The Testicle Myth: When Ancient Medicine Believed Men Could Choose the Sex of Their Children Author: Rodgers Mangwela There was a time when the mystery of whether a baby would be born male or female was not hidden inside chromosomes, genes or DNA. It was supposedly hiding somewhere much closer to home in the two testicles of the father. For generations, some physicians believed that the right testicle was connected with male children while the left was associated with female children . And this was not merely a bizarre rumour whispered in ancient marketplaces. The idea appeared in medical writings and became part of elaborate theories about how human reproduction worked. The strangest part was that some ancient medical writers did not stop at describing the theory. They suggested ways men could supposedly manipulate it. A man wanting a boy might be told to tie one testicle. A man wanting a girl could be given the opposite instruction. What sounds today like a dangerous ...