Talk:Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome

Explanation for recent edits
Hi Linkdr, thanks for your improvements to the article!

I've made a few additional modifications as well, and wanted to explain the rationale behind them:

 Androgen insensitivity is caused by a mutation in the androgen receptor gene, resulting in an ineffective androgen receptor protein, which in turn results in the macroscopic effects we're all familiar with. As such, it is not technically correct to say that CAIS is the "complete inability of individuals ... to respond to androgens" --- this implies that there is no pathway in which androgens have an effect; androgens can and do exert effects without AR mediation. Some women with CAIS in fact choose to use testosterone after gonadectomy for the neurohormonal effects of testosterone. There has even been a case report in which a woman with CAIS experienced medically-induced psychosis after gonadectomy, which resolved after the administration of testosterone. For these reasons, I've shifted the emphasis of the introductory paragraph back to the cellular level. The gonads in CAIS are not merely elementary testicular tissue, but are in fact testes. Elementary tissue is something that one might expect to find in XY gonadal dysgenesis (i.e. "streak gonads"), but not in CAIS. The development of the testes is in fact completely androgen independent, and thus does not require the use of androgens to produce fully mature testes. However, spermatogenesis is an androgen dependent process, which is why germ cells (i.e. the precursors to sperm cells) remain immature. The term "disorders of sex development" is controversial; there has been quite a bit of back-and-forth regarding this term, and many objections have been raised by the CAIS community regarding it. The primary objection is that it implies that gender can only be normal as defined by the gender binary paradigm; everything else must be considered to be a disorder. There are even articles in the usual peer-reviewed medical journals that make this objection. "Intersexed" has been used instead of "disorder of sexual development" for this and other reasons; it has been explicitly requested by the AIS community, it serves the same purpose as DSD, and it does not suffer from these additional derogatory implications. While it is true that intelligence is not affected by CAIS, many other things also are not affected by CAIS. However, if you really want to include this in the article, you just need to cite a source that says it (I did not find where this was mentioned in the Hughes article). 

I made the above changes, while also trying to keep the spirit of your edits intact. Thanks again for your contributions! Jonathan.Marcus (talk) 05:22, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Gonadal tumors?
Are there hypotheses about the causes of the gonadal tumours? AxelBoldt (talk) 00:57, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

Elizabeth I
It is an urban legend that Elizabeth I may have suffered from CAIS. It was recently put forward in the documentary Elizabeth I: The Secret Life. I can expand on this and add it to the main body? Bigbaddan1977 (talk) 00:59, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

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CAIS "women"?
I am new to this Page: I'm surprised to find that one with CAIS is referred to as a "woman". They are genotypic males (XY), and phenotypic females. For the sake of non-judgmental and scientific accuracy, wouldn't a better term be an "individual"? I will edit thusly unless an objection is posted here. RegardsIiKkEe (talk) 20:57, 30 August 2017 (UTC)


 * Yes, certainly they should be referred to as "individuals", "people", "persons". The lede refers to them as such, but in the body of the article in many instances they are referred to as "women". This is misleading scientifically, and is also insulting towards the CAIS people who consider themselves as men (even the section "Sex assignment and sexuality" says that although most CAIS people have "a heterosexual female gender identity", there have also been documented cases of CAIS people who have "a male gender identity"). I will make these changes. 2A02:2F01:5DFF:FFFF:0:0:6465:4383 (talk) 06:56, 30 December 2020 (UTC)
 * We WP:STICKTOSOURCE in these cases. The sources say what they say for a reason. Crossroads -talk- 05:38, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * "CAIS women overwhelmingly perceive themselves as highly feminine and not masculine throughout development." -- or, at least, 14 out of 14 did in that study.  Jheald (talk) 21:27, 1 April 2022 (UTC)