Is it really biology that governs whether a baby (or indeed an adult) is deemed male or female, or is it society? Who decides where the line is? And should doctors ever intervene? They begin to unpick long-held assumptions about sex and gender, and raise troubling questions for the medical profession. The ramifications of Anick’s story are wider and more fundamental than first appears. “I don’t want more children growing up the way I did – hiding it,” he says. He hopes that finally people will begin to discuss a basic fact of life: that a lot of people’s bodies are not entirely male or female. Very few others in Britain have ever spoken publicly about it. He is here because he needs people to understand what it is to be intersex. “I never thought that one day I’d be doing something like this,” says Anick, sitting in the BuzzFeed News office, “actually talking about what was originally the biggest secret of my life.”

They also could not foresee what shame would do to him, or how much he would have to fight when he couldn't bear the silence any more. They explained what they could to his parents, but they didn’t know what it would mean, or what the future held. His penis was unusual – much smaller than most boys', and with an opening along the side. Doctors knew there was something different about Anick shortly after he was born.