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From: geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu (Gordon E. Banks)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: feminism on tv?
Message-ID: <1989Nov9.180233.10272@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu>
Date: 9 Nov 89 18:58:54 GMT
References: <47423@bbn.COM> <16709@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>
Sender: tittle@ics.uci.edu (Cindy Tittle)
Reply-To: geb@cadre.dsl.pitt.edu (Gordon E. Banks)
Organization: Decision Systems Laboratory, Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA.
Lines: 25
Approved: tittle@ics.uci.edu

In article <16709@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> HUXTABLE@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Kathryn Huxtable) writes:
>
>They have results from some studies which indicate that people
>identify others as "female" in the absence of "male" cues.  They also

Did they say what cues were sufficient to cause male identification?
I saw an interesting computer graphics simulation of a rotating head a
while back.  The head was bald, yet most people identified the head
(as I did) as female or juvenile rather than male.  It was difficult
to say why.  No features were shown other than in profile.

>underlying biological reality.  On the other hand, there are people
>born with no genetalia, so what *is* the underlying biological reality

Chromosomal analysis can give one answer.  If there is a Y chromosome
present, the individual is genetically male.  However, in the case of
testicular feminization (lack of androgen from the fetal testes in the
womb) the individual will appear to be phenotypically female.  It is
only when the individual fails to develop menses that the truth is
found out.  These individuals have almost always been raised as
females, and consider themselves females.  It is a real thorny problem
for the doctor as to what to tell the poor adolescent girl when the
diagnosis is made.  Obviously she will never be able to have children,
and has to be told, but it probably is harmful to say "you're really a
guy".