The House In Fata Morgana. Michel Question.(possible spoiler)

[Cenddel]

This is easily one of the best visual novels ive had the pleasure of playing. However, Im a little confused on Michel. So, he was born a girl but transformed into a guy? He was always a guy but his family thought he was a female? He doesn't have a penis, and when Amy said theres "nothing there" she meant he had a vagina or there was legit nothing there? Im a little confused on what exactly Michel was and what his condition was. The rapid fever, the dreams and then him hitting puberty as a male. If anyone could shed some light on the subject it would be very much appreciated.

[Mr. Nobody]

Michel was intersex. That much has been confirmed by the devs. For the most part it seems to make sense, but I've always been confused myself on some of the plot points.

The whole "nothing there" sequence in particular confused the hell out of me as well. How would no one would have known about Michel's condition prior to that? Surely the parents/nanny/wet nurse etc would have noticed the baby lacked female/male parts at birth.

Maybe someone with more knowledge on the subject can shed some light, but the 30 minutes of googling I remember doing back when I finished the game never really gave me an adequate explanation.

[baskingshark]

Well i work in the medical line, and there is a medical condition called Congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which can cause a genetically born female to have normal appearing genitals at birth. But subsequently due to hormone imbalances, the person can develop male characteristics like voice changes, muscles etc at a later age and look and sound like a male.[\spoiler]
So possibly Michel could be sufferig from this.

[Cenddel]

Originally posted by baskingshark:

Well i work in the medical line, and there is a medical condition called Congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which can cause a genetically born female to have normal appearing genitals at birth. But subsequently due to hormone imbalances, the person can develop male characteristics like voice changes, muscles etc at a later age and look and sound like a male.[\spoiler]
So possibly Michel could be sufferig from this. [/quote]

But remember when amy said "Theres nothing there" I think she was implying that there was legit nothing there. For if Michel had a vag then I'm sure Amy would have mentioned that in some way. But the horror and shocked look indicated that there was nothing there. Or, that's what i felt at least. It wasnt really explained..Or maybe it was but i missed it. haha.

[Mr. Nobody]

Having went back and skimmed through Chapter 7 I'm just going to chalk it up to something being lost in translation. I think baskingshark's explanation is correct as it's the only thing that makes sense.

In the context of the conversation, I think Aimee was just referencing Michel not having a penis, not literally "nothing there". I have no idea why it would have been worded like that though, and the subsequent conversation just makes it even more confusing.

It's a lot easier to assume it was a weird translation than try to explain how no one managed to notice a child growing up with no genitals.

[Neve Valkoinen]

yeah, right, i wonder how it is written in japanese O.o

[RobOda]

Think you guys are overthinking it:

46, XY intersex
This condition used to be called "male pseudohermaphroditism". This is defined as incomplete masculinization of the external genitalia.[160] Thus, the person has the chromosomes of a man, but the external genitals are incompletely formed, ambiguous, or clearly female.[153] This condition is also called 46, XY with undervirilization

From wikipedia.

Amiee's "There's nothing there" and the fact that the family were misled to believe that Michel is female, suggests that his genitalia presented as female or close enough to that.

I don't believe they did much more examination than that - and why would they?

[Neve Valkoinen]

Originally posted by RobOda:

Think you guys are overthinking it:

46, XY intersex
This condition used to be called "male pseudohermaphroditism". This is defined as incomplete masculinization of the external genitalia.[160] Thus, the person has the chromosomes of a man, but the external genitals are incompletely formed, ambiguous, or clearly female.[153] This condition is also called 46, XY with undervirilization

From wikipedia.

Amiee's "There's nothing there" and the fact that the family were misled to believe that Michel is female, suggests that his genitalia presented as female or close enough to that.

I don't believe they did much more examination than that - and why would they?

Yeah, we already told that XD but that's not the point

[Battler Ushiromiya]

Aimee was the only one shocked about the lack of genitals, which makes sense as she wouldn't know. Michel's mother knew, but was just in denial about it because she wanted a daughter.