ambiguous genitalia?
Sep. 17th, 2008 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yellowhordeI know this may seem odd, but I have a story idea that's been bugging me and I'm not sure where to look for information. If it helps, the story is set in modern times - 80's to today.
I have read that sometimes an infant is born with ambiguous genitalia and that surgery may be preformed to make the child either male or female in appearance.
I've read that it is usually easier to raise the child as a girl even if the child is genetically male because the surgery to make the child female is easier, but the father in my story is hell bent on having a son so surgery is performed to that end.
1) Is it possible for the child to start developing breasts (small, but still very decisively female) and maybe even displaying other signs of being female, or not entirely male, once they hit puberty? (I'm thinking no, but what do I know?)
I would imagine that if this were possible, if extremely rare, that it would cause all sorts of problems for the child and their family. Especially the child who has a father was bound and determined to raise his son as a 'real man'.
2) I don't want to focus on the surgery procedure or any of that. I would rather focus on the emotional/social issues a child raised a boy would have to deal with when he discovers that he wasn't truly born male, regardless of whether or not he developed female traits when he hits puberty.
I will probably need to do a lot of reading on this (I want to be as accurate as possible), but if anyone could nudge me in the right direction to start, I'd greatly appreciate it.
I can find plenty of info via Google on the condition and possible causes etc., (though sometimes I have difficulty with all of the medical terminology) but very little on the social/emotional impacts that such sexual reassignment surgeries might have on the children as they grow up.
I have read that sometimes an infant is born with ambiguous genitalia and that surgery may be preformed to make the child either male or female in appearance.
I've read that it is usually easier to raise the child as a girl even if the child is genetically male because the surgery to make the child female is easier, but the father in my story is hell bent on having a son so surgery is performed to that end.
1) Is it possible for the child to start developing breasts (small, but still very decisively female) and maybe even displaying other signs of being female, or not entirely male, once they hit puberty? (I'm thinking no, but what do I know?)
I would imagine that if this were possible, if extremely rare, that it would cause all sorts of problems for the child and their family. Especially the child who has a father was bound and determined to raise his son as a 'real man'.
2) I don't want to focus on the surgery procedure or any of that. I would rather focus on the emotional/social issues a child raised a boy would have to deal with when he discovers that he wasn't truly born male, regardless of whether or not he developed female traits when he hits puberty.
I will probably need to do a lot of reading on this (I want to be as accurate as possible), but if anyone could nudge me in the right direction to start, I'd greatly appreciate it.
I can find plenty of info via Google on the condition and possible causes etc., (though sometimes I have difficulty with all of the medical terminology) but very little on the social/emotional impacts that such sexual reassignment surgeries might have on the children as they grow up.
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Date: 2008-09-18 05:52 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-09-19 02:38 pm (UTC)Generally such children are put onto hormones to develop the expected sexually dimorphic characteristics - so, no, not unless they screwed up the drugs. And even then it would probably depend on what hormone producing glands the child actually had to begin with.