Sunday, May 11, 2025

Biodiversity: Male? Female?

A friend of mine posted the following on Facebook:

“It’s a scientific fact that humans come in two varieties: XX for female, and XY for male. Except:

  • You can be born appearing female but have a 5-alpha reductase deficiency and grow a penis at age 12.
  • You can be born legally male with an X and a Y chromosome, but your body is insensitive to androgens, and you appear female.
  • You can be born legally male with an X and a Y chromosome and have a penis and testes and a uterus and fallopian tubes.
  • You can be born legally male with an X and a Y chromosome, but your Y chromosome is missing the SRY gene, which gives you a female body.
  • You can be born legally female with two X chromosomes, but one of the Xs has an SRY gene, which gives you a male body.
  • You can be born legally female with two X chromosomes, but your adrenal gland doesn’t produce enough cortisol, and your body develops as male.
  • You can be born with XX chromosomes and XY chromosomes (chimerism).”

I call this diversity. 

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6 comments:

  1. I call it very interesting. New facts that I didn’t know a thing about.

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  2. I love how you succinctify complex subjects, Connie! (Yes, that's my own word.) For a totally contrary approach to the same subject, folks can follow this link: https://www.healthandenvironment.org/che-webinars/96689

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  3. The sequence of events that must occur to produce a mutation free XX or XY person is amazing. So prone to mishaps, it is ~36 times more likely to be born intersex than missing an arm. In the US, there are approximately 5.8 million people with an intersex issue. I can't imagine, in today's political climate, being told that it can be "cured" through therapy.

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  4. There was a fascinating report on This American Life recently in which a judge very interestingly questioned the Trump administration´s efforts to bar transgender people from the military.
    https://www.thisamericanlife.org/857/museum-of-now/exhibit-three-10

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  5. Thank you for the link, Becky. Funny, repulsive, scary, very informative.

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  6. Someone told me they could not use my link. Here is a YouTube link to the same program.

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