LF: The astonishing village where little girls turn into boys aged 12

Title: The astonishing village where little girls turn into boys aged 12
Source: UK Telegraph
URL Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sci ... ls-turn-into-boys-aged-12.html
Published: Sep 20, 2015
Author: Sarah Knapton
Post Date: 2015-09-20 16:31:42 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 5082
Comments: 30

In a remote village in the Dominican Republic girls become boys at puberty because of a rare genetic disorder

In every way, Johnny is physically and biologically male. But, astonishingly he did not grow a penis until he hit puberty.

“I remember I used to wear a little red dress,” he said. “I was born at home instead of in a hospital. They didn’t know what sex I was.

“I went to school and I used to wear my skirt. I never liked to dress as a girl. When they bought me girls toys I never bothered playing with them. All I wanted to do was play with the boys.”

Johnny, who was seemingly born as a girl but turned into a boy aged seven

The rare genetic disorder occurs because of a missing enzyme which prevents the production of a specific form of the male sex hormone - dihydro-testosterone - in the womb.

All babies in the womb, whether male or female, have internal glands known as gonads and a small bump between their legs called a tubercle. At around eight weeks, male babies who carry the Y chromosome start to produce dihydro-testosterone in large amounts, which turns the tubercle into a penis. For females, the tubercle becomes a clitoris.

But some male babies are missing the enzyme 5-±-reductase which triggers the hormone surge, so they appear to be born female with no testes and what appears to be a vagina. It is not until puberty, when another huge surge of testosterone is produced, that the male reproductive organs emerge. What should have happened in the womb happens around 12 years later. Their voices deepen and they finally grow a penis.

For Johnny it happened at the age of seven. He claimed that he had never felt like a little girl and was far happier after he fully became a boy.

“When I changed I was happy with my life,” he said.

A little girl named Carla is currently going through the same transformation, aged nine. Despite being brought up as a girl, his mother noticed that from the age of five he was more inclined towards the rough and tumble play of little boys. He has recently had his hair cut shirt after wearing plaits for years.

“I feel like a man now,” he said.

Many decide not to change from their female names, so some men in Salinas have names like Catherine.

The guevedoces were first discovered by a Cornell University endocrinologist Dr Julianne Imperato in the 1970s who travelled to Dominican Republic after hearing strange rumours about girls turning into boys.

Further cases have since been seen in the Sambian villages of Papua New Guinea although the Sambians view the children as flawed males and they are often shunned, unlike the Dominicans who welcome the transformation with widespread celebration.

Dr Michael Mosely

Dr Mosley said: “I hated going through puberty; voice cracking, swinging moods, older brother laughing at me. But compared to Johnny, I had it easy.

“Guevedoces are also sometimes called “machihembras” meaning “first a woman, then a man”. When they’re born they look like girls with no testes and what appears to be a vagina. It is only when they near puberty that the penis grows and testicles descend.

“When Dr Imperato investigated the Guavadoces she discovered the reason they don’t have male genitalia at birth is because they are deficient in an enzyme called 5-±-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone.

“By a quirk of chance Dr Imperato’s research was picked up by the American pharmaceutical giant, Merck. They used her discovery to create a drug called finasteride, which blocks the action of 5-±-reductase.

“It is now widely used to treat benign enlargement of the prostate and male pattern baldness. For which, I’m sure, many men are truly grateful.”

Around one in 90 children in Salinas are guevedoces and although they resemble sexually normal males, subtle differences do still exist in adulthood. Most have decreased amounts of facial hair and smaller prostate glands relative to the average male.

It is thought that the condition has persisted through generations because of the isolation of the villagers. Because the disorder is so widespread and accepted, the Dominican Republic now believes that there are three sexual categories, male, female, and pseudohermaphrodite.

“Countdown to Life – the extraordinary making of you “ on Monday 21st September, BBC2, 9pm.

But the key is that they have the XY chromosome. They don't look like boys, but they have testes inside of them, not ovaries, and when the testosterone dump comes at puberty, they mature into males - apparently fertile (the article does not suggest otherwise).

So, they're boys chromosomally, girls by inspection, until they turn into boys at puberty. Interesting.

Which means they can be identified at birth. Wonder my this is not routinely done in that village?

Cost. Why do it? It would catch little, and it changes nothing. Little boys and little girls do the same things: eat, play, go to school. If the boys turn into boys - well - that's a REAL, NATURAL transgender situation. Just letting nature take its course has worked for them, so why do more?

A DNA test in a remote village in one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere?

You obviously have no idea how poor villagers are in the DR. Most can't even afford running water or electricity,so they aren't about to spend money to answer a question that will answer itself in a few years.

Why is democracy held in such high esteem when itâ€™s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)

Are you kidding? If this is such a rarity the international medical research community should be all over it. The cost is inconsequential. Also, how could you claim that the detection of the X-Y chromosone would catch little -to- nothing?

