Gone are the days when gender clearly defined having a penis or vagina. Today we know that the human psyche is also important. His inner assessment of whether he feels like a man or a woman. Transsexualism is not a perversion, but a situation in which your hormonal gender does not agree with your psychological gender. Check what determines the sex of a man?

Human genderhas become the subject not only of research but also of fierce debate. Meanwhile, in nature, the division into two separate genders is not obligatory. In lower animals, it does not have to be permanent - many change sex over the course of their individual lives! In some species the differences between males and females are large, in others they are minimal. And how is it with people?

Gender - 100 percent biology?

The encyclopedia informs that sex is a group of female (female) or male (male) characteristics that determine sexual reproduction. The so-called primary sexual characteristics are having the testicles or ovaries, the secondary ones - the vas deferens and penis, or the uterus and vagina. After all, the tertiary are differences in body structure (e.g. breasts in women) or hair growth. But this definition only shows the tip of the iceberg. Man and woman differ not only in body composition. Also, for example, physiology, i.e. the work of organs, cells, tissues, but also the way of perceiving the world, sensitivity, i.e. the entire psychological sphere. By defining gender as having a penis or vagina, the encyclopedia simply makes the problem shallow. Gender is not just about having or not having certain organs. We can differentiate it on the basis of different behaviors of a man and a woman, as well as whether a given individual feels like a man or a woman.

Modern science uses various criteria of a person's gender:

  • genetic gender - the basic gender differentiation factor: men have a karyotype 46, XY, and women 46, XX (there are also karyotypes with a disturbed configuration of sex chromosomes)
  • gonadal sex - presence of gonads (in male testes, in female ovaries)
  • genital sex - external genitalia (penis and scrotum in men, clitoris and labia in women)
  • hormonal sex - the relation of the relative amount of secreted sex hormones (androgens predominate in men, estrogens in women)
  • gonadophoretic sex - primary pathways leading to the production of gonads (in the male sex from Wolff's ductsthe vas deferens develop, and in the female sex, the Müllerian tubes are produced by the fallopian tubes)
  • gender - conditioned by the production of gametes: female egg cells and male sperm
  • phenotypic sex - secondary sexual characteristics (e.g. body hair in men, mammary glands in women)
  • somatic sex - anthropometric image and other determinants of the external structure of the human body
  • psychological gender - the sum of features, behaviors, stereotypes and gender roles adopted by people depending on culture and socialization
  • social gender (record) - birth certificate and gender role

What is the gender test?

Hormonal sex

Hormonal sex depends on whether the body produces predominantly male or female sex hormones. This determines the further development of sexual characteristics. In humans, the development of male sexual organs is influenced by androgenic hormones (mainly testosterone) secreted by the testes of the fetus. Development towards the female is self-limiting. Studies on people who had only rudimentary and hormonally inefficient gonads (testes or ovaries), and therefore no secretion of androgens, showed that they developed a uterus and fallopian tubes - regardless of their chromosomal sex (i.e. being genetically female or male)! In the 7th week of life, the human embryo has structures that transform into epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicles and ejaculatory ducts (the so-called Wolff's duct), as well as those from which the fallopian tubes and uterus (so-called Mpler duct) are formed. So it is androgynous! Only in the third month of fetal life, sex begins to be concrete. When the testes of the fetus function, Wolff's ducts differentiate into male sex organs, and the Mpler's ducts fail to atrophy. In the absence of testicles, the fallopian tubes and the uterus begin to form, with the presence of the ovaries unnecessary. Interestingly, the development of the fallopian tubes and uterus takes place even in the complete absence of gonads!

A woman is the primary gender

A similar innate tendency towards the feminization of the human species concerns the development of the external genitalia, i.e. the penis and clitoris. First, the so-called a urinary fissure with a sexual lump overlying it, which can develop into both the male penis and the female clitoris. The development of the male form of these organs follows stimulation with androgens. This happens before the 12th week of gestation. If there is no such stimulation by male hormones (no testes in the fetus), a clitoris is produced, even when the individual has a male genetic gender (see box). So you cansay that men, too, were once women, at least for the first three months after conception. Feminists are rightly (and satisfied!) To accept the thesis that Adam arose from Eve's rib, not the other way around, and that the male is a "freak of nature" formed from an originally female organism as a result of a mutation of the X chromosome in the Y chromosome, which ended the formation of testosterone.

