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Despite a difficult childhood, Tony Briffa is a resilient pragmatist with a wonderful sense of humour, writes Lily Bragge.

When Tony Briffa was born at Altona Hospital in 1970, doctors were unable to determine his gender. The younger of a set of twins, Briffa's sister Catherine was confidently announced to be a girl, but for Tony, there was much doubt.

Sent to the Royal Children's Hospital for further investigation, it was discovered that Briffa had been born with a rare intersex condition known as Incomplete Testicular Feminisation (now referred to as Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome).

Establishing that Briffa was genetically male, doctors decided he would be better off assigned as a female. His parents were advised that he was a girl, and to raise him accordingly. They were not told their son had testes; just that he had gonads (which medically, can be either ovaries or testes).

Maltese immigrants with limited English, Briffa's parents did not question the diagnoses and accepted that "Antoinette" did not have female reproductive sex organs, would never be able to have children and would require a number of surgeries, as well as lifelong hormone treatments.

"In order to make sure that I accepted being a girl, my parents were advised to unambiguously raise me as one. That meant a pink room, lots of dolls for Christmas and birthdays, frilly dresses and my ears being pierced when I was two." So as not to disrupt his schooling, Briffa's childhood was punctuated by summer holidays spent at the Royal Children's Hospital.

By the time he turned seven, his phallus had started to grow. He says that doctors falsely informed his parents that his testes were cancerous, which resulted in him being castrated and consequently prevented him from masculinising any further.

About 5000 Australians are currently diagnosed with atypical genitalia. Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome affects one in every 133,000 people.

Briffa says the examinations he was subjected to every few months as a child and adolescent made him feel like a sideshow freak.

Believing it to be a form of child abuse (albeit unintentional), the constant invasive examinations left Briffa physically and emotionally damaged.

Brought up as a girl and being conditioned to think and act as one definitely did not translate into feeling like one. A tomboy, he was not interested in stereotypical girlish pursuits, and was always fighting with boys.

He began receiving hormone treatments at 11, which resulted in him going through an artificial puberty. From the age of 12 onwards Briffa repeatedly told doctors he was not a girl, that he was a boy and did not want breasts, indeed, he requested a mastectomy.

They refused, informing him that no matter how much testosterone they pumped into his body, it would reject it. It was not until 1999, that Briffa discovered this to be untrue.

"They didn't tell me I had Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome; they told me I had Complete AIS. They didn't explain there was a difference between the two."

Partial AIS meant that he would have masculinised to a certain degree without medical intervention. Rather than having synthetic femaleness forced upon him, he is adamant that doctors should have held off performing the surgeries and hormone treatments until he was old enough to choose which sex he would rather live as. Frustrated, angry and depressed, he occasionally contemplated suicide as a teenager. "It was like being in a black, endless tunnel with no light."

Describing himself as a fairly popular girl at school, he says he never socialised outside of it. "I had lots of friends, but I never even went to one school dance. I just threw myself into school work and music."

After VCE, he enrolled in an engineering degree at university (a course where he was only one of two women in the year). "Well, there was one woman, 49 men and then there was me."

Briffa tried his best to accept being female. "In desperation I tried to be what everyone wanted me to be - a normal girl." He married his first boyfriend. Briffa's husband knew the truth about his condition, but the marriage was short-lived. Naturally attracted to females, he then identified himself as a gay woman. "That wasn't comfortable either, because to be a lesbian, you actually need to be a woman."

In 2000, at the age of 30, Briffa decided once and for all he would live how he'd always felt - as a male.

At only 158 centimetres, Briffa cuts a stocky, diminutive figure. Without medical intervention he would have reached a normal stature. "Doctors made me 5 feet 2 inches on purpose. My estimated height (if I'd been left alone) was between 5 feet 8 and 5 feet 10, and that was considered far too tall for a girl. So now, I'm a very short man. It's something I always feel inadequate about." An aerospace engineer with the Department of Defence, Briffa still lives in Altona where he is a community activist and passionate advocate. He has just been elected president of the Seabrook Community Centre and is secretary of the AIS Support Group, as well as the second-term president of the Genetic Support Group of Victoria.

A third-generation Altona resident, he is passionate about the area and its people's welfare. After two unsuccessful attempts at standing for parliament as a Greens Party contender in the 2000 federal and 2002 state elections, he ran as an independent candidate for Hobsons Bay Council in November.

He received 27 per cent of the primary vote and came in second behind the incumbent ALP councillor.

A full-time foster parent to two siblings, a 15-year-old girl, and 13-year-old boy, the teenagers have known him as a foster mother and foster father. Briffa says neither of them have an issue with it; he is simply Tony.

Rather than being bitter and vengeful, the years of taunts, insults and prejudices have left Briffa a resilient pragmatist with a wonderful sense of humour. He is however, fierce in exposing the truth and seeking justice. Currently involved in legal action, he is suing two of his doctors for alleged malpractice against him from the age of 18 onwards. He says if he could, he would seek the same regarding his entire childhood, but the statute of limitations has now passed, leaving him no legal avenue to pursue such litigation.

Briffa has not had surgery to rebuild his genitalia and, at this stage, does not intend to. Having encountered myriad problems with the ongoing testosterone treatment he now receives, he has been subjected to repeated infections and hospitalisation.

Preferring to concentrate on priorities such as his kids, family and community commitments, he sees having an intimate relationship as problematic. "I would obviously want a relationship with a heterosexual female and I can't really function as a heterosexual male so I tend to avoid relationships to be honest."