Girls in Salinas, in the Dominican Republic are reportedly becoming boys when they turn puberty due to a rare genetic disorder.

According to Sun UK, one-in-90 children born in Salinas grow a penis in a natural transformation from female to male.

The process is known as the guevedoces in the country which translates to “penis at 12”, these youngsters are referred to in medical terms as “pseudohermaphrodite.”

It is so common to be a pseudohermaphrodite in Salinas, that it is accepted as a third sex, alongside male and female.

The newspaper reports of a 24-year-old Johnny, who is physically and biologically male but was once known as Felicitia.

As a child, he did not have a penis and was brought up as a girl.

Johnny told the newspaper, “I remember I used to wear a little red dress. I was born at home instead of in a hospital. They didn’t know what sex I was.

“I went to school and I used to wear my skirt. I never liked to dress as a girl. When they bought me girls toys I never bothered playing with them. All I wanted to do was play with the boys.”

The rare genetic disorder is caused by a missing enzyme which prevents the production of the male sex hormone dihydro-testosterone in the womb. It creates what looks like a baby girl on birth.

But at puberty, when testosterone flows, their voices break and they grow a male sexual reproductive organ that they become recognised as male.