Please note that this site is about fighting ignorance, not spreading it (see the tag line at the top of each page). AIS is a real syndrome, and we’re all for spreading knowledge and education. As you said, gender truly can be complex.
The culture here is that we fight against baseless urban legends, rather than continue to spread them. Our goal is to get to the real truth, i.e. the “straight dope”, of the topic. That’s where the name of this site comes from. The part of your post that I quoted is presenting a baseless urban legend as fact, when in reality there is absolutely no factual support whatsoever for either person being afflicted with AIS.
As you have seen here, our culture is to fight back against misinformation. If you post something sensational, be expected to provide a factual cite to back it up, especially in the Factual Questions forum. There are other forums where you can post opinions. In this particular forum, we have a much more strict culture of remaining focused on factual information only. If you post a baseless urban legend in this forum you can expect a lot of push-back.
As I said, welcome, and we hope that you enjoy your time here. Our culture can take a bit of getting used to, but there is a great deal of interesting discussion here.
The condition is a real thing - one of the things they tested for, IIRC, in the early days of the Olympics worrying about M vs F issues.
Whether anyone has it - absent actual documentation, or disqualification by the IOC, is pure urban legend. My father was a PhD and told me the UL about catching tapeworms by starving the patient. People repeat the stupidest things because they sound “plausible”.
Mommie Dearest would disagree. As would Mia Farrow. Another motive would be not wanting the hassle of a man in the picture, or the various (physical) issues of pregnancy in a business where physical appearance matters.
Snopes on Jamie Lee Curtis, two months before this thread was started.
Intersexuality is a reality; some children are ambiguously sexed at birth. However, one particular point needs to be made, and made quite vehemently: The existence of such anatomical variations is not reason in itself to suppose that Jamie Lee Curtis has any of them. Using the one to bolster belief in the second is akin to claiming the existence of the Atlantic Ocean somehow proves a particular ship sank in it.
It is a telling commentary on the skewed importance we give any matter relating to sexuality that this rumor exists at all.
So, you’re repeating doctors’ gossip about the intimate characteristics of someone who’s not their patient? At least it wasn’t being shared in a titillating fashion. That makes the gossip so much more authoritative.
I suspect a lot of these rumors have to do with the more pronounced sharper jawline, which some associate with masculine (i.e. Ahnold Schwarznegger). Compare with 3/4 profiles of say, Sally Struthers, Suzanne Somers, Sarah Hyland, etc. with softer jawline.
However, IMHO - not a doctor - I attribute this to either dieting or natural body shape giving less body fat on the face, particularly the cheeks. Nothing really to do with hormones and especially unrelated to undercarriage configuration.
Which is bizarre for the rumor to be about AIS, since that tends to cause a more feminine appearance, since the body does not respond to androgens/testosterone.
But the original rumor was hermaphrodism, wasn’t it? Which would imply not insensitive to testosterone or it’s manifestations. AIS is not something immediately obvious or necessarily detected.
IIRC one of the reasons that the Olyimpic Committee decided to check for XY who were physically female was because AIS or similar problems also manfiested in some aslarger, more muscular (which was considered an unfair advantage over genetic females) while appearing female.
