“ Does a confused mind overrule chromosomes?”
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2008 Jan;93(1):182–9
A 46,XY mother who developed as a normal woman underwent spontaneous puberty, reached menarche, menstruated regularly, experienced two unassisted pregnancies, and gave birth to a 46,XY daughter with complete gonadal dysgenesis.
The only “confused minds” are those who believe that chromosomes define sex. While a good indication, for reasons it would take pages to explain, they’re not infallible.
There are a lot of those “confused minds” — just read some of the comments, made in all good faith by people who are so … misinformed… that they don’t realise how ignorant they are of the facts.
That’s understandable. Biology is taught poorly, with good approximations taught as if they were Absolute Truth. I’m sure there are many things I “know” that are completely wrong too.
What is not understandable are two things — first, that few people bother checking the facts. They claim that “science is on their side” while dismissing unread the actual scientific evidence. It’s not that it’s some big secret, and biologists like the author are doing their best to educate. The second though is worse: the ignorant (I don’t like using that word, it’s too perjorative and just gets people’s backs up) who are accusing the better informed of being “mentally ill” and worse. That’s malicious. That’s bigotry.
