ABSTRACT
LIVING THINGS make more organisms like themselves (www.kidshealth.org accessed August 2007), but the reproduction system is not vital for physical survival. The most fundamental and obvious difference between boys and girls lies in the anatomy and physiology of their reproductive systems (see Figures 8.1 and 8.2; see also www.thechildrenshospital. org). Once the exact nature and the extent of the biological sex differences are understood, the environmental influences and experiences which shape the way individual children live and the limitations that they put upon themselves can also be considered. Most small children by the age of three years will have noticed the differences between themselves and naked others, especially if they have bathed together. Many have special names for their ‘different bits’. Throughout childhood sex differences are evident, but the most striking changes are those occurring during puberty. It is then that development of the secondary sexual differences are seen in the many changes occurring in body tissues as the reproductive system matures.
