Word: vilaine
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Indeed, sports are inherently unequal regardless of genetics, Vilain says, and any potential athletic advantages one might have because of a DSD are no different from other naturally occurring physical advantages like being taller or having more balance. So where do we draw the line? (See pictures by sports photographer Walter Iooss...
...some experts say the inherent ambiguity of DSDs makes the idea of treatment problematic. For instance, one sex development disorder, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, causes females to produce abnormal amounts of male sex hormones and is treated by administering steroids to normalize hormone levels. Panel participant Dr. Eric Vilain, professor of human genetics, pediatrics and urology at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, points out that there is tremendous variation in hormone levels even in typical females, which makes determining a baseline virtually impossible. More important, Vilain says, is the ethical question of whether physicians should artificially alter hormone levels...
...truth is, for a small segment of the population, even exhaustive clinical and psychological tests will never guarantee a conclusive answer about their sex. According to Vilain, it's basically impossible to come up with a "universal cutoff" to determine females from males. "That's what we're struggling with," he says. "There is no one biological parameter for sex. It's a complicated combination of parameters...
...normally involved in reproduction - the denser network of nerve connections, for example, was found in the amygdala, known as the emotional center of the brain. "The big question has always been, if the brains of gay men are different, or feminized, as earlier research suggests," says Dr. Eric Vilain, professor of human genetics at University of California Los Angeles, "then is it just limited to sexual preference or are there other regions that are gender atypical in gay males? For the first time, in this study it looks like there are regions of the brain not directly involved in sexuality...
...Vilain, who studies the genetic factors behind sexuality and sexual orientation, notes that it may turn out that the brains of gay men possess only some 'feminized' structures, while retaining some masculine ones, and this is reflected in how they act on their sexuality. "We know from studies that men, regardless of their sexual orientation, retain masculine characteristics when it comes to their sexual behavior," he says. Both gay and straight men, for example, tend to prefer younger partners, in contrast to women, who gravitate toward older partners. Most men are also more likely than women to engage in casual...