no wayDuring the recent confirmation hearing for Ketanji Brown Jackson to the U.S. Supreme Court, Senator Marsha Blackburn stirred controversy by asking Jackson to define the word “woman.” After Jackson refused, several Republicans I joined the definition of “woman”. The answers ranged from the dubious to the shocking, including “weaker sex,” “people with uteruses,” and “no X chromosome, no tallywalker.”
The concept has not evolved much since it was first proposed by naturalist Charles Darwin in 1871. told the world “Men are braver, more courageous, more energetic, and more creatively gifted than women.” Most 19th- and 20th-century evolutionary theories (and theorists) argued that evolution had created two kinds of creatures, male and female, and that individual behavior and nature reflected this biological dichotomy.
today A chorus of scientific-sounding claims “Blue and pink” brains, testosterone, and male primate aggression are presented as natural explanations for masculine and feminine behavior, along with gaps in wages, jobs, political and economic leadership, and sexual orientation. In the political and legal spheres, the belief that biology creates two types of humans is invoked in various attempts to dictate and enforce how humans should behave.
These claims and beliefs are wrong. Moreover, commitment to a simple dichotomous viewpoint leads to a miseducation about basic biology, a denigration of women’s rights, Incels and “Men’s Rights” ViolenceAnd the enactment of anti-transgender laws.
Science offers a more precise and hopeful way to understand the biology of sexuality. By recognizing the true diversity of human experience, humanity can embrace a broader and more multifaceted way of imagining and experiencing human nature. This evidence-based perspective is not only far more interesting, but also more conducive to respect and flourishing than the simplistic and misleading “tallywhacker vs. no tallywhacker” perspective.
Biology and Sexual Diversity
SStarting at the most basic level of animal biology, there are numerous ways to be female, male, or both. The ocean Type of fish Some change from one surname to another in middle age, and some change back to their original surname. Invertebrates and hermaphrodites Lizard for women only They reproduce by recombining their own chromosomes. In some mammals, females Full of testosterone And they have big “penis”. In many fish and mammals, the male does everything. Infant care. and Various speciesWomen are authoritarian, promiscuous, and yes, combative, as Darwin said.
Female spotted hyena (Crocuta Crocuta) has a fake penis that is almost indistinguishable from a man’s penis.
Of course, there are patterned differences between females and males in many species. But there is much more diversity, complexity, and cooperation than most people realize. A closer look at the sexual biology of animals, including humans, reveals that Darwin Biologist EO WilsonGeneticist Angus BatemanAnd various Republican politicians at least away from base And most of them Totally wrong.
Man/woman and masculine/feminine are not biological terms, nor are they rooted solely in biology. Biologically, sex is not simply defined or uniformly established. In the case of humans, having two X chromosomes or an X and a Y chromosome does not create a binary body, destiny, or life. If we crawled into the womb with a fetus at 6-8 weeks of age, we would see a few clumps of body cells, created by the activity of DNA, begin to press together to form new organs, including the clitoris and penis, labia and scrotum, ovaries and testes. All genitalia are made of exactly the same stuff. Their final form is different because they have different end functions. But there is a lot of overlap.
In fact, out of the 140 million babies born last year, At least 280,000 It did not fit a clear-cut penile-labia model of sex determination. Genitals, hormone levels, and chromosomes Unreliable factors in determining genderFor example, there are people with XY chromosomes who have feminine characteristics, people with ambiguous genitals, and women with testosterone levels outside the typical “female” range.
There is no simple dichotomy between male and female biologically, as I show in my book Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You. The brain no longer has “gender” At birth, more than the kidneys and liver The brain is a “mosaic” It has both female and male characteristics.
Read excerpts from Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You.Breaking the Myths About Sex and Gender“
Of course, there are clear physical differences in childbirth and lactation, and there are patterns in the development and distribution of body size, strength, and many other processes. However, most of these patterns overlap, and only a few patterns are distributed in clear or functional dichotomies. Numerous studies have shown that differences between adult males and females are exaggerated and are strongly influenced by biology and cultural dynamics. Humans are a fusion of nature and nurture, a fusion of nature and nurture.
For example, many explanations for differences between men and women are based on assumptions about differences in the evolutionary costs of reproduction between them. However, human reproduction is more complex than two individuals having sex, with the woman giving birth and caring for the offspring. In many societies today, women either alone or with men (often Not contributing fairly This structure developed very recently in human history.
There is enormous evidence for the homo (Humans) evolved complex cooperative caregiving more than a million years ago, changing the patterns and pressures of our evolution. This “heteronormative care” practice is still widespread in many human groups, with mothers and fathers, grandparents, other female and male relatives, and boys and girls in the community all helping to feed, teach, and care for children. This complex overlap of social and reproductive roles is both fascinating and hopeful. Humans are not two kinds of people when it comes to raising children. Rather, we evolved as cooperative and creative communities.
There are no male New Mexico whiptail lizards.Aspidoscelis neomexicanus); species consisting solely of females reproduce either parthenogenetically or by mating with males of other species.
teaThe data-driven conclusion is that “man/woman” and “masculine/feminine” are neither biological terms nor rooted solely in biology. The lack of clear dichotomies is particularly evident in complex human beings. Neurobiology, Life historyand Morphological dynamics In our species, there are many successful and biologically diverse ways to be human, and millions of people embody this diversity. Growing up as a human means growing up in a world with diverse sexual expectations, body types, reproductive options, family structures, and sexual orientations.
So instead of listening to politicians who are misogynistic, sexist, homophobic/transphobic, incel, or whose ideology is based on the biological sex binary and its evolutionary myths, we should be open to a serious understanding of biology and better options for human flourishing that a simple male/female binary does not effectively express. normal human range. Understanding this and incorporating it into our education, our lives, and our laws provides better possibilities, greater equality, and more joy to human society.
Agustin Fuentes He is a professor of anthropology at Princeton University.
This work originally appeared in: Sapiens ~Below CC BY-ND 4.0 License. Read it Original is here.
