Activational Effects of Sex Hormones

¶ … 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.