"VIRGIN VIEWS"

by VIRGINIA

THE MATTER OF SEX HORMONES!

Quite a few readers have asked for information on the subject of taking female hormones and of sex conversion surgery. Since many of you do not have access to informative books and since little on a subject like this is taught in school it seems to warrent some consideration here. In this issue let us consider the matter of hormones and in a later issue space will be devoted to sex surgery. In chemical structure male and female sex hormones differ only very slightly, but as the Frenchman said, "Vive la Difference!" The anatomical structures of the male and female genital tract start from a common beginning and gradually develop into the var- ious structures characteristic of each sex. Many different types of hormones and enzymes are involved in these changes. In both sexes there are rudimentary structures representing the incomplete and inhibited organs of the opposite sex. Only very rarely do these structures develop simultaneously giving rise to a true hermaphro- dite. At this point may I take the liberty of correcting a common false term. You hear people speak of a "morphodite". There is no such word! "Morph..." is the prefix denoting form or structure as "Morphology" the science of form. The correct term for a person of dual sex is herm...aphrodite and the word is a combination of the names of the Greek dieties of love, Hermes and Aphrodite whose offspring embodied the best of both of them and so had both types of sexual attributes.

In a much larger number of pesons, but still small in relation to the population as a whole there occurs a partial development of the organs of the secondary sex. This is sometimes accompanied by an underdevelopment of the organs of the principle sex. Such per- sons are called "pseudo-hermaphrodites" or false hermaphrodites. False because they only appear to have organs of the opposite sex but do not in reality possess them. Such anomalies as "hypospadias" a condition in which there is a short blind opening just below the root of the penis that simulates a vaginal entrance, or a somewhat overdeveloped clitoris seeming, in an infant, to be a slightly under developed penis, may lead to incorrect sex assignment at birth. This often results in a lifetime of confusion and inadequacy if the child is brought up in the customs of the sex to which he or she

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