The adrenal glands, located above the kidneys, are the pair of glands that are responsible for secreting various hormones, including androgens.

This means working with a child in a way that works with her or his level of understanding. For example, if you’re talking with a child about going to the doctor, it would be “age-appropriate” with most three-year-olds to use a stuffed animal to explain what’s going to happen at the doctor’s office, but not age-appropriate to do the same with an intelligent teenager. Parents should not “dumb down” things unnecessarily, but they should also be careful not to talk over the head of their children.

Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS) occurs when an individual has one X and one Y chromosome, but the body is unable to respond to androgens (male sex hormones). A person with complete AIS will develop female genitalia, while a person with partial AIS may have genitalia that appear mainly female, or mainly male, or anything in between.

Androgens are hormones (molecules or chemical messengers) made mostly by the testes, but also made to a lesser extent in the adrenal glands located above the kidneys, and in the ovaries. They stimulate male reproductive organ (sex organ) development and secondary sex characteristics such as facial hair and lower pitch of voice. The two major types of androgens involved in sex development are testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.

See Mullerian inhibiting substance.

Aphallia refers to being born without a penis, in a patient with otherwise typical male anatomy.