Virilization is a medical term commonly used in three medical and biology of sex contexts: prenatal biological sexual differentiation, the postnatal changes of typical chromosomal male (46, XY) puberty, and excessive androgen effects in typical chromosomal females (46, XX).
Examples of undervirilization in fetuses with a 46,XY karyotype are androgen insensitivity syndrome and 5 alpha reductase deficiency.
These effects include growth of the penis and the testes, accelerated growth, development of pubic hair, and other androgenic hair of face, torso, and limbs, deepening of the voice, increased musculature, thickening of the jaw, prominence of the neck cartilage, and broadening of the shoulders.
Typical effects of virilization in children are pubic hair, accelerated growth and bone maturation, increased muscle strength, acne, and adult body odor.
[3] Virilization in females can manifest as clitoral enlargement, increased muscle strength, acne, hirsutism, frontal hair thinning, deepening of the voice, menstrual disruption due to anovulation, and a strengthened libido.
Demasculinization occurs naturally with andropause, pathologically with hypogonadism, and artificially or medically with antiandrogens, estrogens, and orchiectomy.