Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-4224349-20150115232311/@comment-26011515-20150117155540

About the peticulars of how sex is determined genetically...

A lot of people are saying that Steven's 100% male, and Connie's 100% female, or Steven's 50% male and 50% female or ungendered. Genetics doesn't work like that. When examining the genotype (genetic pattern) of sex, it shows the two sex chromosomes, X and Y. X is the "female" sex chromosome, while Y is the "male" sex chromosome, though these are kind of relative. The genotype XX will result in a female phenotype, (physical result from genetic information) while XY will result in a male. Therefore Steven, and every male for that matter, has half the genetics of a female and half that of a male.

The sex of the offspring is determined by a crossing of the parent's DNA (as is the genetic information for the rest of the body). The female donor will only be able to provide an X chromosome, as that is the only information that she possesses. The male, however, is able to give either an X or a Y chromosome. You can determine the sex of the child from what chromosome the male contributes.

Genetic pairing works this way because of the importance of the X chromosome. The X chromosome contains vital information necessary for the creation and development of the human body. The Y chromosome only determines whether or not the individual is a male (which is why I said it was kind of relative earlier; female is no Y present, male is Y present). Only one X chromosome is necessary for development, as males survive on one, but the Y chromosome is not necessary for life, as females have none. A hypothetical cross of YY would result in death, as the vital information provided by X would be non-existant.

I'm putting all this information here for the benefit of the community in regards to how fusion works, specifically pertaining to the sex chromosomes. Enjoy it as you will.