The World Turns 02: Snapshots

Eventually it did go away, and she headed into the store.

She started browsing through the comfort-oriented sports bras. Since she knew they didn't carry anything in Chris's size in the normal bras she thought that would be her closest shot since they stretch. As she looked, it occurred to her, she didn't really know what size he'd be on the strange simple "Extra Small" to "Double Extra Large" scale a lot of that type of bra used.

She spotted an employee who had been helping a man, she'd just finished ringing him through. The employee was quite busty herself. Brianna guessed probably enough that she couldn't buy normal bras here either, though not as big as Chris's. She walked over to her. As she got closer, she found her eyes drawn to the employee's chest. She couldn't help noticing her boobs. She wasn't attracted to her, but the part of her that liked boobs didn't seem to be picky, if they were big and nice enough. She covered for herself by reading the woman's name tag, it said Fatima.

Fatima greeted her, "Hi, how can I help you?"

"I... I'm looking to buy a bra for my boyfriend..."

"Oh? You know his size?"

"I do... we just measured him... 38H. I... Well, do you carry them that big?"

"Oh... sorry no... but I could help you pick out one of the sports bras with enough stretch... they're not the most supportive, but they do help a fair bit, not great as actual sports bras though, just comfy bras."

"That's what I expected... I think he'd like something rather than nothing. Thanks, I'd love your help... I think you'd know better than me what works best for... bigger boobs."

Fatima turned around to lead Brianna to the right section. Brianna was a bit relieved; she'd been having a hard time not looking at her chest. It felt even stranger to have this problem with a woman. She still very much wasn't into women, she could tell as soon as Fatima turned around. However, her boobs. Brianna shook her head to clear out those thoughts. Getting turned on would be a disaster, and being distracted by a woman's chest felt strange and made her uncomfortable. She did have fantastic boobs though.

Dr. Theodore Davis shifted uncomfortably in the chair, he felt the slight movement reflected in his breasts, still, after three days he was still very strongly aware of their motion. They weren't especially large, but they still jiggled, despite the bra his wife had insisted he wear. The reporter interviewing him had finished the question, something about if he knew how the change was possible. He didn't enjoy interviews, but his position meant he had to give them.

"No, I'm afraid I have no idea how it happened. Nor does anyone else. However, it's the most exciting thing to occur in my entire career, it means there's more we don't know than we ever thought! Did you know that there were several reports of male doctors who thought to stand on their office's scales while they changed, and they reported that as their breasts grew their weight increased? As a physicist, this is evidence that things we thought were rock solid, are not. Conservation of mass? Perhaps not! Perpetual motion? Might be on the table. Though none of that means much if we can't find any of how our current theories are wrong, all we know right now is that they are."

"Do you have any idea where to start?"

"None whatsoever! Maddening, isn't it? Clear evidence that we've clearly missed something very significant in our understanding of the universe, but we can't recreate it to study it. We'll have to hope one of the many ongoing experiments shows some unusual data. Maybe one of the neutrino detectors or something. We're checking data from every instrument that might have been turned on at the time in my lab. I expect every other lab is doing the same. I'm somewhat jealous of biologists, they at least have a general idea of where to start looking to update their field after this, we in physics don't have much to go on in terms of where to look."

"Are you upset that you've been wrong all this time?"

"Not at all! Science is all about what we know now. Throughout my career, I have been wrong many times, about what the result of an experiment would be, about mathematics and all kinds of things. For example, at the beginning of the twentieth century it was becoming clear that much of what was thought about physics wasn't quite right. From that time, we got Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. This is much bigger! It's clear we're more wrong than we thought possible! Now we're left to figure out what is more correct! Nobel Prizes will go to whoever makes even a small step toward finding that. Just the tiniest thread to pick at could be the discovery of the decade!"

Selected Frequently asked Questions and Answers about Hermaphrodation

General

• What are these answers based on? The answers given here are based primarily on the first 2 months of data from three ongoing large scale international studies. One of university students that after the change were partially along the hermaphrodation process, the second of people who fully changed, and the last on people who did not change at all but are old enough that they were very likely to start hermaphrodating soon. All studies involve following participants with daily questionnaires, weekly MRIs and blood tests to establish baselines and how hermaphrodation progresses. As the studies are all ongoing the data is preliminary.

