怪异村庄：女孩到12岁变成男孩

拉丁美洲有一个与世隔绝的村庄，那里有很多人出生的时候似乎是女孩，但是到12岁时就会变成男孩。这里说的可不是性取向的转变，而是生理构造的真实变化。这些特别的孩子会在12岁左右长出阴茎，他们的心理也和正常男孩没什么两样。这种事情在这个村子很常见，当地人已经见怪不怪了。据认为，这种在青春期性别突变的情况是由于母体子宫内缺乏某种酵素导致的，而且已经延续了好几代人。

In every way, Johnny is physically and biologically male. But, astonishingly he did not grow a penis until he hit puberty.

约翰尼无论在外表上、生理上还是其他各个方面都是一个男孩。但令人惊讶的是，他到了青春期才长出阴茎。

He is one of many children who live in Salinas, an isolated village in the southwestern Dominican Republic, who are seemingly born female, only to become men in their teenage years.

他住在多米尼加共和国西南部偏远的萨里那斯村。那里的许多孩子出生时看起来都是女孩，到了青春期才会变成男孩。

Although Johnny’s story may seem extraordinary, cases of little girls turning into boys are so prevalent in the village that it is no longer considered abnormal. The children are simply referred to as the ‘guevedoces’ – which literally translates as ‘penis at 12’.

尽管约翰尼的故事听起来匪夷所思，但这种女孩变身为男孩的事情在这个村子里却很常见，人们已经见怪不怪了。这些孩子被称作guevedoce，字面意思 Johnny, 24, was originally named Felecitia by his parents and brought up as a girl. He spoke to Dr Michael Mosley for the new BBC2 series “Countdown to Life – the extraordinary making of you".

24岁的约翰尼原本被父母取名为费利西提娅，并且被当成女孩抚养长大。在英国广播公司电视2台拍摄新系列纪录片《新生命倒计时——特别的生理构造》时，约翰尼与迈克尔•莫斯利博士进行了交谈。

“I remember I used to wear a little red dress,” he said. “I was born at home instead of in a hospital. They didn’t know what sex I was.

他说：“我记得我以前穿着一条小红裙。我是在家里出生的，不是在医院，所以他们也不知道我的性别。”

“I went to school and I used to wear my skirt. I never liked to dress as a girl. When they bought me girls toys I never bothered playing with them. All I wanted to do was play with the boys.”

“我以前上学的时候总是穿短裙，但我一直都不喜欢穿成女生的样子。他们给我买女生的玩具，我都不喜欢玩。我只想跟男生一起玩。”

The rare genetic disorder occurs because of a missing enzyme which prevents the production of a specific form of the male sex hormone - dihydro-testosterone - in the womb.

这种罕见的基因缺陷之所以会发生，是因为母体子宫内缺乏一种酵素，阻止了一种雄性荷尔蒙——双氢睾酮的产生。

All babies in the womb, whether male or female, have internal glands known as gonads and a small bump between their legs called a tubercle. At around eight weeks, male babies who carry the Y chromosome start to produce dihydro-testosterone in large amounts, which turns the tubercle into a penis. For females, the tubercle becomes a clitoris.

子宫内的婴儿，不管是男是女，体内都会有被称为生殖腺的腺体，双腿间也会有一处隆起被称为结节。在婴儿大约八周大的时候，携带Y染色体的男婴儿会大量生产双氢睾酮，让结节发育为阴茎，而女婴儿的结节则会变成阴蒂。

But some male babies are missing the enzyme 5-α-reductase which triggers the hormone surge, so they appear to be born female with no testes and what appears to be a vagina. It is not until puberty, when another huge surge of testosterone is produced, that the male reproductive organs emerge. What should have happened in the womb happens around 12 years later. Their voices deepen and they finally grow a penis.

但有一些男婴儿缺乏促使荷尔蒙大量产生的5α还原酶，所以他们出生时没有睾丸，只有像阴部一样的生殖器官，因此，他们被当成女孩。只有当他们到达青春期，睾丸激素大量产生时，他们的雄性生殖器官才会出现。这个本该在母体子宫内进行的过程在12年后才发生。他们的声音开始变低沉，并且最终长出了阴茎。

For Johnny it happened at the age of seven. He claimed that he had never felt like a little girl and was far happier after he fully became a boy.

而约翰尼则是在七岁那年长出了阴茎。他说他从来不觉得自己是个女孩，当他真正变成男孩的时候，远比以前更开心。

“When I changed I was happy with my life,” he said.

他说：“我真正变成男孩以后，对生活十分满意。”

A little girl named Carla is currently going through the same transformation, aged nine. Despite being brought up as a girl, his mother noticed that from the age of five he was more inclined towards the rough and tumble play of little boys. He has recently had his hair cut short after wearing plaits for years.

一个名叫卡拉的小女孩目前九岁，也在经历同样的转变阶段。尽管他从小就被当成女孩抚养长大，他的妈妈早就注意到，他从五岁开始就更喜欢小男孩那些粗鲁的磕磕碰碰的游戏。他最近也把留了许多年的辫子剪成了短发。

“I feel like a man now,” he said.

他说：“现在我觉得自己像个男人了。”

Many decide not to change from their female names, so some men in Salinas have names like Catherine.

许多人变成男孩以后决定不改名字，所以萨里那斯村的一些男人会顶着像凯瑟琳之类的女性名字。

Further cases have since been seen in the Sambian villages of Papua New Guinea although the Sambians view the children as flawed males and they are often shunned, unlike the Dominicans who welcome the transformation with widespread celebration.

同样的事情还发生在巴布亚新几内亚的塞班村，但是那里的人把这些孩子看作是有缺陷的男性，并且排斥他们，而多米尼加人则很欢迎这种转变，还会举行大规模的庆祝活动。

Around one in 90 children in Salinas are guevedoces and although they resemble sexually normal males, subtle differences do still exist in adulthood. Most have decreased amounts of facial hair and smaller prostate glands relative to the average male.

在萨利纳斯，每90个孩子就有1个是guevedoce。尽管他们在性别上跟正常男性没什么两样，但成年以后还是会有一些微妙的不同。大多数人跟一般男性相比，脸上的毛发更少，前列腺也更小。

It is thought that the condition has persisted through generations because of the isolation of the villagers. Because the disorder is so widespread and accepted, the Dominican Republic now believes that there are three sexual categories, male, female, and pseudohermaphrodite.

由于萨里那斯村村民与外界隔绝，人们认为，这种女孩变成男孩的情况已经延续了好几代人。而由于这种基因缺陷很常见并且已经被接受，如今，多米尼加共和国认定存在三种性别：男性、女性和假两性人。