Rosario Monachino
Two conjoined twins have explained how they make intimacy work despite one of them being straight and the other a lesbian.
Following the viral news that conjoined twin Abby Hensel married army medic Josh Bowling earlier this year, many have been curious about various things concerning conjoined twins and how they live their day-today lives.
If you are unfamiliar with the term, conjoined twins develop when ‘an early embryo only partially separates to form two individuals. Although two babies develop from this embryo, they remain physically connected — most often at the chest, abdomen or pelvis’, per Mayo Clinic.
They may also share one, or several, organs.
Now, two conjoined twins have taken the opportunity to answer the questions on everybody’s lips and candidly share their experiences of day-to-day life.
The 19-year-old sisters – who called themselves Mia and Lia for privacy reasons – revealed in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) post that they have been inspired by the publicity surrounding Hensel and her marriage, along with the recent, tragic deaths of conjoined twins George and Lori Schappell.
The twins have answered the questions that everyone has been wanting to ask – but has been too afraid to.
Mia revealed that she is a lesbian and mentioned that their deaths hit her hard as George – who came out as transgender in 2007 – was a ‘personal inspiration’ for her.
The sisters explain that they are connected at the abdomen (stomach) so they have ‘two different brains, two hearts, four(ish) lungs (our left and right lungs respectively are kinda fused so it’s more like a third lung than a fourth), two livers and two stomachs’.
“Then below that we share our intestines, bladder, and our reproductive system,” the twins continue. “So yes, the same v****a! We each have one arm and leg we can control respectively.”
Detailing their condition, Mia explains that, due to the way they were formed, Lia’s lungs have been compressed by her body. Mia also has severe scoliosis in her spine – which is when the spine has twists and curves to the side, as per the NHS.
The pair have had numerous surgeries to try to fix the issues they face, but they haven’t always worked and, in one instance, even made things worse.
Mia recalls: “Two of our ribs were being removed to relieve some pressure on Lia’s lungs, a blood clot formed in Lia’s arm, and now she has permanent severe chronic pain in that arm.”
This means that Mia is the one who does most of the work with their arms – which includes typing, writing and driving.
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Despite their condition, the twins have managed to live as normal lives as possible and are currently both attending university – where Mia is studying human geography and Lia is studying classic literature.
They also both work at a hotel as cleaners and get paid two separate wages.
Mia explains that they wanted to do the Reddit AMA post after seeing so many questions about how Hensel gets intimate with her partner – adding that they’ve been asked that same question on many occasions without consent.
So they felt that this was a good opportunity for people to ask them anything they wanted and said that they were open to responding.
They were flooded with questions.
What would happen if only one if you ate? Would the other starve, or would one stomach supply your entire body?
Mia replied: “So we both eat, but we both limit our portion sizes to half of what a regular-sized portion would be.
“This is because while we do have different stomachs if we ate two full portions we’d be very full as our stomachs lead to one intestine and get constipation haha.
“So yeah if one of us ate a full portion of food we’d be fine. But food is yummy so we limit our food a little so that we can both eat without overeating.”
How will you manage different careers going forward? You literally cannot be in two places at once.
Mia shared that they would compromise and work around the situation, adding: “We would just take shifts across the day if that makes sense. I’m working [in] the daytime at whatever place I end up after uni, she does her work in the evening when we get home.”
What will happen when one of you dies?
“If one of us was to die the other would die very quickly after. We can’t be separated. And even if we could, the sepsis from the dead one would spread and kill the alive one from the inside out,” Mia replied.
“I imagine that’s a difficult piece of knowledge to live with,” the user who asked the question responded.
Mia replied that is tough for the pair. “Euthanasia is illegal here in Scotland so if we were knowing that one of was going to die we’ve made a plan to go to Switzerland and be euthanized’.
A large portion of questions, however, focused on the sisters’ s** lives.
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At the beginning of the AMA, Mia explains that she is a lesbian and Lia is straight.
Mia had recently come out of a relationship after she went to university while her sister had a long-distance boyfriend in her teenage years.
One question they were asked was if it felt like inc**t when they pleasure themselves. Mia said no, it instead feels like someone else ‘messing with your body’.
She adds: “Imagine someone touching your shoulder, incessantly. It would be pretty annoying and weird right? That’s what it’s like if Lia touches our v****a. It feels like someone messing around with your body.”
Do you two have a discussion if you plan to have anything physical happen with a partner?
Mia responded that the twins agreed from a young age they would never have s** with their partners due to it being ‘uncomfortable’ for the other. In addition to this is the the health risks that they may face if one of the sisters got pregnant. “If we got pregnant there’s a good chance we would die.”
She continues: “However, we will still be intimate with our partners. I would kiss and hug and cuddle with my girlfriend. But she was asexual conveniently so it was not an issue for us.
“But, this is just what works for us. Other conjoined twins, i.e. Abby and Brittany [Hensel], may have more intimate interactions or less, normally yes s** alongside your sibling is weird being a conjoined twin is a completely different experience. What works for them is good.”
How often do you m*****bate?
One user asked how often the sisters had turned to self-pleasure, but they were quick to shut it down by responding: “We have m*****bated in the past, but we’ve agreed not to do it as it was too uncomfortable for us.”
Mia also explained that feeling aroused almost felt the same as if one of them felt hungry, anxious or tired.
“If you aren’t the one that’s getting aroused you can kind of tell your g***tals are aroused without being aroused yourself,” Mia continues.
“It’s the same for other things. Like I can tell when she’s hungry even if I’m not, or when she’s anxious because of her heart rate and I’m not.
Another person asked if it was awkward to or***sm together, but the twins explained that they’d already experienced pretty much everything together. “It’s more just physically uncomfortable,” Mia explained. “Imagine having someone touching and playing with your private parts that isn’t even involved with you at all. Yeah.”
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