A small village exists where one in every 90 young girls grow penis and transform into boys once they get to the stage of puberty.
The small Caribbean village of Salinas in the Barahona Province of the southwestern part of the Dominican Republic, is like many others with sandy beaches and the sun beats down often.
Referred to as the ‘guevedoces’ which literally translates as ‘penis at 12’ – these children are known in medical terms as ‘pseudohermaphrodite’ – and feature in a new BBC 2 series called Countdown to Life – the Extraordinary Making of You.
One of the villagers named Johnny who at 24 was once known as Felecitia and did not have a penis said: “I remember I used to wear a little red dress.
“I was born at home instead of in a hospital. They didn’t know what sex I was.
“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.”
The guevedoces were uncovered by Cornell University endocrinologist Dr Julianne Imperato in the 1970s who travelled to the region to learn more about rumours that girls were morphing into boys, Mirror UK reports.
The condition which people believe was transpired through a rare genetic disorder, is caused by a missing enzyme that prevents the production the male sex hormone known as dihydro-testosterone in the womb and creates what looks like a baby girl on birth.
Then when they get to puberty, the testosterone flows and their voices break and they grow a male sexual reproductive organ that they become recognised as male.
BBC presenter Dr Michael Mosley said: “I hated going through puberty; voice cracking, swinging moods, older brother laughing at me. But compared to Johnny, I had it easy.
“Guevedoces are also sometimes called “machihembras” meaning “first a woman, then a man.” “When they’re born they look like girls with no testes and what appears to be a vagina.
“It is only when they near puberty that the penis grows and testicles descend.
“When Dr Imperato investigated the Guavadoces she discovered the reason they don’t have male genitalia at birth is because they are deficient in an enzyme called 5-α-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone.
“By a quirk of chance Dr Imperato’s research was picked up by the American pharmaceutical giant, Merck.
“They used her discovery to create a drug called finasteride, which blocks the action of 5-α-reductase.
“It is now widely used to treat benign enlargement of the prostate and male pattern baldness. For which, I’m sure, many men are truly grateful.”
See photos of some of the villagers below. (Click on any image to enlarge).
