Medical treatment carries possible side effect of limiting homosexuality

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

I like you.

Question, since I forget, Is this drug addressing just ambiguous genitalia or also addressing internal intersex-ism? (Not the right word, not about to think what I mean.) That is, are gonads/uterus etc. affected by the condition and addressed by the drug or just the development of the penis/clitoris, scrotum/labia, etc.

It's about external genitalia. This is just about protecting female fetuses from excessive masculinization. In severe cases, the baby will have a large clitoris that will look like a small penis. The reason this is important to treat is to prevent the need for surgery. The medication doesn't treat the underlying disease process that must still be treated after birth. Male patients with this disease just have normal male external genitalia so they don't get diagnosed until they get really sick because they have low cortisol levels.

Internal genitalia is always female unless a Y chromosome is present. Males will have ovaries, too, if they have a disorder called androgen insensitivity. Basically, it's like they have an Y chromosome but their tissue doesn't recognize any of the hormones.

Interesting, eh?

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

It's about external genitalia. This is just about protecting female fetuses from excessive masculinization. In severe cases, the baby will have a large clitoris that will look like a small penis. The reason this is important to treat is to prevent the need for surgery. The medication doesn't treat the underlying disease process that must still be treated after birth. Male patients with this disease just have normal male external genitalia so they don't get diagnosed until they get really sick because they have low cortisol levels.

Internal genitalia is always female unless a Y chromosome is present. Males will have ovaries, too, if they have a disorder called androgen insensitivity. Basically, it's like they have an Y chromosome but their tissue doesn't recognize any of the hormones.

Interesting, eh?

I actually knew the later bit. Thanks though. If it's just addressing the external genitals I don't have much of a problem with it. I'm not a fan of early reassignment surgery myself.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

I actually knew the later bit. Thanks though. If it's just addressing the external genitals I don't have much of a problem with it. I'm not a fan of early reassignment surgery myself.

The problem with not doing early surgery is that - 1. It is harder to do the surgeries later since they are multi stage procedures and it's easier to control the children postop. 2. There is a LOT of stigma for children growing up in school with NO assigned sex. Who do they play with? What bathroom do they use? A lot of human sex characteristics are learned. Much of this is learned during very early childhood. It is next to impossible not to imprint some type of gender trait onto a child- male or female. 3. For the genetically male children that are reassigned as females, it is because there is NO WAY to form a functioning male penis. These children will not grow into adults who can have sex. The vast majority (98%) grow up to be normal, though infertile, sexually active women versus infertile non-sexually active men. This is a better option than 100% nonfunctional men or 100% ostracized children who are allowed to choose what they want to be and >50% become nonfunctional men. The 2% that are unhappy have been blown out of proportion with regard to the 98% that have been very successfully treated.