Let me say before doing that, that while I don't expect any particular person to know the intricacies of sex determination (at least to the limits of current knowledge), I find it peculiar that Schala thinks xe can lecture us all because of xe's lived experience. Well, there are two sides to every story and in this case there is science and there is experience. I would think that Schala would want to understand the biology so as to be able to educate others, but it is clear that xe doesn't. That said, I do empathize with the pain that Schala has probably experienced. That won't stop me from correcting xe's egrigious medical mistakes though.
First off, no. Your stature is that of a tall child. Your physiology is closer to that of someone your age. If you are past your teens, your growth plates are fused. You've clearly gone through puberty, which children do not, and you have acne, which is an adult problem. Your physiology is that of an adult. Stature is a result of a number of complex factors interacting with one another. Your sex chromosome makeup is but one. Autosomes influence stature as do diet, illness, etc.My physiology is that of a tall child. No developed hips. No developed shoulders.
That brings me to an important point. Though you need a Y chromosome to be a male, it isn't all you need. We would say it is necessary, but not sufficient. I'll come back to this.
Most of this is drivel. Anyone who lies anywhere on the gender spectrum could say these same things. Many males have high voices and females low voices. What I am saying is that NONE of this makes a person transgendered.Not much of an Adam’s apple (not prominent, hence not noticeable – and contrary to popular belief, everyone has one, it only becomes visible through testosterone). My arms, legs, hands and feet are right in-between male and female norms, which makes them underdeveloped for a male standard. My bone-size is rather small, on the very low end of the male standard, and right in the teenage female norm. My voice is androgynous, and can be taken as being of either sex, it all falls on the way I speak it, softly or rashly.
As to the Adam's apple, well Wiki can answer that:
"Another function of the laryngeal prominence is related to the deepening of the voice. During adolescence, the thyroid cartilage grows together with the larynx. Consequently, the laryngeal prominence grows in size mainly in men. Together, a larger soundboard is made up in phonation apparatus and, as a result, the man gets a deeper tone."
The point there is that some women do have large laryngeal prominences and they aren't transgendered. Moving on.
Now we are getting somewhere. Testosterone is again necessary, but not sufficient. One must also have the receptors necessary to interact with T and an intact cascade of chemical messengers to carry out that response. We are talking literally hundreds, if not thousands, of steps in the process. Normal T means nothing if there are no receptors to respond to it.Body hair is sparse, especially for someone who had normal T levels through to age 24. No armpit hair period (rare in any adult). No chest hair. And very sparse facial hair, I guess it’s much for a woman, but I can shave it and no one’s the wiser for about 2 days.
My genitals are clearly on the male side, if underdeveloped. The testis are small, but apparently normal. The penis is over 1 standard deviation below the norm, but still a bit above micropenis.
If phenotype includes the first paragraph, it points to “neitherâ€, if it includes the second, it points to “underdeveloped maleâ€.
Those receptors are not all coded for on the Y chromosome. In fact, many are coded for on autosomes. That is why you can be 46 X,Y and have a female appearance, voice, genitals, etc.
Androgen insensitivity syndrome (ARS) means your cells don't respond to androgen (male hormones). This prevents development of male secondary sex characteristics WITHOUT impairing female development. This is how you get 46 X,Y females. Schala doesn't fall into this category as far as I can tell.
There is also a hormon, called anti-mullerian hormone (AMH), that inhibits female genital production in males. If you don't have it or don't respond to it, then you can end up with more ambiguous genitalia. AMH is coded for on chromosome 19, an autosome.
I could go on, but the point is made. Schala drones on about T as if that were the only thing making the determination. I get the impression that xe thinks it is a magical process and not biology and therefore xe can makeup anything and science has to accept it. Emotionally, I support Schala in coping with xe's life in anyway xe sees fit. Scientifically, I support following the evidence and nothing else.
Wrong. Your mind doesn't process T, no one's mind does. T does, however affect brain development. Being insensitive to T in the genitals may mean one is also insensitive to T on neurons as well. The result is different brain development, which serves to emphasize something SJWs DON'T want to emphasize, which is that there are differences in how people think that are predicated upon gender. Schala has just nicely demonstrated that to us.While my hormonal profile is that of a woman on HRT, though I guess I have lower testosterone, since mine is at absolute zero due to cyproterone actetate. My body is unable to process/accept testosterone (rejects most of it as acne and other ‘exits’ for excess hormones). My mind is unable to process/accept testosterone (causes extreme suicidal depression, lack of will to live, and other fun stuff).
This is all biological.
Continuing on. The "rejection" of T does not manifest as acne. That might be the stupidest, least scientific thing xe has said so far. What strikes me as odd is that Schala said xe's T is 0, so how does xe rectify that statement with the statement about T comng out as acne? That's an utter and complete fail. The state of one's pores is determined by a host of factors, of which T is only one. The development of acne is poorly understood at best. What Shala has said is just further evidence of the pseudoscience xe applies to drum up sympathy and prevent people from challenging xe's opinions.
The biology is amazingly complex, which brings me to the final point and the one that Schala has inadvertently proved for all of us. THERE ARE SEX DIFFERENCES. The process is complicated, so it doesn't work out the same for everyone all of the time. In general, however, the majority of the population divides based on chromosomal sex. X,Y = male and X,X = female. It doesn't have to be that way, as Schala has demonstrated. What allows us to say there are TWO sexes are a host of factors including:
1. The fact that most humans do physicially and emotionally show traits of their chromosomal sex,
2. The same can be said for most mammals, reptiles, birds, plants, and even some microbes. The point being that the pattern is repeated again and again throughout nature and where it is not, we can clearly point to chromosomal reasons for it.
3. We can trace the differences in people who don't develop down the standard path. It's "bad" to call them abnormal because that term has taken on a negative connotation, but there development is abnormal in the sense that it doesn't follow the general pattern that the majority does. That doesn't make it wrong or bad, just different. In fact, those differences teach us a whole lot about biology and why is works the way it does.
That's enough. I wish Schala well in hormone therapy. Xe should educate xe's self though. Xe could really help people understand biology better, rather than muddying the waters with xe's pseudoscientific BS.
