Question

Differentiate between primary and secondary sexual characters

Answer 1

While humans are born with very obvious primary sex characteristics (or body structures directly concerned with reproduction) that allows us to tell males from females, such as the penis in men and the vagina in women, secondary sex characteristics, on the other hand, are features which appear at puberty (though they later become equally as prominent). These secondary characteristics are features such as pubic hair, breast development in females, and beards in males

Answer 2

1. Primary sexual characteristics ( PSCs) are the sexual organs, while secondary sexual characters (SSCs) changes occur in relation with the development of the organism.

2. PSCs start to develop during the foetal development, whereas the SSCs start to develop only around the pubertal age.

3. PSCs have a direct physical relationship with the reproductive system, while it is not necessarily a physical contact with the reproductive system for later.

4. Except for the genitals and reproductive systems, there is no major difference between male and females as far as PSCs are concerned, but the two sexes differ in appearance with the development of SSCs.

5. Behavioural and attitude differences are considerable between two sexes with SSCs, whereas those are low between males and females with PSCs.