Transcript Kimmel, Chapter Two

Kimmel, Chapter Two
• All about Biology
• Biological explanations of gender
– Ring “true” as they are based on “objective
scientific facts”
– Correspond to our perceptions of reality
– Reassures that the social is “natural”
– Puts blame for inequality on nature instead of on
society—and shows that there is no need to change
Before the
th
19
Century
• Biological and gender differences were the
province of God, the church, biblical scholars
• Men and women created for different purposes
– Men to lead, women to follow
– Men to act, women to help
– Any effort to change the inequities was seen as
trying to go against the “laws of God”
th
19
Century
• Darwin, Law of Natural Selection
– Evolutionary biologists saw women’s biology and
function as making them “unfit” for the public
arena
– Natural selection was seen as heretical to certain
theologies
– Social work to challenge inequities was seen as
violating the “laws of nature”
• Sociologists and biologists adopted the law of
natural selection, distorting it, and leading to
“factual” and “scientific” support of some of the
worst racism and sexism ever published or
advocated
• If women tried to equal men in work or
intelligence, they were thought to be “unsex”-ing
themselves and opening the door to violent female
problems
– Evidence: College-educated women of the time had less
children and were admitted into mental institutions in
greater numbers than college-educated men
Evidence
• Three areas of research support biological
evidence today:
– Evolutionary theory, from sociobiology to
“evolutionary psychology”
– Brain research
– Endocrinological research on sex hormones, before
birth and at puberty (and to a lesser extent
menopause)
Evolutionary Theories of Fertility
• Men are sexually aggressive because the
perpetuation of the species depends on
fertilizing as many women as possible: men are
“naturally” promiscuous
• Women, who can only carry one (or a few)
babies at a time must look for a mate to
“protect” them and their young offspring:
women are “naturally” monogamous
Evolutionary “History”
• Men as hunters; women as gatherers
Evolutionary Psychology
• Men are more aggressive, controlling, and
managing; women are more creative,
emotional, and passive
Kimmel’s Evaluation
• The conclusions based on evolutionary
arguments are “based on an interpretation of
evidence that is selective and conforms to
preconceived ideas”; they are examples of
backwards reasoning
– Female chimpanzees seem to be more promiscuous
than their males counterparts
– Gorillas are more male-dominant while baboons are
more female-dominant
Brain Research
• Differences between hemispheres
• Difference in connective tissue
• Ways in which men and women use different
parts of their brains for similar functions
Brain Research History
• Brain research ahs been used since the 19th century to
support racism, sexism, and other political power
systems
– Sociologist Emile Durkheim: “[W]ith the advance
of civilization the brain of the two sexes has
increasingly developed differently.
. . . [T]his progressive gap between the two may be
due both to the considerable development of the
male skull and to a cessation and even a regression
in the growth of the female skull.”
Contemporary Brain Study
• Hemispheres
– Right is associated with visual and spatial abilities
– Left is associated with language and reading
– A 1965 study by Geschwind and Behan might indicate
that testosterone secreted in the womb “attacks” the left
hemisphere, slowing its development
• Men are better, then, at art, music, and math
• Men tend to have one side dominate, women are more
lateralized
– Bleier reanalyzed data in 1984 and found no significant
sex differences in more than 500 fetal brains
Degree of Lateralization
• Scientists are biased; they want to see a
difference
– Labarthe studied toddlers boys and girls and
concluded boys are better at building bridges and
thus have increased visual and spatial abilities.
– Reanalyzing the data shows that when birth weight
was considered, there were no differences. The
larger the baby at birth the better their visual and
spatial skills at age two.
Mathematical Aptitude
• Men outnumber women at the genius end of the
mathematical spectrum, but that may not
indicate a brain more suited for math
– Hyde studied data on almost 4 million people and
found that in general studies, women outperformed
men in mathematics but on advanced tests men
outperformed women.
– Kimmel concludes this is proof of the greater range
of differences among males and among females
than between males and females
Corpus Collosum
•
The tracing of the superimposed
hemispheres (3) shows the
asymmetry in position and size
between the parietal opercula. The
tracings of Einstein's hemispheres
(6) highlights the confluence of PC
and the posterior ascending branch
of SF in each hemisphere, the
absence of the parietal opercula,
and the symmetry of the sulcal
morphology between hemispheres.
Comparison of the tracings shows
the relatively anterior position of the
SF bifurcation in Einstein, and the
associated greater posterior parietal
expanse, particularly in his left
hemisphere compared with the
control brain.
The findings do suggest that variation in specific cognitive functions may be
associated with the structure of the brain regions mediating those functions.
Corpus Collosum Size
• Recent research has not been able to confirm any
difference in corpus collosum, although an early study
of 14 female brains from cadavers indicated that
women’s might be larger and more “bulbous.”
• Why, if no credible differences have been found, does
our culture proliferate the differences?
– Kinsbourne says “the study of sex differences is not like the
rest of psychology. Under pressure from the gathering
momentum of feminism, and perhaps in backlash to it, many
investigators seem determined to discover that men and
women ‘really’ are different. It seems that if sex differenced
do not exist, then they have to be invented.”
Gay Brain
• Much research on hormones in the brain has
tried to prove or disprove that homosexuals
have an “essence” that will emerge, regardless
of culture and experience.
• Breedlove points out that even if one finds a
structural difference in the brains that doesn’t
mean that it was caused by genes.
Testosterone vs. Estrogen
• Testosterone is assumed to be the driving force
in masculinization and the basis of human
aggression, but some scientists believe
testosterone has a “permissive” effect on
aggression
– Aggression seems to increase testosterone
production
– Men who are married and have children have lower
levels of testosterone
• PMS research parallels testosterone studies
“Treatment” of Homosexuality
• When given testosterone men’s lust increases,
but increased testosterone does not shift the
object (men) of homosexual male’s lust
• Homosexual men appear to have more
testosterone than straight men (in spite of their
more feminine stereotype)
Essentialism
• Male domination is thought natural, so why
change it
– But if it is natural why does it need to be coerced by
laws, punishments, and systems of tradition?
– Some conservatives, the same people who argue for
the “natural” differences between men and women,
will argue that homosexuality is a “choice,” and that
people can be reeducated to choose differently.
• All research suggests that gender, not sexual
orientation, is the organizing principle of sexual
behavior.