This is an evolving area of neuroscience, and there is an emerging body of evidence of the effect of sex hormones on brain development. In utero, the reproductive organs develop and differentiate earlier than the brain does. When the brain later develops in ways that typically differentiate between male and female, it seems to be based on whether or not the androgens are present and received.209 Usually, because the gonads are already in place and producing minute amounts of hormones, this differentiation allows the brain development to match the typical pattern. When something (such as
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