Güevedoces: people who change sex at puberty?

The development process of the fetus in the mother's womb contains a whole network of chemical and organic reactions that make possible the evolution of the baby. But this development, which works like a perfect machine, is sometimes altered, causing all kinds of organic anomalies.

This is the case of güevedoces, a very curious phenomenon quite common in the Dominican Republic in which some girls, upon entering puberty, undergo a kind of natural sex change.

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Who are the güevedoces?

Güevedoces is a name given to a series of people from the Dominican Republic born with a chromosomal alteration imperceptible at birth causing the following phenomenon: babies born with the appearance of genitalia ambiguous, and to which the female sex is usually assigned, which undergo a process of masculinization puberty.

These people actually have male (XY) chromosomes. However, during fetal development they grow developing genital ambiguity

. At birth, they tend to be assigned as female and at puberty, At approximately 12 years of age, there is growth of the penis and decrease of the testicles.

Furthermore, if there is something that makes this phenomenon even more fascinating, it is that it occurs so almost insignificant throughout the world but, nevertheless, in the province of Barahona, in the Dominican Republic, appears in approximately 1 in 50 births in which the sex of the baby is determined to be female. Due to this enormous number of cases, if the incidence of this condition in the world population, children born with these characteristics are given the name güevedoces.

A kind of pseudo-intersex

This genital alteration, considered as a type of male pseudointersex, was first described in the Dominican Republic in the 1970s by the American doctor and endocrinologist Julianne Imperato-McGinley. As a result of studies and investigations of people with these characteristics, it was determined that the güevedoces suffered a deficiency of the 5-alpha reductase enzyme.

The deficiency of this enzyme causes a physical alteration known as hereditary male pseudointersexuality. Adequate levels of this enzyme are essential for testosterone to convert into dihite testosterone, if this does not occur due to a lack of 5-alpha reductase, masculinization of the external genitalia during fetal development cannot take place.

In the specific case of güevedoces, the increase in testosterone levels during puberty generates a response in the organism, causing the growth of the penis and the decrease of the testicles.

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How do they develop physically?

Usually, during the development of the first weeks of gestation andThe fetus does not have any specification regarding sexual organs, only nipple development occurs in both sexes. Then, at about eight weeks of gestation, the sex hormones kick in again.

birth and childhood

If the baby is genetically determined to be male, the Y chromosome is responsible for the gonads becoming testicles sending testosterone to the tubercle, where it is converted into the hormone dihitestosterone. Which, as we have already mentioned, enables the masculinization of the sexual organs and turns the tubercle into the penis.

In the case of possessing chromosomes corresponding to the female sex, the synthesis of dihydrosterone does not take place and the tubercle then becomes a clitoris.

However, in people known as güevedoces, in whom this type of pseudo-intersexuality appears, the symptoms are limited to the appearance of the external genitalia, which appear phenotypically as female. Sometimes before reaching puberty, there is a small penis that can be perceived as a clitoris, a bifid scrotum, and an open urogenital sinus at the perineum.

The testicles are usually located hidden in the inguinal canal or in the labio-scrotal folds, while the structures Internal cells derived from Wolf's duct (epididymis, vas deferens, and seminal vesicles) develop without any type of anomaly.

Puberty

With the passage of time and the arrival of puberty, as it happens with all young people, the person experiences a large exposure to endogenous testosterone. That is, testosterone that our own body produces. This produces a masculinization of both the physical features of the person, and the genitals in the case of the güevedoces.

This masculinization, in addition to the usual appearance of a deep voice, an increase in muscle mass, in people with a Hereditary male pseudointersexuality of this type also causes penis growth and decrease and increase in size of the penises. testicles. Besides, no type of mammary development is manifested similar to feminine.

Instead, in most cases typically male facial hair is barely visible and the size of the prostate is significantly smaller compared to the average.

As a result of the case study, it has been possible to determine that people from Güevedoc experience erections normally, being able to have full penetrative sex, but without the ability to inseminate due to the layout of the urethra.

The results of the Imperato-McGinley study

After years of studying güevedoces, Dr. Imperato-McGinley discovered that in most cases people They state that they identify with their masculine sex and with a heterosexual orientation, despite being raised as girls, and decide to retain the male genital changes.

However, at other times the person feels part of the female gender, so it is common that some of them undergo a sex change operation that gives them genitalia feminine.

As a result of this, the doctor and her team concluded that when adopting a sexual and gender identity, the influence of hormones is stronger than the determinants of education.

Regardless of one case or another, in most cases the appearance of the male genitalia has an impact on the person, who can experience a series of crises in their identity, since this causes a change in the gender role of the person.

Finally, despite the fact that this phenomenon is relatively common in this area of ​​the Dominican Republic, the güevedoces are usually repudiated in society, being victims of a part of the population that does not you accept. This carries a risk of marginalization and social isolation.