penis sprout

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earlier, while browsing over the internet i passed by this article that i remembered tackling before in class during college. it was one of the most intriguing social phenomenon i have ever encountered from the piles of cases that we were given to us. it was the guevedoces of dominican republic or commonly known as the penis sprout phenomenon. click here to read the article.

a number of young girls in a remote village of the country, began growing muscles, testes and penis when they have reached puberty. later they were identified as hermaprodites. but the main problem arose after these young "girls" later learned that they posseses both physical organs of a man and a woman, the question of whether or not to continue being a girl since they were reared to be one since birth or to start over again and be a man as they go on with their life? after hearing this case, it is inevitable for one to put himself in the position of the said dominicans and think for the outcome of the case.

what if one day you'll wake up with someone informing you that you are not what you thought you are? would you retain the social and personal identity that you have already established since birth or go otherwise? or if the latter, could you imagine yourself living a life entirely different from what you previously had?

i think its easier for us to imagine the changes towards one self from being poor to becoming rich than switching from one identity to another. in addition, it is also easier to grow up knowing that from the moment you were born you are a hermaphrodite than just knowing that you are one just now.

but for the case of these girls, it wasn't that hard at all. its what the present context of the country that time (being patriarchal, in which, being a man is more advantageous than being a woman), that decided what life is ahead of them.