Hermaphrodites are caused by a lack of aromatase during development. These individuals possess the reproductive organs of both sexes. However, depending on the species, they many be present simultaneously or at different point in time. 

Hermaphrodites

The enzyme aromatase (found in ovaries and the brain) converts testosterone to estradiol and other androgens to other estrogens. This single chemical reaction is called aromatization and works as estradiol is a metabolite of testosterone. 

Rutgers University

This hypothesis was found after the organizational hypothesis to be true in some rodents. It proposes that androgens enter the brain and are converted to estrogens. Meaning, that estrogen is what masculines the developing nervous system.

Aromatization Hypothesis

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

Aromatization

A blood protein found in the plasma of fetuses that prevents maternal estrogen from entering the brain by binding estrogen. Testosterone is not effected so it enters the brain and begins the aromatization hypothesis process. 

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