@HarmoniaAtLast There are several mistakes in this thread. I barely know where to start.
First, males don't ovulate. They don't have ovaries, so cannot.
The hypothalamus/pituitary axis you describe is incomplete. Regarding the menstrual cycle, it is a HP*G* axis, where G is short for "gonad", in this case, the ovary.
There is feedback between all three components to produce a menstrual cycle. That is, you need ovaries, and they release important signals to the hypothalamus and pituitary that are necessary for the cycle to exist.
One of those signals is estrogen which, contrary to your confident assertion that it is made in the pituitary, is made (along with progesterone) in the ovary.
The surge of estrgoen experienced shortly before ovulation is derived from the ovary. It signals to the pituitary to produce a surge of luteinising hormone that triggers ovulation, where ovulation is the release of an egg from an ovary.
So while you may have a pituitary, it doesn't produce estrogen around ovulation, because that happens in the ovary. Which you don't have.
The ovary is not just a bag of eggs waiting to be told to throw one out. It is an interactive and crucial part of the physical and hormone changes that comprise the female menstrual cycle.
The source of progesterone in the female cycle is not the ovarian tissue proper, but the remains of the egg follicle itself (after it has popped one out). That is, the cyclical nature of progesterone is dependent on the process of ovulation.
Slowly??? 😂
Steroid hormone effects are elicited in seconds to minutes. 🤦♀️
From elsewhere. Just inventing cycles from nowhere.
Several people argue that if the metrics of a trans-identified male fall "within female range", it is fair for that male to compete in female sport.
But we need to look at what's typical .v. what's exceptional.
Male traits often overlap with female traits. Height, muscle mass and so forth all generate normal distributions within sex (bell curves), where the lower end of the male range overlaps with the upper end of the female range.
This is a computer-generated series, transitioning between "hyper male" and "hyper female".
Where does your perception of the sex of the person shift?
Which face is the most ambiguous?
If you reply, please include your sex (the actual one).
OK, in the paper, the data was:
Faces 1-3: 100>97% scored "male"
Faces 5-7: 94>100% scored "female"
Face 4 was the transition face, with 68% scoring it "male".
FTR, I didn't hesitate on 4/male then 5/female.
Next set: same series, now skinned 🤣
I won't ask for responses. It is probably obvious that people were less able to detect any sharp transition from male>female, from face-on bone structure.
Note to archeologists: this doesn't mean you can't tell a male from female face, so stop pretending you can't.
In defence of Semenya et al, many argue: 1. athletes with 5ARD are female; 2. features associated with 5ARD are normal female variation; 3. these athletes should be included in female sports.
The first claim is incoherent.
To understand 5ARD, let's look at healthy reproductive development.
Both male and female development are well-understood.
Male development 1. Y chromosome carrying functional SRY that directs testes development 2. testes produce hormones, notably testosterone (T) 3. T first drives male internal genitalia development 4. T>DHT conversion drives male external genital development