# End Times in Myanmar **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 13, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369 "2005-07-13T18:01:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369/1 "2005-07-13T18:01:38Z")
[This story](http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/myanmargenderoffbeat) is just…_wrong_ on so many levels. Won’t someone think of the poultry? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369/2 "2005-07-13T19:15:10Z")
Reminds me of the fake stories from afar; Dog Rescues Child and Grandfather Rips Out Chettah Tongue. Meanwhile, check out [Myanmar](http://www.myanmar-information.net/) ---
**Author:** ![Camus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@Camus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Camus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369/3 "2005-07-13T20:34:16Z")
> [@AFP](#): > > “I have never heard of anything like this, so I came to see him,” 21-year-old housewife Thandar Win told AFP. > > “If I was not married, then I too would want to become a man!” Clearly this woman was meant to be my ex-wife. Someday… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369/4 "2005-07-13T20:39:24Z")
> [@Camus](#): > > Clearly this woman was meant to be my ex-wife. . I think it would be much simpler to find a woman you don’t like and buy her a house. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369/5 "2005-07-14T04:18:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Occasionally Than Sein stepped out to talk with excited visitors, who shook his hand, stroked his arm, and wished him well. So, evidently, they call it an “arm” over there. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369/6 "2005-07-14T09:07:33Z")
There actually is a congenital condition that causes a person to appear female at birth then develop male sexual characteristics at puberty, including growing a penis. So, while this is rare, it’s not entirely unheard of. If I recall, there are villages in both Puerto Rico and New Guinea where this condition is common enough that the locals have a name for it. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369/7 "2005-07-14T10:10:13Z")
**Broomstick** : the condition you refer to is 5 alpha reductase deficiency These individuals have testes and no internal female genitalia, they have an XY karotype. At puberty the increase in testosterone is able to bypass the enzyme deficiency and some virilisation of their external genitalia occurs. This seems the most likely explanation, although 21 is older than might be expected. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2005, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369/8 "2005-07-14T10:15:31Z")
I should also say, that is used to be common practice in the to remove the testes in these individuals and rear them as girls. This, as you can imagine, was not always entirely successful, and that strategy is being rethought, due to a greater understanding of what exactly makes “gender”, and the role that “brain sex” has in determining gender identity. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2005, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/end-times-in-myanmar/312369/9 "2005-07-15T00:39:28Z")
> [@irishgirl](#): > > **Broomstick** : the condition you refer to is 5 alpha reductase deficiency Yeah, thanks - I couldn’t remember the name of it at 5 am when I was last posting.