Concept

Fetal Similarity

HE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 / Genital Development

"Many people think of male versus female reproductive and sexual body parts in terms of opposites. In sexual matters, men and women are very much alike from a physiological and biological point of view. We are even alike in our fetal development, with our genitals developing from identical tissues, regardless of being male or female. A pregnant woman cannot get an accurate ultrasound until the second month to determine the fetus’s sex. In part, technicians want to give the fetus enough time to develop genitals that coincide with the particular sex of the baby. More importantly, the fetus has identical genitals until about the 5th–6th week. That means it would require a DNA test to distinguish which sex the fetus is up until that point. Sexually, males and females start with identical genital buds that usually form into the male or female reproductive organs. Sexual development is a natural yet extremely complex process that yields a mostly predictable outcome among newborns."

Related Ideas

  • Development VariationsHE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 · Genital Development
  • Biological SexHE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 · Sex and Gender
  • Biological SexHE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 · Gender and
  • Reproductive OrgansHE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 · Sexual Anatomy
  • Male AnatomyHE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 · The Sexual Response
  • External AnatomyHE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 · Sexual Anatomy
  • Vaginal AnatomyHE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 · Sexual Anatomy
Fetal Similarity | HE A LTH EDUC A TION H E A L T H 1 0 0 V E R S I O N 3 | Bifalgorithm | Bifalgorithm