It’s the process that happens when the fetus is 7 weeks old. THAT is when the process called wolfen begins. All fetuses up to that point are female. At that time, hormones that determine the sex of the child are released. Too much or too little and you have a problem.
About 20 years ago I read a paper where the researchers exposed pregnant rats to marijuana smoke.
Many of the male offspring showed no sexual interest in females, only in males.
If this worked the same way in humans,it would explain a lot of what we see.
MM
I agree with your thoughts .... The uterine environment, bombarded by excess T2 (testosterone) or imbalanced w estrogen casts the mold.
I believe there is more to that though...
There is some interesting research that looked at Monoamine Oxidase - A (MAO-A) activity in male children as they became adults monitoring for correlations between MAO A gene, maltreatment, and antisocial behavior (Caspi et al., 2002; Science). Interestingly, subjects who suffered abuse and carried the low - activity MAO-A gene were 9 times more likely as the rest of the study group to engage in antisocial behavior such as persistent fighting, bullying, lying, stealing or disobeying rules in adolescence. This group accounted for only 12 percent of the subjects but 44 percent of the study group’s convictions for violent crime.
Interesting study which suggests that there is a strong environmental effect (frequent changes in primary caregivers, rejection by mother, or physical or sexual abuse) that determines the ultimate outcome as well.
For what it is worth...
MFO
Your statement is incorrect. Sex is determined at conception by the child either getting an X or Y chromosome from the father.
What happens later and has often been misunderstood is that there is a hormone release around the seventh week and after that the child begins to show either male or female characteristics.
The hormones do not cause a child to be male or female, they happen because the child is either male or female.