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¶ … Activational Effects of Sex Hormones
At different stages in our lives sex hormones play different roles (Carlson, 2007). Organizational effects of sex hormones occur during prenatal development. This process determines whether a baby will become a male or female by influencing the development of the baby's brain and sex organs. The effects of these hormones are permanent. Activational effects of sex hormones occur after birth and not until a person's sex organs have developed. This process is responsible for inducing ovulation, activating sperm, and making erections and ejaculation possible. Unlike organizational effects, activational effects are only temporary.
Sex hormones do not have the same organizing effects in males and females (Carlson, 2007). Rather, it is the absence of hormones secreted by the gonads that creates a female and the secretion of these hormones that creates a male. If these hormones are secreted then the Wolffian system develops, defined as "the embryonic precursors of the male internal sex organs" (Carlson, 2007, p. 331). If these hormones are not present then the Mullerian system develops, defined as "the embryonic precursors of the female internal sex organs" (Carlson, 2007, p. 331). In other words, hormonal stimulus from the gonads is only needed for the development of a male baby, not a female.
For a male baby to develop, two types of hormones are secreted from the gonads (Carlson, 2007). The first is a peptide hormone, named anti-Mullerian hormone, which prevents the development of the Mullerian system. The second is a set of steroid hormones, named androgens. Two types of androgens are testosterone and dihydrotestosterone. The release of these hormones is responsible for the development of the Wolffian system. In the absence of these hormones the Mullerian system will develop and the baby will develop as a female; thus the saying, "nature's impulse is to create a female" (Carlson, 2007, p. 333).
Reference
Carlson, N.R. (2007). Physiology of Behaviour (9th ed.). City, State: Allyn Bacon.
6). But this evidence of a strong fetal environmental predisposition for homosexuality ignores the admission of the authors that "the odds of homosexual participants being NCRH [non-consistently-right-handedness]" was 39% "although the odds for homosexual women alone" were 91%, thus significantly greater than for homosexual men 34% (Kauth 2008, p.6). If these numbers were so different, the question arises as to why left-handedness is more common in female homosexuals, versus male homosexuals,
This may be responsible for gender identity misidentification when factors other than apparent external genital structure conflict with other elements. For this reason, Fausto-Sterling argues that infants born with ambiguous genitalia should not receive surgery until later in life when they begin to express their natural gender identity. Sex Hormones vs. Steroid Hormones: Faustino-Sterling also objects to the very definition of human steroid hormones as "sex hormones" because they exert many