Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
An essay on gender differentiation and gender determination
The influence of society on scientific development
Enviromental effect on sex determination
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Sex Itself: the Search for Male and Female in the Human Genome In “Sex Itself: the Search for Male and Female in the Human Genome,” Sarah Richardson begins her detailed analysis by considering the discovery of “odd chromosomes” in 1890 and their relation to sex. Concentrating on the experiments and methodology of five critical experimental biologists, Richardson illustrates the development of theories of sex determination. Theories of chromosomal determination of sex prominent at the time speculated about a system of sex determination that was nondeterminate and easily influenced by many variables, similar to the biocultural recognition of human variation in response to environment. Biocultural understandings of variation rely on epigenetic …show more content…
Researchers attempted to sort the newly discovered chromosomes into preceding sex determination theories and opposed the explanation of the discrete genetic characters “maleness” and “femaleness” as representations of the X and Y chromosomes. The binary of XX and XY chromosomes, being female or male, respectfully, with little inclusion of intersex traits or genetic abnormalities, is described by Richardson throughout the text. For individuals like South African Olympian Caster Semenya, who is hyperandrogenous and may have XY chromosomes (Dr. Miller, 2/15/17, UC Berkeley), notions of X and Y chromosomes as empirical factors of sex and gender are not applicable. Richardson asserts that socially informed concepts of gender fundamentally impacted scientific research, including the vernacular used in publications and the subjects considered worthy of scientific examination. Richardson rejects notions of linear scientific progress, and examines the contributions of preexisting scientific concepts inform …show more content…
The debate, which notably occurred during the 1990s and early 2000s between geneticists David Page and Jenny Graves, illustrates how the apprehension of males faced with decline of social status and masculinity contribute to the vernacular and research methods in conflicting Y chromosome evolution debates. David Page advocates the Y chromosome as the carrier of robust genes, created by selective pressure to propagate “maleness”. Inversely, Jenny Graves perceives genes on the Y chromosome degenerating, maintained not because of their “maleness,” but in spite of it. Richardson proposes that these conflicting views are not a product of “gender bias,” as the term does not elucidate the use of culture and politics in the respective research, nor the feelings or uncertainty intrinsically in their debate. Alternatively, Richardson proposes “gender valence,” which would examine communication between the research and the gender politics surrounding it, as a more holistic frame of the debate than “gender bias.” While “gender bias” could be employed in situations where gender operates invisibly, “gender valence” operates in situations where gender notions work visibly and intrinsically in
Prentice, D. A. and Carranza, E. (2002), What Women and Men Should Be, Shouldn’t Be, Are Allowed to Be, and Don’t Have to Be: The Contents of Prescriptive Gender Stereotypes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 26: 269–281.
Sexism is a highly talked about issue read about online, seen in the news, and experienced in the day to day lives of many. The importance of this issue can be found in many writings. Authors such as Sandra Cisneros, Linda Hasselstrom, and Judy Brady have all discussed the topic of sexism in writings and how they affected their lives. Although each writer addresses the issue of sexism, each author confronts a different type of sexism; the kind we are born into, the kind we learn growing up, and the kind that is accepted by society at the end of the day.
Society stereotypes women in almost all social situations, including in the family, media, and the workplace. Women are often regarded as being in, “Second place” behind men. However, these stereotypes are not typically met by the modern day woman....
In “The Gender Blur: Where Does Biology End and Society Take Over?” Deborah Blum states that “gender roles of our culture reflect an underlying biology” (Blum 679). Maasik and Solomon argue that gender codes and behavior “are not the result of some sort of natural or biological destiny, but are instead politically motivated cultural constructions,” (620) raising the question whether gender behavior begins in culture or genetics. Although one may argue that gender roles begin in either nature or nurture, many believe that both culture and biology have an influence on the behavior.
This article was written to bring attention to the way men and women act because of how they were thought to think of themselves. Shaw and Lee explain how biology determines what sex a person is but a persons cultures determines how that person should act according to their gender(Shaw, Lee 124). The article brings up the point that, “a persons gender is something that a person performs daily, it is what we do rather than what we have” (Shaw, Lee 126). They ...
Recent research on the interaction of gender, ethnicity, and identity has shown that every culture have had some effect on children’s and their awareness of gender bias. For example, studies has shown that eleven and twelve year old girls are more than likely to believe that they are targets of gender bias than boys, while on the other hand, boys are not as concerned with gender bias or stereotypes as girls seem to be and are usually unaware of it’s concept (Brown, Bigler & Chu,2010).
