Strangely, the female village turned into a male at a young age

In a remote village in the Dominican Republic, female-born babies will turn into boys of puberty because of a rare genetic disorder.

Basically, Johnny, 24, is completely a man both physically and physiologically, but it is worth mentioning that, when he was born, Johnny was a girl. This is one of the cases in Salinas, an isolated village entirely located in the southwest of the Dominican Republic, when many children were born girls but became boys at age puberty.

Although Johnny's story sounds miraculous, however, for the people in this village of Salinas it is the cases that have become familiar. Such children are nicknamed 'guevedoces ', which means 'growing the penis at the age of 12'.

'I was born at home instead of at the hospital, before birth, my family did not know my gender. I still remember wearing a skirt to go to school, 'says Johnny. 'However, I never wanted to wear like a girl. When my parents bought dolls, I didn't enjoy playing with them. What I want is to play with the boys'.

According to scientists, this rare genetic disorder occurs because of a deficiency of an enzyme , which prevents the production of a specific form of male hormone, dihydro-testosterone , while still in mother's womb.

Johnny, 24, was born a girl but became a son from the age of 7.

All babies in the womb, whether male or female, have hormonal glands called gonads . By the time of pregnancy about 8 weeks, newborns with Y chromosomes will begin producing e -dihydro-testosteron in large quantities to form the penis.

However, in many cases the male fetus lacks the 5-alpha-reductase enzyme to increase male hormones, so these babies are born as women because there is no penis and testicles. However, until puberty, a major mutation causes testosterone to be produced in large quantities, helping the male reproductive organ to emerge. Since then, the girls will become boys with full penis, accompanied by a broken voice to become a male voice.

With Johnny's case mentioned above, this transformation happened at age 7. Johnny said he was really happy to be completely turned into a guy.

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Another case in the Salinas village, the little girl Carly, is also beginning a similar transition at the age of 9. Although she was born a little girl, however, the larger she became, the more Carly gradually transformed into a lifestyle. of son.

Many people after transgender have changed their names to get a name that is suitable for a new gender, as Johnny is a new name from the old name Feleticia, given by his parents when he was born as a girl. . However, many cases still decided to retain the old name that their parents had set for themselves, though now they turned into boys.

The 'guevedoces' syndrome was first discovered by Cornell University endocrinologist Julianne Imperato in the 70s of the century before he went to the Dominican Republic after hearing rumors of girls turning into boy.

It is estimated that there are about 90 cases in the village of Salinas with 'guevedoces' syndrome and although it has become a son, there are still special differences compared to normal men, such as the prostate is smaller than Normal men . Many people believe that the long-term isolation of the village of Salinas has caused this strange syndrome.