Between The Sexes (Intersex Children)

Time Magazine ^ | 02.27.04 | Christine Gorman and Wendy Cole

[Paul C. Jesup]

Check out the BSTc region study on brains.

[watchin]

Bullseye. While we can feel sorry for the unfortunate people in the article, it is no excuse for perversion. Separate issues.

[GovernmentShrinker]

And then there was the mosaic woman who gave birth to a baby who was genetically her sister's offspring. Seems her fraternal twin sister had merged with her in utero, and most of the absorbed sister had turned into the surviving sister's ovaries.

[John O]

thanks for the ping.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Your welcome.

[Pyro7480]

Yeah, I am familiar with this too. It was in a textbook that I saw in the college bookstore that I worked in. Given the publication that this was published in, I think this is political.

[r9etb]

Carolyn Cossey: Started life as a "boy," later appeared nude in Playboy....

[optimistically_conservative]

Evolution's diversity at work.

An article that demonstrates the difficulty in life of dealing with what is within a construct of what ought and questioning why on both counts.

The more you learn, the less you know.

[John O]

sad birth defects. Eventually we'll find a way to prevent them. Of course dealing with those who suffer with these conditions now is a tricky problem. No easy answer I'd suppose.

[Paul C. Jesup]

sad birth defects. Eventually we'll find a way to prevent them. Of course dealing with those who suffer with these conditions now is a tricky problem. No easy answer I'd suppose.

Not as cut and dry as you originally thought.

[VxH]

>>People affected by this are not disfigured

Are they reproductively viable without medical intervention?

What is the net effect of reproductive fitness on groups containing a high incidence of this mutation?

[sonserae]

I read "Middlesex" as well and became very sympathetic towards the people who aren't either a girl or boy. It's an aweful way to live. At birth, a doctor chooses what the sex is, and in turn takes away the "feeling" down there....many aren't able to feel any sexual stimulation because it's been surgically removed. They grow up in a society that categorizes if you are a girl or a boy but what if you have the hormones for both? How confusing that would be. Although I have very conservative views, I couldn't help but put myself in the person's place. They were born with a physical deformity and the consequences of that are devastating. Everyone should read "Middlesex".

[John O]

Not as cut and dry as you originally thought.

No. my original contention is still cut and dried. Gender is determined by Chromosomes. However, just like the previously mentioned spina bifida et al birth defects happen and need to be dealt with. Marriage is between a woman (XX) and a man (XY).

[Mr. Bird]

I took lots of endocrinology and physio-psych back in the day. Such conditions are rare, though not outrageously so, and must be heartbreaking to parents. We're talking about a fundamental characteristic of identity, and it's ambiguous. And I don't think anyone could comprehend what goes through the mind of an individual who lives with such ambiguity.

[ahayes]

Well, I haven't found that original article yet, but I found two other cases:

"Chimerism in a woman with a 46,XY karyotype and female phenotype," Human Reproduction, 2001, 16, 56-58.

"Demonstration of spontaneous XX/XY chimerism by DNA fingerprinting," Human Genetics, 1989, 82, 197-198.

I didn't read the second article (published too early to be online) but the first involves a woman with a normal reproductive system but some of her tissues have XX cells and some XY. She had a baby at 17 and was seeing the doctor because of infertility (unrelated). This article references the other case and says that in that case the woman had XY cells identical genetically to her twin brother's. They don't say if she had children, but said she was phenotypically normal.

The article I'm looking for is even more interesting because the woman had one normal ovary and the other had a mixture of XX ovarian and XY testicular tissue.

[js1138]

I don't think this is a mutation in the usual sense of the word, although I would defer to the biologists on this one. I do know from my background in special education that people with anomalous chrosomes are usually, but not always, sterile.

Sex is not always fixed in animals. The clownfish father in "Finding Nemo" would, in real life, have turned into a female upon the death of his mate.

[Paul C. Jesup]

What part of "hormonal conditions" did not understand.

[Paul C. Jesup]

What part of "hormonal conditions" did you not understand.

[Paul C. Jesup]

Yea, I heard about that a couple of months ago. Thanks

[Mr. Bird]

Are they reproductively viable without medical intervention?

Many who have these conditions have what is called "streaked" gonads; meaning they are not functional. The androgen insensitivity syndrome will cause this, as will it's converse, fetal androgen syndrome, which is when female embryos are affected by testosterone from a fraternal (boy) twin.

The short answer to your question is that the truly complex cases are not able to reproduce, with or without medical intervention.