[Skye is on fire]

I don't care for surgery to begin with, I'm sure hrt is doing me just fine. Besides, if you are that desperate to become female........I'm not even sure where to end the sentence.

[jannet.duff]

I don't care for surgery to begin with, I'm sure hrt is doing me just fine. Besides, if you are that desperate to become female........I'm not even sure where to end the sentence.

I suspect you are reading way too much into the comments .

[Skye is on fire]

Lol, no, I tend to be one of those people who processes things differently and am more of a serious kind of person . I did get the jest out of the comments though. Didn't mean to be a party pooper :-)

[WantAPair]

I was just wondering, yesterday, if it might be possible to just modify your own DNA in such a way that it causes your entire body to change from M to F, or vice versa. I've heard of certain animals that can change gender at will, why can't we have that? They can mix DNA from one animal with that of another and produce an animal that has the characteristic physical traits of both.

[Wannabe]

Yea, I'll let you try that head thing first. Tell me how it works out for you.

DNA alteration might be possible one day, as might a modification of the organs that produce hormones to cause a more natural gender change. You probably heard recently about those girls in Dominican Republic that change to boys at puberty. Then there's nanobot technology, which may eventually be able to change pretty much anything about the body from the inside out. Stick around another few decades and some interesting thing will probably be happening.

I'll keep my head where it is, though.

[Skye is on fire]

Yea, I'll let you try that head thing first. Tell me how it works out for you.

DNA alteration might be possible one day, as might a modification of the organs that produce hormones to cause a more natural gender change. You probably heard recently about those girls in Dominican Republic that change to boys at puberty. Then there's nanobot technology, which may eventually be able to change pretty much anything about the body from the inside out. Stick around another few decades and some interesting thing will probably be happening.

I'll keep my head where it is, though.

LMAO!

[Dianna1395]

I was just wondering, yesterday, if it might be possible to just modify your own DNA in such a way that it causes your entire body to change from M to F, or vice versa. I've heard of certain animals that can change gender at will, why can't we have that? They can mix DNA from one animal with that of another and produce an animal that has the characteristic physical traits of both.

WAP,
I'd be concerned it wouldn't do much to change DNA.
Bones are already calcified, for example. Chest is barrel-shaped, or hips too narrow. So even changing the DNA completely to "female" wouldn't make the body over. Think AIS (Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome): "women" are genetically male. "Women" in quotes because of the genetics, trying to keep it clear here. "Women" are women, but not 46(X,X) women.... They're 46(X,Y). Assigned female at birth, grew up as female, went through female puberty, think female, and without a genetic screening - they'll never know they're not genetic women.

We'd end up with the same thing for us: genetically female, but still have the male shape, facial hair, penis, testicles, etc. Not even grow breasts, I think - no ovaries for enhanced estrogen production.

Nanotech might work better, though I can see a LOT of work required to re-define the skeleton and the musculature, move hair (E.G., move facial follicles to the scalp to end male pattern baldness), that sort of thing. Probably very slow and painful for Gen 1's, you'd probably be asleep a week or so, sedated and comatose. But to wake up essentially female in build, just waiting for the breasts to grow? Yeah, I think MOST people would take that in a heartbeat!
You have to learn how to walk and talk and move all over, but that happens to people anyway - accidents, strokes, disease; you recover as fast and best as you can, right?

In my mad scientist mind, I could see a world of "in-between" types. Maybe hermaphroditic; maybe spend youth as Female, and where feminine beauty fades, transition to masculine strength and wisdom? (Hey, put down the stones, it's just a concept!) Maybe be hermaphroditic like the Shades from Ursula K. LeGuinn's Left Hand of Darkness. A Shade could be father to several offspring, and mother to several morel; potential to develop to either sex during mating seasons.

I think maybe blending best features of each sex would be useful, but now we're down to customizing cell biology: No androgen receptors on "cell X", no estrogen receptors on "Cell Y", so the body develops "Male" here, "Female" there. And still need to ensure reproduction....

But I think most people don't want that world. :-) Most people like Men and Women, and that they ARE different. :-)

And since that could easily riff onto griping about women vs. men, I'll get back to work here.

[Mindy2017]

Old article below is from 2005. Scary stuff. Makes you think about what else they have done in the last ten years.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...meras.html