The femur in males are generally larger than females. For intersex, however, these measurements may be different. Those who might have the reproductive anatomy of a male might have smaller bones in relation to the female counterpart.
Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types—for example, a girl may be born with a noticeably large clitoris, or lacking a vaginal opening, or a boy may be born with a notably small penis, or with a scrotum that is divided so that it has formed more like labia.
Intersex traits might be apparent when a person's born, but they might not appear until later (during puberty or even adulthood). You may never notice their intersex traits externally and you might only find out about them after a surgery or imaging test.
When there is little other physical evidence, we can sometimes determine a person's sex from DNA in bone fragments. Using DNA to prove the identity of a specific person is also possible, but only if a DNA sample from a relative, or from the person in question, is available for comparison.
The person must have both ovarian and testicular tissue. This may be in the same gonad (an ovotestis), or the person might have 1 ovary and 1 testis. The person may have XX chromosomes, XY chromosomes, or both. The external genitals may be ambiguous or may appear to be female or male.
Some boys with AIS or Klinefelter Syndrome may grow breast tissue during puberty, and some girls with 5-Alpha-Reductase Deficiency may find their voices deepening or facial hair growing. Some people decide to use medicines to address these developments, and some don't. Remember, being intersex is healthy and normal.
Many people might not even be aware that their bodily experiences fall under the intersex umbrella. As these stories show, many teens are only told medical terminology, and later come to the word “intersex” through finding online resources.
Abnormal changes in the shape, size and density of bones can indicate disease or trauma. Bones marked by perimortem injuries, such as unhealed fractures, bullet holes, or cuts, can reveal cause of death. The trained anthropologist is also able to identify skeletal clues of ancestry.
By careful study of the bones, Wheatley can determine—with astonishing accuracy—the age, sex, race, and stature of the deceased, as well as many other facts about the person's lifestyle and culture.
There are many things that can be concluded when bones are being studied. From bones, we can know the gender of the person, how old is the person and also search for trauma or murder evidence of the victim. Sometimes, we can also obtain some DNA evidence from bones.
Some people are actually born with reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't fit traditional sex binaries of male and female. This is generally called 'intersex', and intersex people too may have periods.
It is estimated that up to 1.7 percent of the population has an intersex trait and that approximately 0.5 percent of people have clinically identifiable sexual or reproductive variations.
Some intersex people have both testes and ovaries. You may be able to get pregnant on your own, if you also have a uterus. However, if you have testes, they may be releasing more testosterone than would be optimal for conception and pregnancy.
Sex assignment at birth usually aligns with a child's anatomical sex and phenotype. The number of births with ambiguous genitals is in the range of 1:4500–1:2000 (0.02%–0.05%). Other conditions involve atypical chromosomes, gonads, or hormones.
In the literature, pregnancy cases that developed through self-fertilization were not reported in humans. However, autofertilization was detected in mammalian hermaphrodites such as domestic rabbit.
Bones offer amazing clues to the trained eye. A trained forensic anthropologist, using techniques favored by archeologists, can identify gender, ethnicity, age, illness, pregnancies and even possible careers.
However, the pelvis is the best sex-related skeletal indicator, because of distinct features adapted for childbearing. The skull also has features that can indicate sex, though slightly less reliably.
Cranial sutures are fibrous bands of tissue that connect the bones of the skull. The sutures or anatomical lines where the bony plates of the skull join together can be easily felt in the newborn infant.
The ligaments connecting the pubic bones must stretch; they can tear and cause bleeding where they attach to bone. Later, bone remodeling at these sites can leave small circular or linear grooves on the inside surface of the pubic bones. These parturition pits show that a female has given birth vaginally.
Male skulls are more likely to feature prominent brow bones and jaws that are strong and square; also larger are the occipital crest, where muscles attach in the back of the head, and the mastoid process, the bony bump behind your ear. Female features are smaller, or “gracile.”
True hermaphroditism, the rarest form of intersex, is usually diagnosed during the newborn period in the course of evaluating ambiguous genitalia.
For example, a person may not identify as female, but a DNA test might show that they have an XX pair of chromosomes. A person might identify as male, but when tested is shown to have chromosomes that suggest they are intersex. At Identilab, we treat all clients with respect, honesty, equality and integrity.
The true hermaphrodite has both testicular and ovarian tissues present in either the same or opposite gonads. Both the external genitalia and the internal duct structures display gradations between male and female. The initial manifestation is ambiguous genitalia in 90% of the cases.