Usually women have two X chromosomes while men have one X chromosome and one Y chromosome. There are some cases where babies do not have any of these arrangements mentioned above (Through the Wormhole video). As people study these kind of cases, they have realized that there might be more than two sexes. For example, I learned that some women can be born with “Swyer syndrome”, which makes them anatomically and physiologically a female but they never achieve female sexual maturity (The Gene: An Intimate History). When their cells were examined, they discovered that they had XY chromosomes in their cells. Basically, they were chromosomally male but anatomically, physiologically, and psychologically female (The Gene: An Intimate History). Goodfellow discovered the SRY gene. This gene was the determinant of maleness but it was flicked off on women with Swyer …show more content…
These people were raised as girls but when they hit puberty they turned into boys (Through the Wormhole video). They had high levels of testosterone and their sex chromosomes were X and Y, although they were raised as girls. This happened because of DHT. DTH is a hormone that creates structures we associate with maleness. Guevedoces had a genetic mutation which prevented them from having or making DHT. This then affected the way they looked. Although they were raised as females, 95% of them transitioned to live as a male (Through the Wormhole video). This then resulted in the question about sex and gender. Biology says that sex is not as simple as the labels of male and female. For example, transgender people feel that their sex doesn’t really match who they are. People feel transgendered because they recognize their body, but they do not feel like it represents them (Through the Wormhole video). It’s like what they are seeing is them but not the real them. These examples also show that there are other possibilities apart from the two sexes we
Waardenburg Syndrome is a group of genetic conditions that can lead to hearing loss and changes in the color of hair, skin, and eyes (Genetics 2013). Cases of Waardenburg Syndrome are not very common. There are different types of symptoms of the syndrome. Waardenburg Syndrome can be inherited either on an autosomal dominant pattern or autosomal recessive pattern (Calendar 2013). The ways of diagnosing Waardenburg Syndrome include certain tests to detect the disorder. While Waardenburg Syndrome cannot be cured, treatments can be given to lessen the effects. Like other diseases, Waardenburg Syndrome has certain symptoms, inheritance patterns, diagnosis and treatments.
In her article "The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough," Anne Fausto-Sterling describes why male and female gender identities are not sufficient in identifying the sexes of every individual. While “Western culture is [still] deeply committed to the idea that there are only two sexes" (20), Fausto-Sterling challenges this viewpoint by determining that there are more than just two sexes, but “at least five sexes– and perhaps even more” (21). According to Fausto-Sterling, these five (or more) sexes lie on a much wider sexual spectrum, where male and female are not the only biological sexes. It so happens that there is a small number of people who are born intersex: having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics
Gender is a topic that not many people are educated on. When people think of gender, they think of boy and girl, people usually think of a girl having a vagina, and a boy having a penis. Many people have their thoughts on how each sex should behave which would be giving people gender roles, girls should play with Barbie dolls, and boys should play with trucks. There is more to gender than just the vagina and penis, In “Understanding The Complexities of Gender”, Sam Killermann talks about the distinct pieces that also comes with gender, like gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex. When people think of gender, the only part people think of is the biological sex.
Williams Syndrome is a genetic disorder that happens in the fetus stage and after birth. This syndrome is caused by the deletion of 26-28 genes in chromosome 7. Symptoms include facial deformities, trouble speaking, and the narrowing of the Aorta with many more symptoms.
Gender is a concept constructed entirely by society. We base gender off of what we perceive and what others perceive of us. Until fairly recently, it has been categorized as one of two things: male or female. When we watched the documentary in class, we saw evidence of society 's socialization of young children. Commercials for Nerf Guns, action figures, and cars and trucks were all depicted with young boys as their users. Never did we see a girl playing with GI Joes or with Hot Wheels, only boys played with those. Meanwhile, dolls, baking sets, and make up kits were only advertised to girls, and no boys were shown playing with Barbies or Bratz. Society begins to shape gender notions from a very early age, where people are shown that they are one or the other, either male or female.
