CHAPTER 2

“THE SEXUAL SELF”

• LESSON 1
“THE BIOLOGICAL SELF”
 THE SEXUAL SELF

▪ OUR SEXUAL SELF COMPRISES A COMPLEX SET

OF SCHEMAS THAT ALLOWS US TO UNDERSTAND
AND EXPRESS OURSELVES AS SEXUAL BEINGS.
WE HOLD SELF-SCHEMAS THAT PERTAIN TO OUR
SEX, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND SEXUAL
EXPRESSION/RESPONSES. SEX REFERS TO THE
BIOLOGICAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL
CHARACTERISTICS THAT DEFINE MEN AND
WOMEN AND CONSTITUTES THE SEX CATEGORIES
OF MALE AND FEMALE ( WORLD HEALTH
ORGANIZATION, 2014).
▪GENDER IDENTITY IS AN
INTERNAL AWARENESS OF WHERE THE
INDIVIDUAL BELONGS IN THE FEMININE
AND MASCULINE CATEGORIES. ONE
MAY INDENTIFY WITH EITHER OF THESE
CATEGORES, OR NEITHER, SUCH AS
THE CASE OF WHO LABEL THEMSELVES
AS “GENDER QUEER,” “ GENDER
VARIANT,” OR “GENDER FLUID.”
 SEXUAL ORIENTATION

▪SEXUAL ORIENTATION REFERS TO THE

DIRECTION OF ONE’S SEXUAL AND
ROMANTIC INTERESTS ( RATHUS 2014 ).
CATEGORIES USED TO DESCRIBE
SEXUAL ORIENTATION ARE
HETEROSEXUAL, HOMOSEXUAL,
BISEXUAL. FINALLY WE HAVE SCHEMAS
THAT GUIDE HOW WE EXPRESS
OURSELVES IN SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP.
MAMAWA IS AN ABBREVIATION USED FOR “MEN-ARE-
MEN-MEN-AND-WOMEN-ARE-WOMEN” ASSUMPTION.

MEN ARE MEN

AND MEN ARE

WOM
EN
 LESSON 1

THE BIOLOGICAL SEX

THE BEGINNING OF OUR BIOLOGICAL SEX

OUR BIOLOGICAL SEX BEGINS WITH SEX

CHROMOSOMES THAT WE INHERIT FROM OUR
PARENTS DURING THE TIME OF FERTILIZATION, THAT
IS THE FUSION OF THE SEX CELLS OF OUR PARENTS.
THESE SEX CHROMOSOMES ARE SO CALLED, BECAUSE
THEY GENETICALLY PROGRAM THE ORGANISM TO
DEVELOP EITHER ALONG A FEMALE AND MALE LINE.
 THESE ARE IMPORTANT STAGES THAT DISTINCTLY DEFINED THE
DEVELOPMENT OF OUR BIOLOGICAL SEX – FIRST, DURING THE
PRENATAL STAGE WHEN THE GONADS, INTERNAL ORGANS AND
EXTERNAL GENITALIA ARE FORMED AND THEN, IN THE PUBERTAL
STAGE WHEN THE SECONDARY SEX CHARACTERISTICS DEVELOPED.
SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT
PRENATAL STAGE

GONADS
AT 6 WEEKS AFTER THE FERTILIZATION, REGARDLESS OF GENDER, ALL EMBRYOS HAVE IDENTICAL
PRIMORDIAL GONADS (PRIMORDIAL MEANING ‘’ EXISTING AT THE BEGINNGING” (PINEL, 2014). THE
IDENTICAL PAIR OF GONADAL STRUCTURES CONSISTS OF AN OUTER COVERING, OR CORTEX THAT
HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BECOME AN OVARY AND AN INNER CORE, OR MEDULLA, THAT CAN
POTENTIALLY BECOME A TESTIS.

