella term which is used to define people who are born with biological sex characteristics that don't fit what we typically associate with male or female. So whilst we're told that it's male on one side and female on the other, it's actually a whole world in between there. And you can be born on one side of the spectrum and your body might look like it belongs on the other side. Growing up for me, there was lots and lots of trips to see different doctors because my body didn't fit in to what they'd expect for a normal male. So whilst my chromosomes were still XY, my body didn't always look like the other boys did and it didn't look like any other girls did either. What that meant was that doctors decided that they needed to do some surgeries and also when I hit maybe around 10 or 11, they weren't sure how my puberty would end up so they decided that it was time to do some hormone treatments. All of this stuff was things that I kept really secret and private. I didn't really tell any of my friends and besides my immediate family, no one else knew either. Well, it was like a secret between me and a couple hundred doctors. So I always thought I was alone and that there was no one else like me. But then I found out that there is a whole world of intersex people out there and that I wasn't on my own. And that really, really changed things for me. I realised I don't have to be ashamed of who I am or how I was born. When we're young, we generally listen to what everyone else tells us about sex and gender. But as we grow up, we start learning things and we start questioning things. Like, why am I not allowed to wear a certain thing if I'm a boy or if I'm a girl? Does that mean I have to dress a certain way, always put on makeup? And when you challenge these things, you become an outcast. So we as a society place way too much emphasis on what's in between someone's legs and how they dress and how they present themselves. The misconceptions about being intersex are pretty much that all of us are walking around with both female and male genitalia. It's not true. They make up their own mind on what they think it means instead of just asking me. Because intersex itself is an umbrella term and people will experience intersex in various different ways. There is no one intersex story. So my story is completely different from any of my other friends who are intersex. I think the advice I have for my younger self and for other people out there would be, don't be afraid of who you are. Find acceptance in yourself first before you go seeking in other people. Because one day, I hope you feel comfortable in your own body and in your own skin. And if you don't, find out what you can do to change about that. Because usually it starts with you.