Duane’s Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder. A Genetic disorder is usually a irregularity in the genes or in the chromosome, these irregularities can be anything from not fully developed, not being there at all, or even having an extra unneeded set. These When someone thinks of a genetic disorder they may think of the very well known disorder of Down's Syndrome, but what people may not know about is the rare disorder called Duane’s syndrome. This syndrome is eye movement limitation syndrome that is usually involved with restricting the eye(s) from moving to the left or right. Moving the eye towards the nose could result in the eye restricting, and/or the eye shooting up or down (Duane syndrome). The simple reason that it is a lesser known
Biological sex is determined by chromosomes in your genes. At prenatal development, only a few weeks after conception, there is no notable difference between male and female structure until the Gonadal Ridges, the structure which develops either female or male sex organs, grows to determine the sex of the baby. All prenatal babies have genitalia that appears distinctly feminine until at three months, hormones- testosterone if the baby’s to be a boy, and oestrogen if the baby’s to be a girl- is released and the baby develops into the hormone determined gender. For these reasons it is believed that there is a direct link between chromosomes and sex, and therefore sex and
It is about gender identity and how the gender of a person and their sexual orientation is sometimes complicated. There is no simple test to determine a person’s sex. They are usually either feminine or masculine (and sometimes in between). Some men dress like women, and vice versa. A person could look like a female on the outside, but have male sexual anatomy.
Y-linked genes typically determine sexual orientation, whereas X-linked genes typically determine an abundance of other traits because it’s much bigger than the Y-chromosome. Males are hemizygous because they lack a second copy of an X chromosome (XY), unlike women who have 2 (XX). This is why its much more common for a man to inherit an X-linked recessive disorder because they don’t have a second X chromosome to compensate. However, women can still express these traits and also be carriers if they are homozygous for the allele. A Barr body forms from the inactive X that
‘Gender should not be regarded merely as a matter of chromosomes. It is partly a psychological question, one of self-perception, and partly a social question, how society perceives the individual.’
A person’s sex is determined on the basis of three fundamental human physiognomies, chromosomes (XX for a female and XY for a male), gonads (ovaries for females and testes for males) and the obvious being genitals (vagina for a females and a penis for males). However socially, gender identity is formulated on the grounds of stereotypical roles from both
Through examining the ways intersex individuals are treated in a medical setting, one can see how science only allows binary bodies to be created. Crawley et al. (2007) discusses intersex individuals and the standard treatment of intersex children, being to alter their ‘abnormal’ genitalia to resemble one of the two genders. This has become the normal treatment as if this is necessary, but the only threat the child is in danger of is not fitting perfectly into the heteronormative standard of correct genitalia. Because surgical intervention proves we alter and change one’s sex, it becomes difficult to claim that sex and gender are solely biological, when clearly one’s gender and sex becomes largely altered the moment they are born into society. Anne Fausto Sterling, outlines her concept of the five sexes, explaining that intersex is a term used to describe any individual that doesn’t fit into the narrow categories of male and female. She explains that the same process that was in play in the Middle Ages is
In my preadolescence, my theory of developing from a girl into a woman was confirmed by my biology teacher. My biology teacher explained how a male and female sex was selected. She stated, a male consists of an X and Y chromosome; therefore, a man sperm predicts the sex (gender) of the baby during conception. During, this time, I learned that my gender was selected and identified before I had
When considering gender and sex, a layman’s idea of these terms might be very different than a sociologist’s. There is an important distinction: sex, in terms of being “male” or “female,” is purely the physical biological characteristic differences – primarily anatomical differences. (There are also rare cases of “intersexual” individuals as outlined in the Navarro article, “When Gender Isn’t a Given”.) Gender, on the other hand, is an often misconstrued concept that is commonly mistaken as synonymous with sex. A non-sociologist might surmise the following, “men act masculine and women act feminine, therefore, it must follow that gender is inherent to sex,” however, this is not necessarily the case.