Gender is someone’s conscious and unconscious feelings ofbelonging to one sex or another. Each year, about 1 in 4500children are born with a disorder involving sexual development,where the chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex isatypical. Here we will consider two similar cases with different outcomes.In case 1, a 2-year-old child displayed a mosaic chromosomecomposition of 45,X/46,XY, with one ovary, one testis, a uterus, andambiguous genitalia. In case 2, a fetus was diagnosed with a mosaicchromosome composition of 46,XX/47,XXY, and after birth, also displayedone testis, one ovary, a uterus, and ambiguous genitalia. Thechild in case 1 was adopted from an orphanage and raised as a girl.After consultation with the medical team, the parents decided tocontinue raising the child as a girl and requested surgery that wouldassign the child female sex characteristics. In case 2, the parentsdecided to forego treatment and let the child make the choice aboutgender later in life and to remain neutral about the child’s presentcondition. These cases raise questions about sex determination andthe ethics of sex and gender assignment. Question: In humans, what is the role of the MSY region of the Y chromosome in sex determination and gender development?
Gender is someone’s conscious and unconscious feelings of
belonging to one sex or another. Each year, about 1 in 4500
children are born with a disorder involving sexual development,
where the chromosomal, gonadal, or anatomical sex is
atypical. Here we will consider two similar cases with different outcomes.
In case 1, a 2-year-old child displayed a mosaic chromosome
composition of 45,X/46,XY, with one ovary, one testis, a uterus, and
ambiguous genitalia. In case 2, a fetus was diagnosed with a mosaic
chromosome composition of 46,XX/47,XXY, and after birth, also displayed
one testis, one ovary, a uterus, and ambiguous genitalia. The
child in case 1 was adopted from an orphanage and raised as a girl.
After consultation with the medical team, the parents decided to
continue raising the child as a girl and requested surgery that would
assign the child female sex characteristics. In case 2, the parents
decided to forego treatment and let the child make the choice about
gender later in life and to remain neutral about the child’s present
condition. These cases raise questions about sex determination and
the ethics of sex and gender assignment.
Question: In humans, what is the role of the MSY region of the Y chromosome in sex determination and gender development?
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