AT ABOUT 6 WEEKS AFTER CONCEPTION, THE SRY GENE (SO NAMED BECAUSE IT IS FOUND IN THE
SEX DETERMING REGION OF Y CHROMOSOME OF THE MALE EMBRYOS) TRIGGERS THE SYNTHESIS
OF SRY PROTEIN ( ARNOLD, 2004)
 INTERNAL ORGANS
UNTIL ABOUT THE THIRD MONTH IN THE PRENATAL
DEVELOPMENT, BOTH EMBRYOS POSSESS THE SAME
REPRODUCTIVE DUCTS INCLUDING A MALE WOLFFLIAN
SYSTEM AND A FEMALE MULLERIAN SYSTEM
(FREBERG, 2010). THE WOLFLIAN SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL
TO DEVELOP INTO THE MALE REPRODUCTIVE DUCTS
COMPRISING EPIDIDYMIS, VAS DEFERENS, EJACULATORY DUCT
AND SEMINAL VESICLES (WITHCHEL & LEE, 2014). THE
MULLERIAN SYSTEM, ON THE OTHER HAND, HAS THE
CAPACITY TO FORM INTO THE FALLOPIAN TUBES, THE UTERUS
AND THE UPPER PORTION OF THE VAGINA (GOODMAN, 2009).
THIS DUPLICATION IN THE REPRODUCTIVE DUCTS OF THE
MALE AND FEMALE EMBRYOS SOON CHARGES WHEN AT THE
THIRD MONTH, THE MALE’S NEWLY DEVELOPED TESTES BEGIN
TO SECRETE TWO HOEMONES THE TESTOSTERONE
AND ANTI-MULLERIAN HORMONES (FREBERG, 2010).
 MULLERIAN
THE TESTOSTERONE, COMMON TYPE
DUCTS
OF ANDROGEN HORMONES
STIMULATES THE DEVELOPMNT OF
WOLFLIAN SYSTEM. UNLIKE THE OTHER
TESTES THAT BECOME ACTIVATED AND
BEGAN RELEASING HORMONES, THE
FEMALE OVARIES ARE ALMOST
COMPLETELY INACTIVE DURING THE
FATAL DEVELOPMENT. THE
DIFFERINTIATION OF FEMALE
INTERNAL DUCTS DOES NOT REQUIRE
ANY HORMONE AT ALL, NORMAL
FEMALE FETUSES AND EVEN THOSE
OVARECTOMIZED FEMALE FETUSES
(THOSE WHOSE OVARIES HAS BEEN
REMOVED) ALL DEVELOP IN THE
TYPICAL FEMALE DIRECTION.
 EXTERNAL ORGANS
AT 6 WEEKS AFTER FERTILIZATION, THE EXTERNAL REPRODUCTIVE
ORGANS FOR BOTH MALES AND FEMALES-BEGIN TO DIFFERINTIATE
FROM INITIALLY THE SAME 4 PARTS THE GLANS TO URETHRAL FOLDS,
THE LATERAL BODIES AND THE LABIOSCROTAL SWELLINGS (PINEL,2014).
THE GLANS DEVELOP INTO THE HEAD OF THE PENIS IN THE MALE OR
CLITORIS IN THE FEMALE, THE URETHRAL FOLDS FUSE IN THE MALE
WHILE BECOME ENLARGEDAS THE LABIA MINOR A IN THE FEMALE: THE
LATERAL BODIES FORM THE SHAFT OF THE PENISIN THE MALE OR THE
HOOD OF CLITORIS IN THE FEMALE: AND THE LABIOSCROTAL SWELLINGS
FORM THE SCROTUM IN THE MALE OR THE LABIA MAJOR A IN THE
FEMALE.
 PUBERTY STAGE
AS A CHILDREN TRANSITIONS INTO ADULTHOOD,
THEY PASS THE PUBERTY STAGE THAT IS
CHARACTERIZED BY ADOLESCENT GROWTH SPURT,
MATURITY OF THE EXTERNAL GENITALIA AND THE
DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY SEX
CHARACTERISTICS. THE ANTERIOR PITUITARY
RELEASES HIGH LEVELS OF GROWTH HORMONE
THAT ACTS DIRECTLY ON THE BONES AND MUSCLES
TISSUES RESULTING IN GROWTH PART (PINEL, 2014)
THE HYPOTHALAMUS RELEASES THE
GONADOTROPIN-RELEASING
HORMONE (GnRH) TWSIMULATES THE
ANTERIOR PITUITARY GLAND TO RELEASE TWO
GONADOTROPIC HORMONES: FOLLICLE-
STIMULATING HORMONE (FSH) AND
LUTEINIZING HORMONE (LH) (FREBERG,
2010).
 ABNORMALITIES IN SEXUAL
DEVELOPMENT
FOR THE MAJORITY, THE PROCESS BY WHICHTHE
GONADS,THAT INTERNAL AND THE EXTERNAL
ORGANS DEVELOP PRODUCE AN UMAMBIGOUS
MALE OR FEMALE. HOWEVER THERE ARE A
CERTAINCONDITIONS IN WHICH SEX
CHARACTERISTICS INCLUDING CHROMOSOME,
SEX HORMONES EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL
REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. AMONG THE INTER SEX
CONDITIONS DESCRIBED BELOW BY FREBERG,
(2010) & PINEL (2014) ARE ANDROGEN
INTENSITIVITY SYNDROME (AIS),
ANDROGENITAL SYNDROME, AND 5-
ALPHA-REDUCTASE DEFICIENCY
 ANDROGEN INTENSITIVITY
SYNDROME (AIS)
INDIVIDUALS WITH AIS HAVE AN XY GENO TYPE BUT DEVELOP A
FEMALE APPEARANCE REMEMBER THAT IN MALE EMBRYOS,
THEIR TESTES PRODUCE A FEMALE APPEARANCE AND ANTI-
MULLERIAN HORMONE. IN THE CASE OF AIS THERE IS A
MUTATION IN THE ANDROGEN RECEPTORS SUCH THAT THEY
BECOME UNRESPONSIVE, OR IT IS A IF NO ANDROGENS ARE
RELEASED.
 ANDROGENITAL SYNDROME
THE ANDROGENITAL SYNDROME IS DUE TO
CONGENITAL ANDRENAL
HYPERPLASIA (CAH). A HERITABLE
CONDITION IN WHICH THERE IS INCREASED
LEVEL OF ANDROGENS. THIS HAS A LITTLE
OBSERVABLE EFFECTS IN MALES BECAUSE THEY
ARE TYPICALLY TO HIGHER LEVELS OF
ANDROGENS. FEMALE BORN WITH (CAH), WHO
HAVE HIGHER THAN TYPICAL AMOUNTS OF
ANDROGEN CIRCULATING IN THERE SYSTEM,
DEVELOP AMBIGOUS EXTERNAL GENITALIA SUCH
AS ENLARGED CLITORIS ABD FUSED LABIA AND
IN SOME CASES NO VAGINAL OPENING.
 5-ALPHA-REDUCTASE DEFICIENCY

INDIVIDUAL BORN WITH THIS CONDITION

HAVE DEFICIENT ENZYME KNOWN AS 5-
ALPHA-REDUCTASE THAT CONVERTS
TESTOSTERONE INTO 5-ALPHA-
DIHYDROTESTOSTERONE. THE 5-ALPHA-
DIHYDROTESTOSTERONE IS RESPONSIBLE
FOR MASCULINIZATION OF EXTERNAL
ORGANS OF FETUS. THOSE WITH THIS
CONDITION HAVE AMBIGOUS EXTERNAL
GENITALS AND ARE COMMONLY RAISED
AS GIRLS. AT PUBERTY, INCREASED LEVELS
OF TESTOSTERONE LEAD TO
DEVELOPMENT OF MALE SECONDARY SEX
CHARACTERISTICS.