What is going on?!
 

What??!!:eek:

This isn't really new at all, maybe more publicized. In the past, if a baby was born with uncertain genitalia, it was thought better to "decide" which sex it was, and this choice was always a girl because it's easier to reconstruct the feminine anatomy than the male. However, many of these "girls" were furious when they learned what happened to them. Parents have a difficult choice at birth, they have to decide if it's better to have the child have dubious genitalia throughout childhood, and let the child make the choice at the appropriate age or just make that choice for them. I find it difficult to believe that so many believe our genitalia is what determines our gender identity. We have several methods of identify sex, first our gender identity, that's our intuitive thoughts on what we are, then there is the physical attributes such as genitalia, and other body differences, and we also have chromosomes XX for male and XY for female. Someone could be born with the chromosomes XX for male, the physical attributes of a female, and the gender identity of either male or female, because gender identity is linked to what happening in the brain including how hormones affect the brain prenatally, as well as our personal experiences. Humans like things in nice neat little packages, male or female, but the world is much more complex than that.


I probably should add, there is also your sexual orientation, and that would be which sex you're attracted to.

Nancy I've also heard that some are born with XXY- do you know if that's true? I certainly hope it's a thing of the past for parents to decide for these children which sex they are to the point of irrevocable surgery. I was completely shocked to hear of the circumcision accident though. Oops... guess he's a girl now. I'm sure that worked out.:rolleyes:

Yes, it's called Klinefelter's syndrome, and they are considered male because of the XY and just an extra X chromosome. The physical signs include small penis and testicles, some breast development during puberty, a high-pitched voice, obesity and little beard growth The effected males are sterile, and usually have little sex drive. There is also something called Turner's syndrome, where a female only has one X chromosome, and no other sex chromosome. They are sterile, short, and immature in appearance.

I'm just surprised male doctors automatically think if the penis is damaged, you might as well be a girl.

Whoops I said that wrong, the female is XX and the male is XY.

I had to look this up in my old Bio-psych book, and learned that John Money seemed to be the primary advocate of this "turn them into girls", and raise them that way. At the time my book was printed, Money was quoted as saying "she is developing a normal female identity and role, though with strong tomboyish tendencies. It will be interesting to observe what happens when she reaches the age of romantic interest."

I'm so glad you brought this to my intention, I wondered what would happen, and I'm very sorry to hear of the tragic results. Is there still a nature vs. nurture debate going on? Seems like most had decided both components are extremely important, but I lean toward nature. For those interested here's more information on the boy, David Reimer. Why did David Reimer commit suicide? - By John Colapinto - Slate Magazine. Although this case was publicized, I don't believe it's all that rare.

i seen that on private practice too. I was wondering if it was a common thing or has it been kept private all these years. :rolleyes:

This is what we're getting into in my Biology class right now! I'm so not into science, but this part is fascinating to me! With all the things that can go wrong, it's amazing that anyone is born healthy!

Wow! You learn something new everyday! lol :p

Thanks, Julie, for starting this thread, and thanks, Nancy, for all the information. :)