Book Review: My Brother's Keeper, Part II - Biology

Let's jump right into the Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen book again...fast forward to chapter 5, "What Can We Learn from Biology?"

This chapter has some interesting anomalies of biology which causes us to redefine what is male.  A track athlete, Maria Patino, failed a microscopic test because the results showed the chromosomal XY pattern for males rather than the XX pattern for females.  However, after disqualifying and embarassing her, after further research down the road, it was found that the testosterone did not have any effect on her bone growth or anything else, and did not give her any advantage.

Then there is the case of a very young boy whose genitals were destroyed during a circumcision.  So the parents consulted a psychologist, and "after much heart-searching chose surgical reconstruction for Bruce as a passable girl".  The "experiment" was of special interest to social scientists, because Bruce also had a identical twin.   It turns out that even though he thought he was a girl, and everyone treated him like one, he preferred to do male things, and eventually his parents had to tell him what happened.  And he was not too happy about it, and changed his name to David Reimer.  The point is that social conditioning didn't change who he was, and neither did his lack of male genitals.

Unfortunately, I do not know if this has a point for our lives.  I think I have more sympathy for people who seem to have an ambiguous gender.  People may have a biological setup that does not set them apart as much.  Although, those people, if they do not want to look ambiguous should make efforts to wear the right hairstyles and clothing.