To begin with, gender must be examined at the basic level of science in regard to physical and biological development of humans. We all understand the physical differences between the male and female gender, but how is our sex actually determined. After conception,
In the text "The Sexing of the body" Sterling argues that scientist should not only worry about the physical feature to determine someone's sexuality but also on the characteristics. Sterling writes," But behaviors are generally social activities, expressed in interaction with distinctly separate beings. Thus, as we move from genitalia on the outside to the invisible psyche..."(Sterling, 29). When a scientist steps out of that box of determining gender based on the physical feature it can change the perspective of how gender is viewed in society. In the same way, The Text "Baboons with Briefcases vs Langurs with Lipstick" by Susan Sperling shows how scientist should overlook physical features and DNA to determining what is gender. Sperling writes, "Other things shape behavior besides genes and Shape it in important ways for the organisms in question..."(Sperling, 250). Our behavior can say a lot about the gender we are but Sperling demonstrates that even the behavior aspect of determining gender should be furthered studied. Both of these Authors show how scientist try to construct and validify the our sexuality is already with us and it not constructed by society. When viewing how scientist makes their studies there is some type of biased and gender stereotypes connected to these
The sex and gender binary is a socially-constructed classification of sex and gender into two distinct and biological forms of masculine and feminine. The binary is a restricting concept that enforces the ideology that solely two genders exist—it is a social boundary that limits people from exploring gender identity or mixing it up (Larkin, 2016). As Mann depicts it, the binary constrains us to take on one gender identity, and to follow through with the expected roles assigned to that gender. The implications are that it compels people to fit into the binary and follow the patriarchal, heteronormative traditions of society (Mann, 2012). However, the binary was not always so clear-cut, but certain concepts from scientific research such as the
Although men and women have significant biological differences, the question whether gender-specific labels stems from these biological differences or are gender constructed remains a polarised nature versus nurture debate. Whether it is through the process of socialisation or genetic make-up, “gender identity” is given from a person’s birth, determining how a person culturally interacts and the expectations society places on them. Along with a “gender identity” comes a whole set of “norms”, “values” and so-called “gender characteristics”, which are supposed to define the differences between a male and a female. According to the World Health Organisation (n.d.), the term “sex” is often used to define the biological and physiological differences between a male and female. The World Health Organisation (n.d.) also state that the term “gender” refers to the social and cultural differences which are “socially constructed” and characterised by appropriate gender behavioural traits. Although scientists currently believe that since pre-historic times, men and women have been regarded as the “hunters and gathers”, laying the foundation for the “division of the sexes”, this long-term cast-iron notion has been recently challenged. For example, Pringle (1998) makes the point that American archaeologists, Professor Olga Soffee, Professor David Hyland and James Adovasio, proposed that hunting wasn’t about hurling spears, while the women watched on, but was a technique called “Net hunting” and was a communal activity which also involved the labour of children and women. Moreover, through anthropological research, Soffer discovered that women were critical for survival and “dug starchy roots and collected other plant carbohydrates essential to ...
Being a man doesn’t need the back up of a Y chromosome and being a woman doesn’t need both XX chromosomes as I made clear in this paper. I enjoyed reading and writing about intersex and informing myself and the people around me about it. My best friend is deciding to do his research paper on it and I’m helping my little cousin do a school project on intersex and genetic make-up. I’m proud of myself for doing something out of the box and being the voice for a person with intersex.
Human beings have been, and always will be, dichotomized into either male or female. When determining a person’s sex we often look for differences in facial features, body shape or mannerism’s, but another promising way to determine a persons sex and one that is most often used today, is through gender roles. Gender roles are behaviors that portray masculinity or femininity. The theory behind gender roles through multidisciplinary viewpoints is the focus of this paper. Throughout history and in every culture these roles have shifted and transformed into what society says is expectable. In this analysis, gender roles will be examined through a sociological, biological and evolutionary scope.
Sex and gender are terms that are mixed up from day to day and seen as similarities rather than differences. Sex is what distinguishes people from being either male or female. It is the natural or biological variation between males and females (Browne, 1998). Some of these variations are genital, body hair, and internal and external organs. It is the make-up of chromosomes, men have one X and one Y chromosome and women have two X chromosomes, which are responsible for primary characteristics (Fulcher and Scott, 2003).
Girls are seen as caring, nurturing, quiet, and helpful. They place other’s needs above their own. Girls get ahead by hard work, not by being naturally gifted. Boys are seen as lazy, but girls are seen as not capable. In class, teacher will call on boys more than they call on girls. Boys are seen as better at math and science; while girls are better at reading and art. This bias is still at work even out of the classroom. There are more males employed at computer firms than women. The ratio of male to female workers in STEM fields is 3-1. In college, more women major in the humanities than in the sciences. In education, women are often seen as lesser than; even though 65% of all college degrees are earned by women. Women are still often seen as needing to be more decorative than intellectual, as represented by the Barbie who included the phrase, “Math is hard!” and the shirt that JC Penneys sold that said, “I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.” While there was a backlash on both items, it points out that there is a great deal of work to do on the educational gender bias to be
Most of today’s theorists and scientists have a different perception of determining whether or not gender can be based on biological factors, or evolutionary factors. Gender determination involving humans can be identified by evaluating male and female chromosomes. Theorist of Penn State (2005) contains that chromosomes is a combination of instructions used to produce organism. As previously stated, the male chromosomes consist of X and Y. These two chromosomes are responsible for creating male gender and their ability to produce sperm. The female egg consists of double XX chromosome. Based on this theory, the X chromosomes carry a more dominant instruction manual than the Y chromosome.