Gender Differences
The term gender is often used to classify the anatomy of a person's reproductive system as either male or female.
BIOLOGICAL BASIS:
Science makes plain that males and females are different from the moment of conception. The first and most obvious difference between the two sexes is anatomically. This is differentiated by the sex organs, or the primary sexual characteristics in the genders. A sex organ, or primary sexual characteristic, as narrowly defined, is any of the anatomical parts of the body which are involved in sexual reproduction and constitute the reproductive system in a complex organism; in mammals, these are:
• Female: Bartholin's glands, cervix, clitoris, Fallopian tubes, labia, ovaries, Skene's gland, uterus, vagina, vulva
• Male: Cowper's glands, epididymis, penis, prepuce, prostate, scrotum, seminal vesicles, testicles
The Latin term genitalia, is used to describe the externally visible sex organs, known as primary genitalia or external genitalia: in males the penis and scrotum, in females the clitoris and vulva.
Secondary sex characteristics are traits that distinguish the two sexes of a species, but that are not directly part of the reproductive system. In humans the development of secondary sexual characteristics is stimulated at puberty by the hormone oestrogen in women and testosterone in men. Testosterone is produced in the testes of males, while oestrogen and progesterone are produced in the ovaries of females. Women develop breasts and wider hips; men develop a deeper voice, body and facial hair, and stronger body odour; and both develop hair in underarm and genital regions. However, at puberty the reproductive organs also mature as a consequence of growth and changes in circulating hormones, ready for sexual reproduction.
Further differences between men and women are evident in the chromosomes which carry inherited traits from the father and mother. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes...
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