The village where boys are born as girls

Jun 18, 2007
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The village where boys are born as girls: Genetic deformity means Dominican Republic babies are born apparently female and only grow male sex organs at puberty
Around one in 90 babies born in Salinas have the remarkable condition
Due to lack of dihydro-testosterone in womb because of missing enzyme
Transition is so common children are called Guevedoces, or 'penis at 12'
Many children keep their female names but say they never felt like girls
By LYDIA WILLGRESS FOR MAILONLINE

Babies born apparently female in a tiny village in the Dominican Republic are turning into men at puberty due to a genetic deformity.

Around two per cent - or one in 90 - babies from Salinas are thought to be born with the condition, which occurs due to a missing enzyme during pregnancy.

The transition is so common the children are referred to as Guevedoces, or 'penis at 12 years'.

Babies born apparently female in Salinas, Dominican Republic, are turning into men at puberty due to a genetic deformity. Above, Catherine and his cousin Carla, who is currently undergoing the transition

Johnny is one of the babies affected and was initially brought up as a girl named Felicity by his parents.

The 24-year-old said doctors didn't originally know what sex he was but he always felt more like a boy, according to the BBC.

He said: '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 - when I saw a group of boys I would stop to play ball with them.'

Another boy, named Carla, said he is also going through the same transition aged nine after appearing to be born a girl.

Pictures show Carla, who will change his name to Carlos, wearing a pink patterned top with his hair in bunches as he smiles alongside his cousin Catherine.

The condition was first discovered in the 1970s after a scientist from Cornell visited the island.

Babies usually form male sex organs after around eight weeks in the womb, with the change triggered by hormone dihydro-testosterone.

Around two per cent - or one in 90 - babies from Salinas, marked above on the map, are thought to be born with the condition, which occurs due to a missing enzyme during pregnancy

But a handful of babies do not have the enzyme that triggers the hormone surge and consequently appear to be born female.

They will not form male genitalia until they reach puberty, when there is another surge of testosterone.

Some experts have suggested there is such a high concentration of children affected in Salinas due to the village's isolation.

The extraordinary condition will be explored by Dr Michael Mosley on BBC Two's Countdown to Life - The Extraordinary Making of You tomorrow night.

According to the BBC's website, the programme 'explores how this remarkable human diversity is so crucial to our species, but [also shows] that these complex processes can occasionally go wrong'.

Countdown to Life - The Extraordinary Making Of You is on tomorrow at 9pm on BBC Two





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ow-male-sex-organs-puberty.html#ixzz3mGhp2ODi
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dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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maybe men in that village should refrain from inseminating their sisters. or their brothers? either way, this is too much inbreeding.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
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Interesting:
...these boys, despite being brought up as girls, almost all showed strong heterosexual preferences. She concluded in her seminal paper that hormones in the womb matter more than rearing when it comes to your sexual orientation.
 
May 29, 2006
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Frank12 was telling me about this story when I saw him a couple weeks back.

Once a non fatel gene mutation is in the pool, it can take a long time to get out, as long as it doesn't prevent having kids.

Not just brothers or sisters, but cousins and second and third cousins. The mutation goes back numerous generations and can be hidden. Plenty of genetic disorders out there, this one is just newer and can prob be screened out to prevent it persisting. The downside of evolution is most mutations are negative or at best neutral.

It brings up the question of what is the "normal" minimal distance two relatives have in the DR for them to have kids? Same great-grandparent? Plenty of *uncles* knocking up a cousin's kid. Exogamy is very subjective and cultural, as is endogamy...
 
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May 29, 2006
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I'm sure such problems were more common when ppl never traveled more than a day's ride from where they were born and most towns were under 1000 ppl. Families kept more secrets back then. Lots of genetic issues with the Amish in the US(dwarfism), and other isolated religious groups, e.g., The Ashkenazi Jews have Tay-Sachs among many other disorders. Anytime you limit the gene pool, mutations and disorders have a better chance of getting a foothold.
 

curlando

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Jul 23, 2003
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In the Dominican Republic, I have noticed quite a few people that strongly resemble each other. I always wanted to know why do some Dominicans have a strong resemblance to each other but are not related.
 

the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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In the Dominican Republic, I have noticed quite a few people that strongly resemble each other. I always wanted to know why do some Dominicans have a strong resemblance to each other but are not related.

that might be because they are related.
 

dv8

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Sep 27, 2006
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i sympathize because i cannot tell a difference between folks from miesposo's family either. and there is no intermarrying that i know of. they are all short, fattish, dark eyed, dark haired latinos. no distinguishable features to my eye. in addition they all have insanely lame names and they dress the same.
 

Luperon

Who empowered China's crime against humanity?
Jun 28, 2004
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Even 1st cousins, even double first cousins reproduce! Add to that drinking in 1st trimester, no decent prenatal care and its a recipe for less than perfect babies.
 

Drake

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Jan 1, 2002
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I used to work near Salinas and knew the local community well. These children are not treated as outsiders and fully accepted as members of society. Medically speaking they dont actually grew a penis at 12 but what happens is their cliteros extends. The occurance is mostly limited to certain families but there are cases of non family members. Whats interesting is whilst working at the nearby salt mine we discovered that there was high readings of radiation in the salt. On further research some previos observer had suggested that the mutations where due to the high occurance of exposure to radiation throughout genertaions.