Incorrect thought of the day

This is from the US News site:

An analysis of the DNA of a family whose members have suffered from the disease confirmed that the gene is vital because it paves the way for the body to process a hormone known as kisspeptin.

"Without kisspeptin, a human being cannot attain sexual characteristics of his/her gender and child-bearing capacity. Kisspeptin is absolutely required for the start of the puberty process in humans," said study author Dr. A. Kemal Topaloglu, of the department of pediatric endocrinology at Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey.

You can tell he isn't from around here because he said "cannot attain sexual characteristics of his/her gender and child-bearing capacity". A North American scientist would have said something more neutral. I mean, he has learned some of the correct lingo and that is why he says "gender" rather than "sex". Except that everything he says applies to sex and not gender.

Okay kisspeptin (great name BTW) is absolutely required to start the puberty process but there is clearly more as the article goes on:

Dr. William F. Crowley Jr., director of the Harvard Reproductive Endocrine Sciences Center at Harvard Medical School, said the condition affects no more than one in 10,000 children, and perhaps even fewer.

So why should we care so much about this rare condition? Here's why:

"This is a very rare cause of a very rare condition," he said. "But every piece of this puzzle winds up being very important to putting the whole thing together." 

What happens to you in this crucial development stage is complex and multifaceted. Who knows what traits are the result of when and how crucial hormones are or are not released. Imagine, just to pick one hypothetical, what the result would be if it turned out that hormone release in these years was what determined whether or not a boy grew up heterosexual? And imagine that a series of treatments were devised so that parents could make sure he did? That would shake a few things up.