In the past, children with intermediate development of the external genitals were sometimes sexually misidentified. Doctors recommended raising the children as girls since it would be easier to surgically make them look more like females. The sad thing is, the surgery effected the ability to enjoy sex as adults. The other important thing to remember is that as these children were being raised as girls their brains were exposed to more testosterone. While this may change their preferences to more boy typical toys or activities it doesn't mean to say they are more manly. Think of it more accurately like they are more tomboyish. These genetic females may have interest in both boy and girl things and as you can imagine, this effects the preference in mates to also be intermediate- both boys and girls.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH)
The topic of intersexes was interesting to me and reading about congenital adrenal hyperplasia raised questions. This is why I decided to write about CAH this week. The book explains intersexes as individuals in having intermediate anatomies of both male and female. CAH is common cause of intersexes. In short, individuals with CAH have a genetic mutation they have inherited. The body doesn't produce enough cortisol so then the adrenals over produces androgens. When androgens are made in excess in the fetus it can cause the female clitoris to be abnormal in size and cause other masculine features. I had a question of whether or not CAH only affected girls. The book didn't discuss much on the topic and didn't mention boys being affected. As it turns out, yes, boys are also known to have CAH. The difference is that boys do not experience changes in their anatomy like girls do. Their genitals are normal but they tend to go through a growth spurt before puberty. These boys may be shorter because they grew sooner.
In the past, children with intermediate development of the external genitals were sometimes sexually misidentified. Doctors recommended raising the children as girls since it would be easier to surgically make them look more like females. The sad thing is, the surgery effected the ability to enjoy sex as adults. The other important thing to remember is that as these children were being raised as girls their brains were exposed to more testosterone. While this may change their preferences to more boy typical toys or activities it doesn't mean to say they are more manly. Think of it more accurately like they are more tomboyish. These genetic females may have interest in both boy and girl things and as you can imagine, this effects the preference in mates to also be intermediate- both boys and girls.
There is a family that have taken on this new way of raising their children. The children after they are born are given gender neutral name. They are given a variety of both boy and girl toys and are dressed as neutrally as possible. As the children get older, they are given the choice to dress themselves in girl and/or boy clothes. The thought is that the child will determine its own gender without any influences or expectations. I have included a news clip of the family in Canada who raise their children this way. What are your thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with genderless child raising?
In the past, children with intermediate development of the external genitals were sometimes sexually misidentified. Doctors recommended raising the children as girls since it would be easier to surgically make them look more like females. The sad thing is, the surgery effected the ability to enjoy sex as adults. The other important thing to remember is that as these children were being raised as girls their brains were exposed to more testosterone. While this may change their preferences to more boy typical toys or activities it doesn't mean to say they are more manly. Think of it more accurately like they are more tomboyish. These genetic females may have interest in both boy and girl things and as you can imagine, this effects the preference in mates to also be intermediate- both boys and girls.
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4 comments:
Awesome post, I thought this topic was interesting as well. I never really agreed in the styles the parents raise genderless children, I don't know it always seems off to me, only because you know...they don't have a choice in the matter on how they want to be raised either male or female its the parents that choose. There are rare incidents I read some where that there are children who keep both the ovary and the testes and the parents raise them like that anyway I think its the same thing isn't it? I don't know, if I had children born this way I really wouldn't know what I would do or what parenting style I should use.
I remember hearing about this family. In fact, I think I actually saw this news piece. I definitely support the idea of not forcing gender roles on children. However, regardless of how hard you try to be gender-neutral, society is going to decide for you and there's nothing you can do about it. What this family is doing is extreme and it really just seems like the parents were trying to get their 15 minutes of fame. It's one thing for them to not want to tell the world whether their kid is a boy or girl. Fine, no one has to know. But to not tell the kid? That's ridiculous. I think for them to raise their kids in that extreme of a fashion could ultimately be detrimental to his/her social development. It just rubs me the wrong way that people who probably have no education in child development are using their baby as a social experiment to make a point.
i remember hearing about this as well. i cant say what if im in favor or against this idea of not forcing gender roles on children. i know that theres a good and bad side to this idea, because yeah its good that the parents are letting the child chose who he or she wants to be but at the same time not everyone thinks this way and the child can be mentally harmed for the choices it may take.
I think that is very sad. These girls do not get to enjoy their life because of the way their body is. I cant imagine having my female body parts abnormal. Even though many people may not know that it is like that, im sure they wouldnt feel comfortable doing certain things or wearing certain things like swimsuits.
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