What came first, the chicken or the egg? While we do not know the answer to this question, we do know all humans start out being physically female, even though genetically they may be male. For the first eight weeks of our existence, both male and female fetuses have the same rudimentary reproductive and sexual organs. In the early stages of fetal development the maternal hormones control the development of the reproductive organs, as the fetus is incapable of producing its own. It is not until the twelfth week of development that you can start to visually determine the sex of a fetus. The image below demonstrates how even after more than twelve weeks, they still look very similar.
Medical Quote:
Originally Published: July 2010
In mammals, phenotypic sex [visible sexual characteristics] is determined by a single gene—called Sry—on the Y Chromosome. This sex-determining region of the Y chromosome codifies for the protein tdf, for testis determining factor, a transcription factor which initiates a cascade of gene expression and protein products that will direct development of the bipotential gonadal anlage toward testis. In the absence of the Sry gene, this same gonadal anlage will become an ovary. The brain is also sexually differentiated in males and females by gonadal steroid hormones and this process occurs during a restrictive development window termed the sensitive period...In primates, including humans, the sensitive period is largely prenatal, beginning in the 2nd trimester, and the critical hormone for masculinization is testosterone (T).
It is for this reason that male and female reproductive and sexual organs are more alike than they first appear. The clitoris is actually a penis that is not fully developed, or another way of looking at it, a penis is a fully developed clitoris. As with a penis, the clitoral glans and shaft become engorged with blood during sexual arousal. When the clitoris becomes well developed it looks exactly like a small penis, minus a urethra. In addition, the glans and corona may be well defined and the entire clitoris may project somewhat from the body. A woman can have a large clitoris at birth, or acquire one as the result of taking prescription and non-prescription steroids.
The first image shown below details the stages of development for the female external genitals. The second image shows both the development of and similarities between the male and female external genitals.
The following illustrations show the development of both the internal and external female sexual and reproductive organs.
Some interesting computer generated 3D images of the developing reproductive and sexual organs are available on this website: http://www.endotext.org
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