Limpopo woman born with a PEN!S demands her manhood back

RAISED as a girl in dresses and legally classified as a woman, a Limpopo resident is now on a quest to reclaim what she believes is her true identity as a man.
The 21-year-old from Luthuli Park near Polokwane, who asked to be identified only as Denise for fear of being stigmatised, has undergone more than 10 surgeries.
She also had countless hormonal treatments after she was apparently born intersex.
According to the Intersex South Africa website, "intersexed people are born with ambiguous genitalia, or sex organs that are not clearly female or male ".
The organisation's website also states that many intersex people in the country had "non-consensual genital surgery performed on them as infants or children, making it hard to determine whether or not they are intersexed".
The woman's mother said complications regarding her child's gender surfaced when she was born with what doctors at a Polokwane hospital described as a deformed clitoris.
The mother said she then gave consent for doctors to perform genital reconstruction surgery on Denise when she was four months old after she was told the child would most likely identify as female.
However, years later, after raising her child as a girl, the woman started noticing that Denise was developing a moustache and behaved more like a boy.
"Doctors told me it will go away with the help of hormonal injections. But I kept seeing male features in him," she said.
Denise is now being assisted by the Malefela Martins Manyane Trust to raise funds so that she can complete the third phase of a penile reconstruction surgery, which will cost between R65 000 and R80 000.
Denise said the continued confusion over her gender had caused her many medical complications and hindered her ability to have a career. She now suffers from bladder infections and has to use a catheter which is connected to a urine bag in order to relieve herself.
"I wore skirts but always preferred playing with boys. That's when I discovered that I was different and I started asking questions. I used to think about it and cry. They referred me to a psychologist so that I can learn to accept myself. I just want to carry on with life and finish school," she said.
At first glance, Denise looks like a man with a bearded face. But identity documents still classify her as female, which complicates things. Her mother says even opening a bank account for her daughter was a mission as her gender was always being questioned.
"My heart is broken. He is suffering. You cannot live without knowing who you are. He has no real identity. Now the community keeps asking me, ‘ Where is your daughter?’ How can I explain to them so that they understand?" she said.
Limpopo health MEC Phophi Ramathuba said she could only comment on the case and give advice after viewing the patient's file.
"This is the first we are hearing about this case, but we are happy it has been brought to our attention. We will look into the matter and do whatever possible to assist the patient," Ramathuba said.
Trust founder Michael Hlokota said Denise approached him for assistance after hearing about Martins Manyane's case, a man from Mokopane who suffers from skin cancer. Hlokota said after Manyane's case became highly publicised, they received over 50 cases of people with severe medical conditions who needed help. He said Denise now needed funds for the construction of a scrotum to complete the genital reconstruction surgery