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Posted on 02/18/2005 3:09:21 PM PST by srm913
It's the first question new parents hear: girl or boy? But hundreds of babies are born each year where the gender isn't clear. Prompt surgery to assign one was once the norm.
But gender depends on more than anatomy or hormones. It also seems to stem from the very earliest brain development, researchers said Friday in urging doctors to hold off on the knife until children can determine their own sex.
"To discover who or what a child is ... you have to ask them," Dr. William Reiner of the Oklahoma University Health Science Center told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
"There is no one biological parameter that clearly defines sex," added Dr. Eric Vilain of the University of California, Los Angeles, whose research suggests gender is genetically hard-wired into the brain before birth — regardless of which genitalia develop.
The issue is "intersex," the name for numerous conditions that result in roughly one in 4,000 babies born with both male and female traits.
One of the more common is congenital adrenal hyperplasia. In such cases, genetic girls with XX chromosomes are exposed in the womb to such high levels of androgen — the hormone that triggers male development — that they appear male externally even if they have female reproductive organs. A different condition leaves genetic males less responsive to androgen during development, so they're born without a penis.
The parents must pick a gender somehow, to know what to call their child and because gender is required on a birth certificate. So specialists check non-obvious factors such as which sex chromosomes the child has and levels of sex hormones in the blood.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
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I have heard of this, but IMO even though the outside of the baby appears abnormal, the inside will obviously tell us what the sex of the child is, so dress the child the sex that child is. So, I think they should not operate on the child's sex organs and let time and hormones likely change things a bit. Scary!
LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So was the baby a boy or girl? And was the baby made a girl after being born a boy? I'm confused
Thank God I don't have this idiot as my doctor!!! I'm thinking either affirmative action or mail order medical degree...
BTTT
The baby was born a boy. Basically, his pubic area never fused together, so you could see his bladder, etc. Anyway, between the parents and the docs, it was decided to alter his sex and make him a girl.
"Amazing, with many posts here, only you and one other even mention that chromosomes/genes/DNA determine what sex a person really is."
That's because it isn't a simple matter of checking the chromosomes. Prenatal hormones have such an effect on the way our brains develop, the child could still wind up having been made the wrong sex.
I'm no medical professional but I think those doctors messed that boy up if he was born a boy but had messed up sex organs. The book that was mentioned above, As Nature Made Him, was about a twin boy that was made into a girl. I think his circumcison went wrong and eventually, after being talked into by some psychologist, they made him a girl. It completely ruined the man's life. He was still a male on the inside. He committed suicide not so many years ago.
Sounds like someone needed to inflict some pain on Nurse Ratched. I'm glad the nurses stood up to her. I wonder how that boy is doing today with the decision that was made for him by those doctors. He'd be about 14 now. It would be interesting to know if he likes being a girl.
2004
Tragic Twins Doomed by Cruel Sex Swap (The Mirror (UK) - N/A)
David Reimer, 38, Subject of the John/Joan Case, Dies (New York Times)
David Reimer - The boy who lived as a girl (CBC News)
2000
The Boy who was Turned into a Girl (BBC (UK))
How awful! I'm sure this little boy will grow up wearing a skirt, but wanting wear pants and act like a boy. When he is grown his friends will tell him he is gay cause chances are he will like girls, not boys, since he is a boy in a skirt. Sad, very sad.
"My sentiments exactly. Yes birth defects happen, BUT, this is the same doctor who was on Oprah, telling the parents of a six year old who said he wanted to be a girl, to let him be a girl if thats what he wanted. His Mom was doing his nails and other stuff, encouraging him, the Dad told her to stop, This doctor told the father he might have to accept the fact that his son was gay, and even allow surgical altering. These folks are all nuts!!!!"
However, they have a 99% failure rate for reversing gender identity problems. In the case of the 6 year old, trying psychotherapy will most probably fail. The medical profession is currently of the consensus that prenatal endocrine anomalies case the condition.
I misspoke last evening; my apologies.
I misspoke last evening; my apologies.
I misspoke last evening; my apologies.
Got Y chromosome?
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