Dec 15 2009
Will the True Gender Please Take a Bow
If you are not perfectly female nor perfectly male, you can come out of the closet now. Science continues to reveal how complex and varied the development of gender is.
Consider this recent finding – Ovaries must suppress their inner male.
For an ovary to remain an ovary, the female organ has to continuously suppress its inner capacity to become male. That’s the conclusion of a study in the December 11th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, revealing that the ovaries of mice can be reprogrammed into testes (minus the sperm) by silencing a single gene.
So Freud was right with all his “penis envy” talk and whatnot? Deep down inside woman want to become male, literally even?
But wait a minute. Any fetus, XX or XY, that is not exposed to testosterone in utero — or is blocked from responding to it via a genetic disorder or experimental intervention — will develop a “female body plan.” The transition to maleness is precarious and results in a great number of birth defects. Some claim it is linked to males’ greater mortality rate throughout the lifespan.
As you might guess, there have been people who argue that this makes the default sex “female.” We all begin life as a female. Of course, this can be viewed as complimentary to one gender. Or the other.
XX) Aha! We all begin life as physical females, until testosterone makes some male! Males, in fact, could be considered a developmental afterthought, an alteration of a more original form. Go team ovaries!
XY) Aha! Males are the upgrade sex! We all begin life in the default category, and some are upgraded into first-class maleness! Go team testes!
Is there a default or true gender? Please.
We are growing and changing lumps of biological clay, molded by many factors, the primary of these being genes and sex hormones. When it comes to gender, perfect and true are in the eye of the beholder. Those with keener eyesight tend to see how complex the issue really is. Biologically, psychologically, socially.
