Friday, September 9

Genetics and Gender

Today in my genetics class we talked about some peculiar genetic abnormalities and one of them I thought was pretty interesting but before we get to talk about it think about a few questions.
What makes you the gender you are?
Is it the hair on your chest? the fact that you like to play with dolls? Do you identify yourself with a particular gender only because that is the way you were raised? Or would you say you are who you are because of your genetics?
There is a particular genetic disorder that causes one to think about the source of our gender identities. Take a look at the picture below.
Does anything strike you about these ladies? Because in reality these Ladies (or should I say dudes) are in fact are genetically male. They were born with a particular genetic disorder called Androgen Insensitivity Disorder. This particular disorder is pretty interesting because as I stated before they are all genetically male meaning that they have an X chromosome and a Y chromosome just like any linebacker on a football team would. But the key difference here is a mutation in their genetic code which makes their cells unresponsive to testosterone the same hormone that causes all of the traits we normally associate with maleness.
So why are they female? To answer that question in very simple terms we would say that every human is "naturally" born a female, only through exposure during critical times during pregnancy (and later during puberty) to testosterone do male characteristics appear.

So what do you think makes you the gender you are? Is gender merely a social construct? I am not sure I would go that far but the moral of the story here is that the question of gender is more complicated than we think.