Countdown to Life

Heather Callachor Artist's Statement

My research is focused on the gender identity of people with 5-alpha reductase deficiency, a disorder of sexual development occurring in XY individuals which causes them to be born without male sex characteristics. When people with this disorder are born, they are often assigned as female at birth, before growing male genitalia at puberty when a significant surge in testosterone occurs. The creative project associated with my research is a painting of a clock, with the hands approaching 12. However, on this clock the number 12 is replaced by the symbol for the male gender (♂). This is an homage to the colloquial name most commonly associated with 5-alpha reductase deficiency, "guevedoces". This term, which comes from the Dominican Republic, literally translates to "penis/testicles at twelve". This is the age when most people go through puberty, which for those with 5-alpha reductase deficiency, is the age in which they grow male sex characteristics. Upon reaching this age, many individuals with 5-alpha reductase deficiency choose to change their gender to male, if they were raised as female. The background of the painting is the flag of the Dominican Republic, which is where 5-alpha reductase deficiency was first identified and studied. The title of my project "Countdown to life" is a reference to the BBC documentary of the same name which brought attention to guevedoces beyond the scientific community. This documentary, which was filmed in the Dominican Republic, contains interviews with individuals with 5-alpha reductase deficiency, many of which were raised as female and transitioned to male around puberty. Many of these individuals reported feeling that they were different from other girls during childhood, and were excited to reach puberty and transition to male.