Klienfelters Syndrome

While for most people these days, any discussion of men with breasts will immediately lead to quotes from Fight Club (“This is Bob. Bob had bitch tits.”), it’s a very real medical condition called Gynecomastia, sometimes developed as a result of Klienfelter Syndrome.

Klienfelters is a genetic condition, caused and characterized by having an extra bit of gene make up. Where most people have either a 36 YY or 26 XY Genetic make up depending if they are male or female, some people have variations of the standard. Klienfelters Syndrome people typically have a 37XXY Gene. Technically this makes them neither male or female. Klienfelters Syndrome people appear and are accepted as male. In many cases, people who have the condition may not realise they have it.

Some symptoms of Klienfelters include:

• Slight outward turning of legs, similar to Downs Syndrome.
• Slight to significant brain retardation and hence slow learning.
• Problems with linguistics; reading and language skills.
• Short attention spans.
• Development of breasts at puberty.
• Wider hips than normal.
• Appear to be overweight from puberty (some Internet sites say the opposite).
• Infertility.
• Short life spans.

The best and most definitive way to work out if a person has Klienfelters is to have a test for the 37XXY genetic makeup from a blood sample.

I happened across one person’s website about their experiences growing up in a small town with Klienfelters Syndrome.

His story fascinated me. While you’d expect that someone in his position in a small town would be regarded as a “freak” of some sort, he actually was lucky enough to be very accepted by his (predominantly female) family and the community. Raised with three sisters and a mother who didn’t enforce the usual gender stereotypes, he lived mostly as a girl from an early age. At the onset of puberty, the development of his breasts enforced this, and while he knew he was a boy, he was able to spend most of his childhood comfortably, without being ostracized, harassed, or abused by the people around him.

As he grew older and moved out into the world, of course, things didn’t always go as smoothly, and he now lives most of his life in public appearing masculine, but still primarily self-identifying as feminine — though not homosexual — when he’s at home. Even in a society that is (slowly, but finally) becoming more tolerant of homosexuality, trans-gendered people, and the entire GLBT spectrum, it’s interesting to hear from people like this who still “fall through the cracks,” and don’t quite fit into any of the nice, neat little boxes that we’re forever trying to fit people into.

(via Something Positive)

[Update:]{.underline}

Sure, it’s possible that his story is a load of hooey. I still find the gender identity issues interesting.