Puberty, or sexuality in installments

The cells that produce androgenic hormones found in the testes of a male embryo (the so-called Leydig cells) die soon after birth and do not appear until puberty. Then the resumption of androgen production causes the formation of secondary sexual characteristics such as sexual hair, growth of the penis, prostate, seminal tubules, and then further sexual characteristics (e.g. voice mutation). But the development of male sexual characteristics is not only influenced by androgens. For example, the development of the seminal tubules in the testes occurs under the influence of gonadotropins secreted by the pituitary gland. The hormones of the adrenal glands, secreted in increased amounts during puberty, also contribute to the development of male sexual characteristics. In girls, an immature ovary produces a small amount of estrogen. It is only before puberty that the production of these hormones increases, which causes the development of the nipples and milk ducts, enlargement of the uterus and characteristic changes in the shape of the body. Hormones secreted by the adrenal glands only affect the development of pubic and axillary hair in women.

Psychological gender (gender)

We know more and more about gender, and our knowledge begins to form a meaningful whole. It is known that the process of differentiation begins at conception and is based on the principle of a chain. Certain chromosomes produce specific sexual organs. Different hormones also make the body structure and metabolism different. And how is it with the female and male soul? Do the psychological characteristics associated with the sense of belonging to a specific sex also result from human biology? Research has shown that psychological gender is not hereditary, but acquired early in life. A child becomes convinced of his or her gender due to the constant influence of those around him. This happens between 18 and 30 months of age. Boys and girls are usually treated differently. Fathers behave more harshly towards their sons, they prefer movement games with competition, e.g. wrestling, and they buy other toys. Daughters, on the other hand, are shown to be more sensitive, offer quiet games in which they are set up as mothers for dolls, etc. These different patterns in the early perioddevelopment, they consolidate their psychological gender in the child's consciousness. But parental mistakes at this stage can destroy the actions of nature so far and become the source of the child's future problems with the world and with himself. Dressing a boy as a girl and being treated "like a woman" can be so deeply embedded in his psyche that, although he was born with biological male characteristics, as an adult he will feel like a woman trapped in an unwanted body.

The issue of psychological gender is not that simple, however, and the way of upbringing is not the only variable that modifies our behavior. Undoubtedly, hormones influence the psychological differences between men and women. American W. C. Young administered testosterone to pregnant rhesus monkeys in the second quarter of their pregnancy. It turned out that the females born of these pregnancies were significantly masculinized (showed male features) in their behavior. The behavior of girls 4-14 years old, whose mothers were treated with hormones similar to androgens during pregnancy, was also investigated. Based on gender role preference tests, it was found that 9 out of 10 respondents showed boyish traits in the selection of toys and interests. These studies prove that hormones have a great influence on the development of the brain, our psyche and sexual identification - from the period of intrauterine life. So much biology! But man is, after all, a social being. His psyche is influenced by other people.

Important

The phenomenon of transsexualism did not appear suddenly - it has been present in many different cultures for a long time. Among Arabs, men who feel they are women are called xanith. There are berdache in North American Indians, secrata in Madagascar, and hijiras in India. But Western civilization is only just learning to accept the fact that a 100% biologically male can be a psychologically female and suffocate in his body. We begin to understand that man is a "being", a psychophysical whole, and not a set of cells and tissues with specific chromosomes. Not everyone is willing to accept it yet, but first steps have been made. The World He alth Organization (WHO) has recognized that transsexualism is not a disease, but a mental aberration that should be corrected according to the person's wishes. Perhaps the social acceptance of transsexualism is a step towards better gender understanding.

Transsexualism is not a deviation

Contrary to intersexuality (hermaphroditicism), in which there are bodily-hormonal-genetic disorders, a transsexual person has properly built genitals and a properly functioning endocrine system. But the opposite sex to the body is observedpsychical. Transsexualism is not a sexual deviation. It is characterized by permanent mental discomfort, even leading to suicidal thoughts due to having "inappropriate" sexual characteristics. This is accompanied by an overwhelming desire to transform into the opposite sex. Currently, the only method of treating people affected by this syndrome is gender correction, which is performed by surgical methods and supported by pharmacotherapy, mainly hormonal therapy. To establish the diagnosis, the person applying for sex reassignment is under psychological observation for at least two years. After that, you can apply to start a gender reassignment process, which ends with a court decision to change your identity.

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Psychology