Geek Out: To Pee Or Not To Pee?
Use of terms “men” and “women”:
As always, I’m walking a line between being sciencey enough but not too much that I turn off non-sciencey readers! If this were a post written for scientists I would use the sex terms, male and female, referring to genotypic males and females with biochemistry and physiology that match their genotype.
(Actually even better, I would use genotypic male and genotypic female).
Because the above sound rather sterile and can, I think, be off-putting when I’m trying to invite non-scientists to engage with these posts, I use the terms men and women.
However, the terms “men” and “women” really relate more to a person’s sense of gender - I get that. If anyone has any suggestions for terms they think would be better, get in touch, I truly am open.
I thought this was an interesting related article:
https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-it-mean-to-be-cisgender-103159
Prostate (gland):
Just like the thyroid, you can choose to put gland after the word or not, both are fine.
Women don’t have a prostate:.
Strictly speaking, there are Skene’s glands in females which form out of the same cells as the prostate does in the male embryo. People have called these the “female prostate” although that’s perhaps rather overstating their role in females but interested? Click here
2000 years ago:
If this post has inspired you to learn more about the discovery of the prostate gland, check out this article. This review shows how anatomy isn’t a static subject but like all science, our anatomy knowledge evolves as our investigative techniques develop and as long as scientists are open to saying “we weren’t quite right with our earlier thoughts!”
Testis:
Testis is the singular, and means the same as testicle; testes is the plural.
Vas deferens:
Now you know why it’s called a vasectomy, cut/tie off this tube and sperm can’t get into the urethra to be ejaculated!
Seminal vesicle:
This diagram is a view from the side so it’s showing one vesicle, it has a twin on the other side
Prostate and seminal vesicles:
Most people have never heard of the seminal vesicles, I’m guessing because it’s incredibly rare to have a primary cancer originate in one of these seminal vesicles. But when it comes to this fluid, the seminal vesicles are probably responsible for about twice as much as the much better known, prostate.
10-13”:
This is 23 – 33cm but these figures are of course typical, not absolute – people come in all different shapes and sizes!
Pregnancy being established:
In order for a pregnancy to become established, the developing embryo must implant (anchor itself) into the uterine wall. There’s some evidence to suggest that if the mother’s immune system isn’t turned down, then it may prevent implantation – that failure to dial down maternal immune response has been implicated in recurrent miscarriages for example.
