Is It a Boy or a Girl?

Last August 22, our family was blessed with a baby girl. We were expectant that it was a

girl since she was six months old in her mothers womb. The ultrasound results assured us that

we will be having a baby girl. But is it always the case? Are parents always assured of what the

gender of their baby is?

From the time we are conceived until the time we die, our bodies pass through many

steps of sex development. For example, during puberty, we sexually matured, going from having

a childs body to having the body of a sexually mature man or a woman. Puberty, like

menopause, is just one obvious stage of sex development. But there are a lot more stages that we

do not usually see so clearly. Sex development starts right at conception, goes through the time

in the womb, and continues through early childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and late adulthood.

Disorders of sex development (DSDs) are also sometimes called intersex conditions. If a

person has a DSD, he/she will have a mix of male and female sexual characteristics. He/she may

have the sex chromosomes (bundles of genes) normally associated with being female (XX

chromosomes) or male (XY chromosomes), but his/her reproductive organs and genitals may be

of the opposite sex, not clearly male nor female (ambiguous or atypical), or a mixture of both.

This occurs because of a difference with the genetic make-up and/or how their body respond to

the sex hormones in their body. These conditions can be inherited, but often they occur randomly

for no apparent reason. According to the Handbook for Parents, DSD is defined as,

Because there are so many stages of sex development in human life, there
are a lot of opportunities for a person to develop along a path that is not the average
one for a boy or a girl. When a less-common path of sex development is taken, the
condition is often called a disorder of sex development or DSD. So DSD is a
name given to a lot of different variations of sex development. [1]
1
 After watching the documentary, I have learned a lot about people with DSDs and their

families. Honestly I do not know much about DSD. I only knew about the case of hermaphrodite.

The documentary showed different cases of DSD. But what truly made an impact to me was how

the families of persons with DSD coped up with this situation. Seeing one mother cry during the

interview made me feel sad. How can they explain to their child about his/her condition? That

they are different from other boys and girls. How hard it can be thinking that your child can be

bullied at school? That they might not have a family of their own.

I admire those people because they stood strong and did not let their differences drag

them down. I also admire their families. Family is the most effective support group any person

can have. If your family do not understand or accept a childs situation the child may struggle all

his/her life. I realized that we should all be thankful of all the things that we have. After all, some

people may be given less compared to what you have or some may be suffering more than you

do, so be thankful always. Appreciate what you have and lastly, do not judge others because

everyone has their own imperfections.

Reference:

[1] Consortium on the Management of Disorders of Sex Development. Handbook for Parents.

1st Edition. Rohnert Park, CA: Intersex Society of North America; 2006:4.