Psychology of sex - Total No. of Records in System :: 2032

HOMOSEXUALITYthough the developed female sex-equipment depends onthe sex-hormones for its maintenance. Male differentiation,on the other hand, requires the male testicular hormonefor itsdevelopment. Thus the female, it is held, representsthe neutral form which the soma assumes in theabsence of the male sex hormone. When the male hormoneappears later than usual some form of intersexuality thusresults, and the later its appearance the more femalenessthere is in the result. "The degree of abnormality," asCrew puts it, "will be determined by the time at whichthe male sex-hormone becomes operative." That helps toexplain why an individual who appears female in earlylife assumes male characters at sexual maturity.To the adrenal cortex is specially attributed the formationof a hormone which exerts a masculinizing influencein the same direction as that of the testes. This result,"virilism" as it is now sometimes termed (formerly"adreno-genital syndrome") , is associated with hypertrichosisand in males with precocious sexual and somaticdevelopment, while in females there is atrophy of theuterus, with changes in the ovaries, under-development ofthe labia and overgrowth of the clitoris, atrophy of themammae, narrowing of the hips, broadening of the shoulders,with either marked muscular development or adiposity.There are disturbances of sexual function and evencomplete sterility. Four types of virilism have been described,depending on the time of onset: (i) Congenitaltype (with feminine pseudo-hermaphroditism, the sexualglands remaining female while the secondary sex charactersare male) ; (2) Puberty type (beginning near puberty,with hirsutism and menstrual disturbances predominating); (3) Adult type (rather similar but less marked) ;(4) Obstetrical type (after the menopause with obesity,excess or loss of hair, psychic disturbances and asthenia).[227]