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Is it nature or nurture? Yes! In this lecture I offer a different perspective on the nature/nurture debate, using striking and often amusing evidence for the influences of society on our biology. Ranging across the biological sciences — genetics, hormones, and neuroscience — I discuss the newest research on society-biology interactions, paying special attention to the implications for understanding gender differences and similarities. The article closes with an argument that embracing these developments can enhance rather than harm ongoing efforts to reduce social inequalities of all kinds.
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The NewScience of
Sex Difference
Lisa Wade,
PhD
Genes • Hormones • Brains
Genes • Hormones • Brains
Culture • Interaction • Structure
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?
Genes
“…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
Genes
• 5% = the story• 95% = the storyteller
Genes
• 5% = the story• 95% = the storyteller
“What is written in our genes… is a very open-ended story.”
- sociomedicist Rebecca Jordan-Young
Genes
• 5% = the story• 95% = the storyteller
“The sheer possibility of outcomes is “transcalculational, a mathematical term for mind boggling.”
- geneticist Richard Strohman
Genes
• 5% = the story• 95% = the storyteller
Epigenetic tags: chemical changes to DNA that tell genes what to do.
Genes
• 5% = the story• 95% = the storyteller
Genes
Genes
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
Genes
Hormones1) 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
Hormones1) Messengers in our chemical
communication system. 2) Mechanisms of social interaction.
Hormones1) Messengers in our chemical
communication system. 2) Mechanisms of social interaction.
Hormones1) Messengers in our chemical
communication system. 2) Mechanisms of social interaction.
Brains
Brains• Small average sex differences in:–brain anatomy–composition– function–size– tissue ratios
Brains
Brainlateralizat
ion
Brains• Brain plasticity: our brain’s ability
to respond to the environment.
Brains• Functional plasticity: producing
the same outcome in different ways.
BrainsBrains 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
BrainsThe difference between people w/ and with/out training > than that between men + women.
BrainsThe
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
Image credits to attackofthecute.com, theilovedogssite.com, schizophrenia.com, ileeh,
zastavki.com, + freshboo.com.
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