Nature or Nurture the Case of the Boy Who Became a Girl

NORTHERN CARIBBEAN UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY AND SCIENCE Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Course: BIOL 395 GENETICS Section A TERM PAPER Nature or Nurture: The Case of the Boy Who Became a Girl Presented By: Nathalia allen Monique Malcolm Davena shaw Shaneek Campbell Part 1 1. Assuming that the nurture theory is valid, David as Brenda will have female behavior and believe he is a girl. From a physical point of view he will not develop secondary characteristics. Based on how hormones work by removing his testicles they denied him of his secondary characteristics. After puberty he would not†¦show more content†¦Similarly the controls; untreated males and females) exhibited male and female characteristics respectively as this was somewhat intrinsic based on their genome, that is, what is contained in their genetic makeup and not dependent on the environment they were raised in. this is synonymous with the studies done with 16 males in that the majority of genetically male children behaved as male despite being raised as females. This behavior was already encoded in their DNA. However, with the 43 girls, the effect of testosterone was nil on the behavior of the girls. They therefore did not act like boys even if they developed male genitalia. This does not support the nature theory as seen with the above examples. 2. The advice to parents would be not to reassign the child’s gender and by virtue of having the testicles the child’s brain would develop masculine characteristics and sexual male characteristics would develop at the onset of puberty. According to the article (gorski and Johnson) â€Å"brief exposure to the testosterone early in life promotes development of brain in ways that allow male behavior to be as an adult† 3. Based on the nature theory homosexual behavior in men and women can be related to hormonal imbalance. Sexual orientation is determined by the early levels (probably prenatal) ofShow MoreRelatedThe Case Study Written By Keith K. Schillo Of Suny College888 Words   |  4 PagesStory The case study written by Keith K. Schillo of SUNY College at Oneonta gives a brief argument of how the nurture theory could possibly be the cause of gender identity based on the struggles one boy had to endure during his life. The case study goes on to describe how a twin boy went from being a boy to a girl and then back to being a boy again back in 1965 to determine if gender identity was based solely on the nurture theory, or if nature was the cause. 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