More women than expected are genetically men (2016)

Study context and scope

• Commenters note the article is from 2016 and about disorders of sex development (DSDs) such as androgen insensitivity, not about transgender identity.
• The core claim discussed: ~1 in 15,000 males are born and raised as girls, suggesting prior estimates were ~50% too low.
• Some emphasize the sample is from a single regional registry and shouldn’t be treated as a definitive global prevalence.

Binary vs spectrum in sex and biology

• One thread argues “nothing in biology is really binary,” framing sex-related traits as distributions with strong clusters at male/female ends.
• Others counter that many biological systems are strongly binary (X/Y chromosomes, egg vs sperm, activator/inhibitor systems), even if correlations with phenotypes aren’t perfect.
• Several distinguish:
  • Gametes and reproductive role → strictly two types.
  • Chromosomal patterns (XX, XY, XXY, etc.) → highly correlated to sex but with exceptions.
  • Developmental pathways (SRY, hormone responsiveness) → where DSDs appear.

Sex vs gender, and psychological impact

• Disagreement over whether chromosomes “determine gender”; some insist they determine sex but not gender, others say even sex assignment is more complex.
• Debate over the quote that learning you’re chromosomally male can “upend identity”:
  • Some see this as irrational, akin to learning unexpected ancestry.
  • Others stress infertility, internal testes, and social expectations make this genuinely distressing, likening it to being switched at birth.
  • Side dispute over what constitutes empathy: affirming feelings vs challenging “mistaken” identity crises.

Race vs sex analogy

• A long subthread disputes whether race is “less real” than sex:
  • One side: race is a crude, socially driven categorization over continuous genetic variation.
  • Other side: there are heritable, medically relevant group differences, so race has some biological grounding.
• Much of the argument turns on what “real” and “natural category” mean.

Implications for sports and fairness

• Many link the findings to debates over trans and intersex participation in sports.
• Views range from:
  • “Sex is binary and women have a right to sex-specific categories; everyone else uses open/men’s divisions.”
  • To “fairness is socially constructed; we already accept many innate advantages; perhaps categories should be based on hormones, performance ratings, or other metrics.”
• Several note that intersex and DSD cases complicate simple chromosomal rules, and that no scheme will be perfectly fair for everyone.