On a couple of horse message boards I peruse, someone is trying to re-home a mosaic hermaphrodite thoroughbred yearling. This horse’s parentage is going to remain a mystery, and it will not be eligible for registry with the Jockey Club.
Is this a game?
Harness racing is. Mods - if you think this belongs elsewhere, do your stuff.
I’ve heard of similar situations with the human version of this type of pseudohermaphrodite. They look like women, think like women ( a difference from the horse, apparently ) but tend to be taller, stronger and have better skin so are more likely to end up in sports or modelling. Which then leads to debates about whether they are “really a woman” and to whether or not it’s fair for them to compete.
You may be thinking about Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, which is considered to be different than most of the more common male pseudo-hermaphrodite causes. People with AIS do not react to testosterone AT ALL - they lack the chemical receptor that allows cells to use it. They develop female, apparently mentally as well as physically, and even if you shot them full of steroids and male hormones it would have zero effect. So really, to my mind, there’s no reason not to let them compete as women.
Male pseudo hermaphrodites, however, DO respond to testosterone. The article referred to DNA “deletions” and there are several known ones that result in MSH’s, with varying degrees and types of abnormalities.
Yes; but while they don’t respond to testosterone that’s not the only substance testes produce; only the most prominent. And at least some body features are apparently controlled more directly than through sex hormones.
Someone with AIS looks like a woman and thinks like a woman. Prior to our ability to look at chromosomes and blood chemistry no one ever thought they were anything but women who, through an unfortunate developmental accident, were missing their internal reproductive system. While they do tend to be taller than average women they are not freakish giants, nor do they have any advantage in regards to speed or strength. It is ludicrous to regard them as anything other than female, or to bar them them from competition with other females, as they derive NO advantage from the male hormones circulating in their bodies.
If anything, XX women with naturally elevated levels of male hormones to which they do react are the ones with an advantage in sports. These days the beards can be removed with electrolysis if they woman chooses, which does make fitting in socially easier.
What it comes down to is that genetics is not the sole determinant of sex, nor are hormones. The horse in question may lack a penis, but he acts male and apparently always has since puberty, and aside from his anomalous genitalia is physically more characteristically male than female for his species. AIS people act female, as well as look female, so as far as I’m concerned that’s what they are. Human male pseudo-hermaphrodites sometimes identify as male, sometimes not. You can’t tell simply by looking at the genitals or the hormone levels which way the person tilts. Some MSH are very masculine outside their genitalia, others very feminine. It’s a complex issue for sure.