Hermaphroditos was the child of Hermes, the ancient Greek messenger god, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Hermaphroditos, a handsome boy, caught the attention of a lovely water nymph. When the young Hermaphroditos ignored her attentions, she prayed to the gods that she might be eternally united with him. One day when he bathed in some water she merged with him physically. The result was a female boy. The word "hermaphrodite" was born.

A human being who is born with male and female sex organs is termed a hermaphrodite. This is a rather inaccurate definition, as hermaphrodites can be placed in three categories, which are: True, Male Pseudo and Female Pseudo. All these three labels are genuine cases. If typical males have sex chromosomes XY and typical females XX, then a true hermaphrodite has both ovarian and testicular tissue and is neither XX nor XY, but has some other combination of chromosomes. Male Pseudo is an individual born with XY chromosomes, has testes and no ovaries but some aspect of female genitalia. Female Pseudo is born as XX with female internal organs, but possesses masculinised genitalia.

The subject is a taboo topic even though hermaphrodites are all around, living normal lives. Rumour has it that stars such as pop sensation Lady Gaga, actress Jamie Lee Curtis or athlete Caster Semenya are all hermaphrodites. Hoping to find out how a hermaphrodite's life actually looks, E&M talked to Lina, a true hermaphrodite. Discover her incredible life story, the problems she faced and how she now copes with issues connected with relationships or sex.

Photo: Rolando Cervantes Gómez/ www.flickr.com

A beautiful hermaphrodite at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France

Lina grew up in a small town in Austria, as a boy. By the time she was 18, her body had started changing and taking on a feminine appearance. Today she is now a happy, "normal" woman in her mid-30's.

E&M: Lina, you have physically two sexes, but would you count yourself as a man or a woman?

Lina: Well, I grew up as a boy. I didn't feel like a guy, I didn't fit in, but I never felt like a woman either, although I did lean quite a bit more that way. I always felt I was stuck out in the middle, some combination of both and neither. It took me years finally to accept myself as a woman and start living as one too.

E&M: When did you first realise that you were a hermaphrodite? 

Lina: Growing up as a boy, at first for me it wasn't quite so obvious (aside from breasts) until I got my first period at 18. I did have a tough time in school not fitting in and was in plenty of fights too. Somehow other kids also felt that I was different and picked on me as I had no self esteem and was therefore a perfect target. Even though I felt different I didn't know I was a hermaphrodite until that first period. I never had any special medical tests until then. So it came as a big shock for me and my parents. It broke me down physically and mentally so I went to hospital for a while. From then on everything changed. I spent months on self-discovery therapies which didn't really work. When I got back home I wanted to go to university but everything had changed. My parents were fighting all the time and finally they divorced. That meant another break-down for me so I decided to move away from home to Vienna and not to go to university but try to get a job and put my life back on track, you know, get on my own two feet. It was hard, I didn't get a job for a long time, but then fortune smiled upon me and I got a job as secretary at a financial company, which I love.