For centuries around the globe cultural groups recognized
and continue to recognize the existence
of more than one gender. Conversations
on gender have been framed on the notion that while multiple gender identities
can and do exist, meeting the social needs of the cultural groups that define
them, these gender identities are based on the existence of two distinct biological
sexes. This makes sense when you
consider how the biological sexes are defined: as male versus female. Males are defined by primary sexual
characteristics, which include the presence of a penis, and secondary sexual
characteristics, such as facial hair, an “Adam’s Apple”, and deep voices;
females are defined by primary sexual characteristics, including the presence
of breasts and a uterus, and secondary sexual characteristics, including higher
voices and the ability to birth offspring.
However, these are idealized characterizations, and not everyone meets these
ideal types. Some men have high pitched
voices and some women have facial hair.
More recent medical evidence further demonstrates that this sex binary
may be false. Today’s blog post will
take a closer look at this evidence and explain how the sex binary is not
actually the case but instead a spectrum.
In the 1990s scientists first began to realize that the
dichotomy of two biological sexes may not be completely true. Genetic and medical studies began to shed
light on this issue as published reports demonstrated two distinct cases: a
woman pregnant with her third child went in for an amniocentesis and her doctor
(as well as she) was shocked to discover that she carried XY DNA; an adult male
who fathered four children went in for surgery and his doctor discovered he had
a uterus, in addition to testes. Further
study into these and other cases revealed that genetically sex was not simply
XX for female and XY for male. It was
discovered that an individual’s sex is actually based on 25 different genetic
markers, which accounts for the variation we see in the sexes (e.g. different
sized breasts and penises; men who can grow facial hair and me who cannot;
women who can birth children and those who cannot).
Other studies demonstrated that greater comprehension of
fetal development. It was discovered
that in utero sex development begins during week 5 and continues on for several
more weeks. During development a fetus
could gain or lose various elements that would define it as a “him” or a “her”,
retaining some of those characteristics genetically or morphologically. Oftentimes individuals do not realize this
until later in life when a medical or genetic intervention occurs.
Physical anthropological studies also demonstrate issues
with this sex binary. When it comes to
identifying the sex of a deceased individual based on their skeletal remains there
is a scoring system that ranges from 1 to 5.
The ends of the range are the most diagnostic of either sex, whereas
three is indeterminate. Scores of 2 and
4 are “likely” male or female. As
someone who has assessed sex on multiple skeletons (over 100) it is clear that
very few individuals consistently score 1s or 5s in all anatomical areas. When I explain the methods used for sexing to
my students they will often seek out the morphological areas that they can
touch (such as the back of the skull for the nuchal crest) and many panic
because they do not meet the ideal of male or female (or even male or female at
all). This demonstrates that these
skeletal differences exist in life just as they do in death, and further call
into question the notion of the sex binary.
Taken together the science is continuing to demonstrate that
there is no sex binary. Instead sex exists
on a spectrum. And that is okay. This spectrum
has existed for centuries, just as multiple gender identities, and humans
continue to exist, procreate, and do what they do. Therefore this information, although not new
to nature but new to us, should not raise alarm. Instead, we should acknowledge it for what it
is and realize that we should perhaps abandon archaic notions that no longer
apply and accept those that do: sex is a spectrum.
References
Addison, C., & Taylor-Alexander, S. (2016, May
12). Human sex is not simply male or female. So what? Retrieved from
Aeon:
https://aeon.co/ideas/human-sex-is-not-male-or-female-so-what?fbclid=IwAR3IJPM8qlhOy2TmS8oElhnULy-SF6HFyEOE6HeamH7HyWrh-6wwvr9EzZc
Ainsworth, C. (2015). Sex redefined. Nature.
Fausto-Sterling, A. (2018, October 25). Why Sex Is
Not Binary . The New York Times.
Ford, A. (2015, February 24). Sex biology
redefined: Article suggests that genes don’t indicate binary sexes.
Retrieved from Scope: Standford Medcine:
https://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2015/02/24/sex-biology-redefined-genes-dont-indicate-binary-sexes/
Kralick, A. (2018, December 25). How Human Bones
Reveal the Fallacy of a Biological Sex Binary. Pacific Standard Magazine.
The Editors. (2017, September 1). The New Science
of Sex and Gender. Retrieved from Scientific America: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-new-science-of-sex-and-gender/
5 comments:
I was apart of a research project for changing attitudes against transgender individuals and my team and I explored many of the same notions. In the survey portion of the experiment, we found that many people are so uncomfortable with anything outside of the binary to some unfortunate extremes even though, as you mention, sexual characteristics, physically, have existed on a continuum through most of human history. Fortunately the research was well received in the long run. The other thing that I have found in some of by biology classes is that this sexual continuum exists in other animal species as well. This often is bad for the species observed because their population and reproductive numbers are decreasing however human being do not have this problem. It is definitely okay to not conform to the notion of the sexual binary. --Tori Spencer
This is a very interesting topic to read about it's always interesting reading about human Biology. I do agree with paragraph 1 explaining Male vs females. Males are defined by primary sexual characteristics, which include the presence of a penis, and secondary sexual characteristics, such as facial hair, an “Adam’s Apple”, and deep voices; females are defined by primary sexual characteristics, including the presence of breasts and a uterus, and secondary sexual characteristics, including higher voices and the ability to birth offspring. But not everyone meets those ideal types because some males have higher voices then females.
-Timyra Edwards
This was a very informative blog post. I never knew a individual’s sex is based on twenty five different genetic markers, which makes the many variations we see in both sexes.
This post taught me that sex is on a spectrum, something I was unaware of. When the author pointed out how several males and females do not possess all the characteristics of their sex and described anatomically scoring deceased individuals, it reminded me of how my generation uses terms like masculine energy and feminine energy to describe sexes and genders. Everyone possesses some degree of both energies and these energies are influenced by social norms, but now that I know sex is on a spectrum, I am questioning whether these energies should have labels of masculine or feminine. -Tala Caples
This blog gave me insight on how the sex spectrum is. For centuries, many cultures recognized multiple gender identities. They were traditionally framed within a binary of female and male based on biological sex. In the 1990s, cases were revealed where individuals didn't typically fit in the XX or XY classifications; like a man with a uterus and a pregnant woman with XY DNA. It is a fact that studies indicate that sex is determined by 25 different genetic markers, leading to physical traits beyond traditional definitions. Overall, sex is not a strict binary but a spectrum. This reflects the reality of human diversity and urges a reevaluation of gender and sex. This is an interesting topic for me an it opened my eyes to see how how gender and sex really works.
-Jaden B.
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