Question

Solve It: Does Sex Determination Have Only Two Possible Outcomes: Male or Female? One of the most fundamental aspects of personhood is your biological sex: "It's a girl" or "It's a boyl" is often the first statement about who you are. Most people view biological sex as a straightforward, eitherfor issue-either a person is biologically male or biologically female. Like all biological characteristics, however, sex determination is achieved through a developmental process. All developmental processes exhibit variation, and sex determination is no exception. In some cases, this variation leads to individuals who are intersex: individuals who are not unambiguously male or female, but who exhibit characteristics of both sexes. One area where intersex individuals come under scrutiny is in competitive sports, where men's and women's events are controlled to exclude the opposite sex. Typically, concems are directed to excluding males from females' events. One recent controversy involved Olympic runner Caster Semenya. In this exercise, you will examine two hypothetical athletes who are anatomically female and want to compete as females, but their sex has been called into question Note: The realization that one may be an intersex individual can be a troubling experience. It is important to note that intersex individuals can lead happy, fulfilling lives. If you suspect that you might be an intersex individual similar to the hypothetical cases discussed in this tutorial, you should consult your doctor Part A - What do a person's chromosomes indicate about sex? You begin your investigation by examining the chromosomes of the two athletes with a karyotype analysis (a procedure that isolates an entire set of chromosomes when they are condensed for mitosis) The results are shown below, along with control samples from a normal female and a normal male

Answer 1