Gee, I guess we should have just let nature take its course and never inquire why the Sun rises in the East every morning and sets in the West every evening. Why should we have done more to learn about it?

Also, I guess you feel the same way about illness and death. Just let nature take its course and why do more?

Ping #7. Then this type of think is not that significant of an event in the medical and scientific community. Let's just delete this article as it is not even trivia.

It's a genuine medical abnormality that has Mother Nature correcting her own mistake. Nobody was hurt to produce this report,other than maybe a few ignorant posters who want to pretend they are "REAL he-men with no female genes. They may lose a little sleep over it,but that's their problem. They are probably already sleepless over having nipples.

Why is democracy held in such high esteem when itâ€™s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012)

The anthropologists will no doubt study them for many years to come. More so since it is considered something to celebrate and is a natural occurence of the mythical "third sex" and that is how the natives regard it.

Won't belong before the transgender advocates cite this to claim that what they are doing is "natural".

Illness and death are bad: so invest the money in that. Knowing whether a girl will turn into a boy is just curiosity, and the money spent on that could be spent on reducing cholera. So spend it on cholera and don't worry about something that's harmless and takes care of itself.

Well, maybe, except what's happening in this case really IS natural: some girls turn into boys at puberty. I'd never heard of it before. Seems interesting. Down there, when it happens they think it's cool and have a party. Seems to me if God plays this little surprise on people, and the people it happens to thinks it cool and the society celebrates it, that it's just a thing to be left alone.

It's not at all the same thing as a girl who is a girl, with the hormones of a girl and the XX, is psychologically screwed up and wants to surgically maim herself to become a boy. Or vice versa.

I'm sure people can, and will, claim any old damned thing, but the difference between a real naturally- occurring gender swap that happens on it's own and everybody throws a party, and something that requires surgery and psychological treatment and leaves trauma for a lifetime is that the natural thing is natural and normal - if rare - and sorta cool - while the unnatural thing is unnatural and crazy.

Some folks don't have much facial hair: Amerindians, for the most part. Also, these changers.

It would be a blessing to not have to shave every day. I have no use for the shaving. If I don't, I look like Cousin It within a couple of days, and it's not a good look.

I suppose I could let it go and turn into ZZ Top, except it wouldn't be long and straight but twisted and curly and would mat.

So, seems like these changers get a benefit: get to be a male, without having to scrape your face every day.

Why do you assume that what happened at age twelve that should have happened in the womb is a natural phenomena? The fact that we never heard of this happening before should tell you that it is not a natural thing as it rarely ever happens. A bit of medical research would most likely settle the question but may more likely open a can of worms. Since the rest of the world doesn't GAS about these poor remote peasants leaving well enough alone is a satisfactory response. That seems a bit pathetic to me.

Researching it is fine, as long as the natives get a benefit out of it and don't have to pay for it.

I thought I read in the article that the doctor they spoke of HAD researched it, and identified the issue as an enzyme thing.

Reminds me of that South African girl runner who beat everything, then they tested and found out that her ovaries were actually testes. S/he must've been a case like this. I don't think it had a happy ending for her/him, because she had no idea, and had been a big champion, and has always been a girl, and still was one by inspection, but now all of a sudden she could no longer compete.

"I thought I read in the article that the doctor they spoke of HAD researched it, and identified the issue as an enzyme thing."

That hardly settles, much less defines, the issue. Do all eventually male children of that population experience the delayed growth of a penis? If so what determines who does and who doesn't? Is it something that is linked to the maternal side or the faternal side or neither? Is there a dietary cause? Do men that mature that late have problems in procreating or any other physical problems? Why does it only happen to males? Etc., etc. etc.

I'm sure Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen Degeneras will go to the DR and drink the water.

Not surprising that this article surfaces now in the gender bender era of Bruce Jenner. The pharmaceutical companies have know about this village probably for years and used the research to artificially "treat" kids entering puberty who want to eventually have a sex change operation.

So this article about something rare and natural is spin fodder for the kooks in the comfortable US and West who want to artificially change their gender.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.---Revelation 1:5b-6

At the very least, the villagers should get some help identifying which "girls" will turn into boys. This will help them properly socialize them as such. Should be easy to do if 100% of them do turn to boys. But the West is interested in finding new justifications for their sexual perversions and see these villagers as helping to promote such. They are not at all interested in helping soon to be boys be boys from the get go.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.---Revelation 1:5b-6

They could give them trace amounts of testosterone to make their development more normal. But the natives don't seem unhappy about this situation, according to the article.

You are always going to have rotten eggs among a good batch no matter what. The real problem was that some bishops instead of discarding the rotten eggs decided transferring them to another carton would somehow work.

To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.---Revelation 1:5b-6