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Meanwhile, not all external genitals look exactly alike. Yes, most of the time, a newborn’s biological sex is immediately apparent . . . but not always. Occasionally infants are born with what doctors call “ambiguous genitalia.” This can happen because of one of those chromosomal anomalies we just mentioned, or simply because one part of the genitals grew in an atypical way. You might be wondering, why do all these rare exceptions matter here? They matter because they teach us that while biological sex may seem simple, it is definitely not. Humans are wonderfully complicated, even at the genetic level. If someone ever tells you that “there are boys and girls and that’s it,” their underlying assumptions are wrong. Once a newborn has been assigned a sex, a whole host of assumptions immediately come into play. Babies with “male” on their birth certificates are likely to be flooded with blue blankets, truck toys, and pajamas with footballs on them. Babies designated “female” can expect to receive pink blankets, dolls, and pajamas with flowers. Why? Gender, that’s why. The word gender refers to the ways in which biological sex plays out in social and cultural settings. Children as young as two years old can identify that boys and girls are different, which suggests that children can understand messages about gender before they can even speak. For example, even in the twenty-first century, we still tend to expect that women are emotional while men are Gender: It’s Even More Complicated

Teen Guides to Health & Wellness: Sexuality and Gender Identity

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