In one small town in the Dominican Republic, there is a common genetic anomaly. One in every 90 girls born in the town of Salinas turns into a boy at age 12—or whenever puberty is supposed to set in.
According to research by doctors and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a large population of children in the town of Salinas in the Dominican Republic are born with female-looking private parts but get a penis and testes once puberty sets in.
They call these children Guevedoces, which directly translates to “penis at twelve.”
Born a girl, turn into a boy at 12
Image source: iStock
The change happens like this:
A girl is born into a family. Since there are no apparent penis or testes on the baby, parents consider what she has as female genitalia. They raise her as a girl, buy her girl’s clothes and give her girl’s toys.
As she gets older, though, they notice that she doesn’t like dolls and likes fighting with other kids. When the physical changes for puberty come along, she starts growing hair on her face and gets a wider, manlier chest. When she reaches twelve years old, she develops a penis and a pair of testes descend where she used to have female private parts.
Hormones not firing at the right time
Image source: iStock
According to doctors, here’s why we have Guevedoces:
Upon conception, baby boys get the X and Y chromosomes which tell their bodies to produce specific hormones. These hormones tell their cells to grow a penis and testes in the womb.
With the case of the Guevedoces, the hormones that tell the body to create a penis and testes aren’t released until they hit puberty. So until the hormones are released at twelve, they have what looks like female private parts.
What is even more remarkable is that it’s quite common in their area of the Dominican Republic. Some reports say that every family has at least one Guevedoce.
What do the families say?
Since the condition is so common in their area, most families just accept how things turn out. Due to extreme poverty, a lot of these Guevedoces don’t get to see a doctor to identify their condition at birth.
One mother knew what was going to happen to her daughter, Carla, at age five. She said in an interview with BBC, “When she turned five I noticed that whenever she saw one of her male friends she wanted to fight with him. Her muscles and chest began growing. You could see she was going to be a boy. I love her however she is. Girl or boy, it makes no difference.”