The NewScience ofSex Difference презентация

The New Science of Sex Difference Lisa Wade, PhD

Genes

Genes

Genes

Genes Sex-linked Sex-limited Sex-influenced

Genes Sex-linked Sex-limited Sex-influenced

Genes Sex-linked Sex-limited Sex-influenced

Genes Sex-linked Sex-limited Sex-influenced

Genes Sex-linked Sex-limited Sex-influenced

Genes Sex-linked Sex-limited Sex-influenced

Blueprint?

“…the organism has choices… If a problem is encountered, the thing has to figure out a solution. Sometimes the solution is fantastic, other times it is less so… If we didn’t have extensive overlap and redundancy in our genome, we wouldn’t be here at all.” - geneticist Mario Capecchi

5% = the story 95% = the storyteller

5% = the story 95% = the storyteller “What is written in our genes… is a very open-ended story.” - sociomedicist Rebecca Jordan-Young

5% = the story 95% = the storyteller “The sheer possibility of outcomes is “transcalculational, a mathematical term for mind boggling.” - geneticist Richard Strohman

5% = the story 95% = the storyteller Epigenetic tags: chemical changes to DNA that tell genes what to do.

5% = the story 95% = the storyteller

GENES ARE AMAZING!

“…any living cell carries with it the experience of a billion years of experimentation by its ancestors. You cannot expect to explain so wise an old bird in a few simple words.” - biologist Max Delbrück

Hormones Messengers in our chemical communication system.

Hormones Male vs. Female Hormones

Hormones Organizational effects Activational effects

Hormones Organizational effects Activational effects

Hormones Organizational effects Activational effects

Hormones Organizational effects Activational effects

Hormones Messengers in our chemical communication system. Mechanisms of social interaction.

Hormones Messengers in our chemical communication system. Mechanisms of social interaction.

Hormones Messengers in our chemical communication system. Mechanisms of social interaction.

Brains

Brains Small average sex differences in: brain anatomy composition function size tissue ratios

Brains Brain lateralization

Brains Brain plasticity: our brain’s ability to respond to the environment.

Brains Functional plasticity: producing the same outcome in different ways.

Brains Brains might produce male- and female-typical outcomes, but they may “just as well do the exact opposite, that is, they may prevent sex differences in overt functions and behaviors by compensating for sex differences in physiology.” - neuroendocrinologist Geert De Vries

Brains The difference between people w/ and with/out training > than that between men + women.

Brains The Flynn Effect

Brains “The brain is basically a social organ.” - sociologist David Franks

TAKE HOME POINTS

TAKE HOME POINTS We now know how social difference and inequality become embodied.

TAKE HOME POINTS We now know how social difference and inequality become embodied. “Biology is, literally, the flesh and blood of society.” - Me

TAKE HOME POINTS We now know how social difference and inequality become embodied. So we can make powerful arguments against the naturalization of biological states.

TAKE HOME POINTS We now know how social difference and inequality become embodied. So we can make powerful arguments against the naturalization of biological states. We can better understand how difference and inequality emerge, persist, and are changed.

TAKE HOME POINTS We now know how social difference and inequality become embodied. So we can make powerful arguments against the naturalization of biological states. We can better understand how difference and inequality emerge, persist, and are changed. Helps explain why sex differences research has been so… anticlimatic.

TAKE HOME POINTS Now we can use biological research to add urgency to feminist efforts…

TAKE HOME POINTS Now we can use biological research to add urgency to feminist efforts… … by showing just how deep oppression goes and how very unjust it is.

Thanks! Lisa Wade, PhD lisa-wade.com t:@lisawade fb:/lisawadephd