• How long will it take to go back to normal after my body switches to male/female mode? How long going back to neutral mode takes varies a fair bit from person to person and over time, sometimes a person might have sex or masturbate and be back to neutral 15 minutes after they're done, other times it can take a few hours, even if they aren't aroused at all for that time. There is no known action you can take that will change the time it takes.

• What do I do if my body is in female mode and I have to pee? Gently pull on the head of your penis, if not enough is outside of you you can gently get a finger and thumb into your body. It should come out without discomfort, you will need to hold on to it until you begin urinating at which point it will not retract until a few minutes after you stop.

• I've found myself having strange sexual fantasies about things I was previously uninterested in? What turns on each half of you can be different, so you may be discovering what works for your new libido. For example many men strongly associate breasts with femininity so it's common for men for whom breasts are erogenous to have breast stimulation more strongly arouse their female half. This is less common in women, they tend to associate breast stimulation with sex and foreplay in general, not specifically their female parts.
  For some the kinds of fantasies that they enjoy as a male are totally different than as a female, for others they are very similar.

• I have found one side of my libido is much stronger than the other? Some people may find that their new libido is much stronger than their original, or the opposite, it is entirely possible that you may discover that one side of you simply has a much stronger sex drive than the other.
  It may also simply be related to your menstrual cycle, the balance in strength of your male and female libido commonly varies during your cycle. Generally for a few days before and during the most fertile part of the cycle your female libido will become stronger and your male libido weaken, or even disappear. During and after a period it is common for the opposite to occur, that is the male libido waxes while the female one wanes.

• Can I accidentally get myself pregnant? There hasn't been a known case of this occurring, so the answer is likely no, but there is also no known mechanism to prevent it if you get semen into your vagina.

• I seem to be changing more than normal, will I look like the opposite sex? If so, will I get taller/shorter? It's possible, some rare people do change to an appearance that is of the opposite of the sex they were born. It is not expected, based on current data, that you will get shorter, as most people are nearly fully grown at the age that hermaphrodation occurs and for the most part development doesn't seem to reverse growth. Getting slightly taller may happen for women whose appearance is becoming more masculine, but it is uncommon.

For Women

• I got an erection for no reason? Once a woman's penis develops sufficiently she will begin to have spontaneous erections, like boys going through puberty they are likely to be fairly frequent for a few years.

• How big will my penis get? There does not seem to be any significant difference in the size of women's penises and men's, nor is there any known correlation between penis size and other body parts in women. None of the studies conducted took data that could be used to make any statements about heritability of penis size in women.

• What are the signs I'm starting to hermaphrodate? The general first sign in females is a significant increase in sex drive and some mood effects, though many women notice nothing until the first external signs of penis development occur.

• How will things progress when I start changing? The first stage of hermaphrodation in women is internal formation of the testes and the internal parts of the penis and related structures. As those parts develop the head of the penis will form externally followed by the scrotum as the penis grows. From there, things simply grow and develop. Once the penis is partially formed and generally just long enough to aim while urinating, the urethra in the vulva will close and urine will begin to exit from the penis. Initial changes to sexuality were generally noticed around the time of their first erection. For straight and bisexual women this first part to their changing sexuality is feelings about breasts on men. For homosexual women they almost universally find changes to feelings about penises on their partner to be the first noticeable change to their sexuality.

For Men

• How do I know when to expect my first period? If your female organs are still developing you can expect your cycle to start about two months after your vulva stops developing. Your internal female organs begin developing first and the external parts only start when the internal parts are nearly finished.

• How big will my breasts get? Look at your parents and siblings. Breast size is not significantly sex linked, male and female children of the same parents, when fully developed, tend to have proportionally similar breast sizes. Normal genetic variations obviously happen but if you have a sister it is likely that your breasts will be of similar size, in proportion to your bodies.

• My hips seem wider. Is that normal? It is common for men to have their hips widen as their body changes. Most do not end up as wide as a woman of the same height would be likely to have. It is expected that this may mean men who become pregnant and carry the child to term are more likely to require cesarean birth than women.

• What are the signs I'm starting to hermaphrodate? The usual first signs are related to internal changes. The evidence available points to internal development of the womb, ovaries and related structures as the first stage, and that may make significant progress without being noticed. As the ovaries form they may cause hormonal effects that can cause some of the same kinds of things as puberty, including some mood swings and acne. At around the same time the development of breasts begins with the formation of breast buds, as in girls during puberty. The order is not entirely consistent, sometimes breast development is delayed until after the first external signs of the vagina appear, which does not happen until the internal female reproductive system is very nearly complete.