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Penes At Twelve

Yithian

Parish Watch
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The astonishing village where little girls turn into boys aged 12

By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
12:01AM BST 20 Sep 2015

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.

He is one of many children who live in Salinas, an isolated village in the southwestern Dominican Republic, who are seemingly born female, only to become men in their teenage years.

Although Johnny’s story may seem extraordinary, cases of little girls turning into boys are so prevalent in the village that it is no longer considered abnormal. The children are simply referred to as the ‘guevedoces’ – which literally translates as ‘penis at 12’

Continued in amazing detail:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/sci...here-little-girls-turn-into-boys-aged-12.html
 
I don't like sticking interesting new posts on dead Frankenthreads.
 
I don't like sticking interesting new posts on dead Frankenthreads.
It's hardly dead! The last post was just two months ago! A thread of that nature would be unlikely to get daily updates. (Much like a thread about girls who grow male genitalia!) :twisted:
 
This September 2015 item from National Geographic:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/people/the-village-where-girls-turn-into-boys.aspx

... provides more details as to what proportion of the village's children are affected (circa 2%) and what causes the apparent transformation.

Those with the condition are referred to as Guevedoces which translates to ‘penis at 12’ or Machihembras which translates to ‘first a woman, then a man’.

It’s thought that around two percent of the village’s babies are born with the condition.

So what’s behind this odd phenomenon?

In the womb, all babies – male and female – have a small bump between their legs called a tubercle.

At around the two month mark, babies with the Y chromosome begin producing dihydro-testosterone. This hormone causes the tubercle to turn into a penis.

However, if the enzyme that causes this hormone surge is missing, the male baby doesn’t grow a penis.

When puberty happens, a huge surge of testosterone is released, causing the male reproductive organs to finally appear.

Cornell University’s Dr Julianne Imperato-McGinley was the first to find the guevedoces when she travelled to the Dominican Republic in the 1970s.
 
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