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The small village of Salinas in the Barahona
province of the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic is like many
other Caribbean getaway spot, but there is something very spectacular
that sets it apart from all the rest.
Salinas, which is located near Barahona, is the home to pristine
beaches not yet sullied by the outside world, but it is not this fact
that makes it differ from others. What makes it peculiar are stories
about children nicknamed “guevedoces”.
There are two tales which are most predominant at this village. One
tells of how some of the people there were born with a rare condition
that made their feet look like lobster feet.
And the other tale is of how a number of children were presumably born as girls and later turned into boys once they hit puberty.
The girls were called guevedoces, or “penis at 12”.
Statistics show that at puberty one in 90 children born there make a
natural transformation from female to male. According to medical terms,
such children are known as ‘pseudohermaphrodite’.
The villagers claim that at birth the babies looked like girls and were raised that way. However, as they grew older, their voices deepened and it was discovered they had testicles, eventually turning into adult men.
Certain doctors from Cornell University in upstate New York traveled
to this strange village to study some of the children with this medical
anomaly.
Some of the children were brought back to the USA for further research.
Endocrinologist Dr. Julianne Imperato, who in the 1970s travelled to the region to learn more about rumours that girls were morphing into boys, uncovered the phenomenon.
Guevedoces are otherwise called ‘machihembras’, which means first ‘female and then male’. According to research, they look like girls at birth with no testes and what appears to be a vagina. But when the puberty sets in, the penis grows and testicles descend and only at that point can their true sex be determined.
A rare genetic disorder is believed to be responsible for the anomaly.
According to researchers, there is a missing enzyme that prevents the production of the male sex hormone – dihydro-testosterone – in the womb – and creates what looks like a baby girl on birth.
However, it is only until puberty, that the testosterone begins to flow, causing break in voices and growth of male sexual reproductive organ which affirms their sex as male.
A report by Dr. Imperato reveals that the deficient enzyme is called 5-α-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone.
Her research was picked up by the American pharmaceutical giant, Merck, and a drug called ‘finasteride’ was created. The finasteride is said to have the capacity to block the action of 5-α-reductase. The drug is now widely used to treat benign enlargement of the prostate and male pattern baldness.
Learn more from the video below:
And the other tale is of how a number of children were presumably born as girls and later turned into boys once they hit puberty.
The girls were called guevedoces, or “penis at 12”.
The villagers claim that at birth the babies looked like girls and were raised that way. However, as they grew older, their voices deepened and it was discovered they had testicles, eventually turning into adult men.
Some of the children were brought back to the USA for further research.
Endocrinologist Dr. Julianne Imperato, who in the 1970s travelled to the region to learn more about rumours that girls were morphing into boys, uncovered the phenomenon.
Guevedoces are otherwise called ‘machihembras’, which means first ‘female and then male’. According to research, they look like girls at birth with no testes and what appears to be a vagina. But when the puberty sets in, the penis grows and testicles descend and only at that point can their true sex be determined.
A rare genetic disorder is believed to be responsible for the anomaly.
According to researchers, there is a missing enzyme that prevents the production of the male sex hormone – dihydro-testosterone – in the womb – and creates what looks like a baby girl on birth.
However, it is only until puberty, that the testosterone begins to flow, causing break in voices and growth of male sexual reproductive organ which affirms their sex as male.
A report by Dr. Imperato reveals that the deficient enzyme is called 5-α-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone.
Her research was picked up by the American pharmaceutical giant, Merck, and a drug called ‘finasteride’ was created. The finasteride is said to have the capacity to block the action of 5-α-reductase. The drug is now widely used to treat benign enlargement of the prostate and male pattern baldness.
Learn more from the video below:
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