Header image for the article ‘What Pleasure Looks Like for an Intersex Woman’, featuring Sophie with purple hair centred inside a purple and yellow circle on a yellow and charcoal background with heart motifs.

What Pleasure Looks Like for an Intersex Woman

At Ludus Love, we believe the most powerful education comes from lived experience. Not textbooks. Not distant studies. Real voices from real people. Sophie’s story opens a window into a truth that is rarely talked about: what pleasure can look like for an intersex woman.

Every body has its own logic, its own rhythm, its own language of want. Sophie generously chose to share hers.

💛 Desire Is Not Linear

“I get a lot of questions about my sex life as obviously people are understandably curious.

This is purely my own experience based on my biology as we established earlier for intersex people we’re all quite different.”

For Sophie, desire does not arrive in a straight line. Her hormones do not follow the usual blueprint taught in school.

“One of my main intersex markers is I don’t make little to no binding hormone. Which is essentially the glue that sticks together oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Binding hormone would normally create a constant balanced flow of sex hormones. I get whatever my body decides to serve me in whatever order.”

Instead of forcing her body into predictability, Sophie learned to listen. She pays attention to how her mood shifts, how her cravings move, how her energy dips or rises, and how her body responds to touch.

🌙 Pleasure as Self-Knowledge

“The best way to know where I am hormonally is how I respond to sexual pleasure and the type of sexual attention my body wants.”

Pleasure is not just pleasure for Sophie. It is information. A compass.

Her wife noticed it too.

“My wife after finding out I was intersex was curious how I’d respond to both male and female clit masturbation and I react to both very well but often I’ll react to one more than the other which we use as a rough guide to where my hormones are.”

Through sensation, Sophie understands herself. Through response, she recognises where her body is that day. Pleasure becomes body literacy.

🔥 When Desire Takes Its Time

“I can’t go from 0 to 100 like most seem too. I very much have to bounce off my partners enthusiasm and pheromones till my brain does the work and catches up.”

Sophie does not experience sudden lust or instant arousal. She never has.
But that does not mean her desire is slow or small.

“So catching my attention can be harder work initially but it is worth it. As whilst my brain and body catches up I like to give my partner foreplay or a BDSM scene. So not a bad thing really as despite lust often alluding me my partners have never complained about lack of attention in any area.”

Her pleasure is intentional. Attuned. Deeply connected to presence rather than impulse.

🌈 We Are Not That Different

Sophie explains something many people never learn:

“So here’s the truth on this the clitoris and tip of the penis are essentially the same bar urethra placement. We’re all really not that different the main pleasure for most people is in the tip not traditional penetration.”

Pleasure is not defined by organs. It is defined by sensation, connection, and safety.

💋 What Actually Feels Good

This is the part of the story Sophie owns with pride.

“Penetration is just lost on me I enjoy seeing the pleasure it gives my partner but doesn’t matter if it’s a person or a sex toy it does nothing for me.”

Instead, her pleasure is rooted in clitoral stimulation.

“As for my favourite pleasure I’m all about clitoral stimulation. Oral, fingers. Grinders and high frequency toys anything that gives my clit a good time.”

She also shared her favourite tools.

“My current favourite toys are Ludus Love's high frequency wand with the I call it the fork tounge end for direct clit stimulation.


My odyssey cauldron grinder and my trusty mini wand also from Ludus Love for when I want a more wide spread lower frequency vibrations.”


Her pleasure is exploration, not expectation.


A conversation with her body. A relationship, not a goal.

 

💌 From Ludus Love

Sophie’s voice reminds us that pleasure is personal. It is shaped by biology, curiosity, courage, connection, and the permission to explore without shame.

“What Pleasure Looks Like for an Intersex Woman” is not a lesson. It is an invitation.
An invitation to respect your own body’s language.
An invitation to listen to the stories we weren’t taught.
An invitation to embrace pleasure on your own terms.

We are deeply honoured to hold space for Sophie’s truth.
Her honesty makes more room for others to feel seen, safe, and understood.

 

✨Written with love by Sophie, in collaboration with Ludus Love.

Part of our ongoing series Real people, Real voices, celebrating visibility, and the freedom to be yourself.

 

Header image introducing Ludus Love x Sophie collaboration for Intersex Awareness. A portrait of Sophie with purple hair against a yellow circle inspired by the intersex flag, representing visibility and empowerment.Text overlay introducing Sophie, an intersex jewellery maker and co-creator of Scarlet in Chains. Background features Sophie’s portrait with soft teal hearts and text about her story and mission for intersex visibility.Text graphic titled “Where Our Stories Meet” sharing the connection between Ludus Love and Sophie’s story. Background features Sophie’s image with soft hearts and text about empathy, difference, and visibility.

 

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