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In both males and females, the sex organs consist of two structures: the internal genitalia and the external genitalia. In males, the gonads are the testicles and in females, they are the ovaries . These are the organs that produce gametes (egg and sperm), the reproductive cells that will eventually meet to form the fertilized egg ( zygote ).
In humans, sex organs or primary sexual characteristics, which are those a person is born with, can be distinguished from secondary sex characteristics, which develop later in life, usually during puberty. The development of both is controlled by sex hormones produced by the body after the initial fetal stage where the presence or absence of ...
Sex differences in human physiology are distinctions of physiological characteristics associated with either male or female humans. These differences are caused by the effects of the different sex chromosome complement in males and females, and differential exposure to gonadal sex hormones during development.
A common definition for the onset of puberty is physical changes to a person's body. [13] These physical changes are the first visible signs of neural, hormonal, and gonadal function changes. The age at which puberty begins varies between individuals; usually, puberty begins between 10 and 13 years of age.
Sexual differentiation is the process of development of the sex differences between males and females from an undifferentiated zygote. [1] [2] Sex determination is often distinct from sex differentiation; sex determination is the designation for the development stage towards either male or female, while sex differentiation is the pathway towards the development of the phenotype.
Gender dysphoria: The DSM-5 included a change from using gender identity disorder to gender dysphoria. This revised code now specifically includes intersex people who do not identify with their sex assigned at birth and experience clinically significant distress or impairment, using the language of disorders of sex development .
The increased secretion of testosterone from the testes during puberty causes the male secondary sexual characteristics to be manifested. [23] Testosterone directly increases size and mass of muscles, vocal cords, and bones, deepening of the voice, and changing the shape of the face and skeleton. [1]
The transformation of a phenotypically female child into a phenotypically male adult at puberty, which is reported to be celebrated in Dominican culture, is the result of a genotypic male (with XY chromosomes) born with a deficiency in the enzyme 5α-reductase. 5α-Reductase is responsible for the reduction of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone.