Y Chromosome

Y Chromosome

The Y chromosome is the location of a gene desert, prone to the accumulation of junk DNA.  It’s a site of degeneration due to its high mutation rate. It’s also the location of the SRY gene, which is responsible for the initiation of male sex determination in humans.  

It’s tempting to read into this and imagine a drastic treatment.  If we could find the location of the problem, we could cut it out, or cut it off. 

I find myself repeatedly looking to the body, to genes, hormones, and cells to explain my experience.  I still yearn for the validation from the white lab coat. To know the truth. But the closer I look, the more fleeting and ephemeral I become.  

I find myself repeatedly reading and listening to the embodied stories of gendered people, queer and trans, NB and Ace, finding much to relate with.  But even as I identify, I encounter as much difference and variation as similarity.

The Y Chromosome is the dumpy one in the upper right.