Men, Masculinities
– Bodies, Biology
The Film: Sex Unknown
o
Is it a matter of biology over culture?
Beeman,
1996: What are you: Herm, Merm, Ferm,
or Female?
·
Three ways of
gender determination
o
Chromosomal
o
By genitalia
o
cultural
·
intersexed people (3-10 mio Americans)
·
“smooth continuum
from female to male”, not a dichotomy
·
gender
reassignment
·
debates to outlaw same-sex marriage? Then what about people
who have ambiguous sexual identity, and those who have
had sex change?
·
If gender is a social construction, than other societies, with other
social constructions, should have other concepts of gender!!!!
·
We are now leaving the terrain of Gender as a Social Construction,
… or rather not?
·
Placing Fausto-Sterling (Beeman):
Is gender still a social construction, or is the science of gender itself a
social construction?
Fausto Sterling: “Of Genes and
Gender”
o
Does biology determine
gender?
o
Why can’t we say
that genes determine gender?
o
Genotype –
phenotype relations
o
Example sickle
cell anemia
o
Brain and
Behavior - the influence of the
environment
o
“the physical structure of the brain – its size, number of
cells, and most importantly its neuronal pathways – establishes itself in
intimate interaction with the environment of the developing individual.” (74)
o
example:
starvation during last trimester – slows development of fatcells
in fetus
o
starvation in
first two trimesters – impacts hypothalamus and interferes with one’s ability
to not overeat – obesity
o
so: impact of starvation
differs according to timing
o
the role of sex
chromosomes x and y
o
xx = female
o
xy = male
but not
always so:
Case 1: baby
with penis is found to have a hormone disorder, turns out is girl, whose labia
have become scrotum, and whose clitoris has become a penis
Case 2: a
girl turns into a boy during puberty, becomes a sexually functioning male, who
fathers children
The Sequence of Sexual Anatomical
Development
Until
week 6:
o
“indifferent
gonad” in both xx and xy embryos,
o
have internal sex
organs that can go both ways
After week 6:
o
y chromosome
causes development of testicles
o
testicles produce
testosterones, but x chromosome involved in producing the proteins for the
sequence of events set in place by hormones produced in testicles
o
default female
rule: if no testosterone, individual turns into female
o
nothing
comparatively known about female sexual differentiation
o
“female as lack”
theory
After Week 8: external genitalia develop
o
testicles secret hormone
that causes penis to develop (without tissue becomes clitoris)
o
labioscrotal swelling turns into scrotum (without same tissue
become large lips of vagina)
o
but: know much
less about pathway of female development
When sexual development processes become
unhinged:
o
adreno-genital syndrome (AGS) : lack enzyme, this causes a
certain molecule turns to androgene, flushes female
embryo with androgens, causes a penis to develop, and scrotum
o
dehydrotestosterone (DHT) male internal genitalia, but female external,
o
develops male
during childhood, but during adolescence, when testosterones take over causing
sexual differentiation, a penis and scrotum develop
When does genital tubercle become
clitoris, when a penis?
Are
male and female more similar than different?
“The
facts are there for all to see. Which ones are emphasized and how the tale is
told, however, seems to depend not on some objective truth, but on the
attitudes” (84)
Fausto-Sterling “How to Make a Man”
·
Fausto
Sterling’s argument: Scientific writing can be seen as a particular kind of
cultural interpretation
o
Medical Rule: “Genetic females should always be raised as females,
preserving reproductive potential, regardless of how virilized
the patient, Genetic male, gender of assignment depends on infant’s anatomy,
primarily, the size of its phallus”
o
the crucible for masculine identity for medical establishment: pee standing, and penetration; avoid or eradicate ambiguity
(in the mind and in the body)
o
a boy with amputated penis (f.i. after
circumcision) will be quickly turned into a girl, so that he does not have to
grow up as a castrated male
o
o
The tragedy of Brian/Brandy/Brian in Sex: unknown
o
Fausto-Sterling argues: social constructions shape
scientists’ interpretation of biological phenomena.
o
Scientific legacy of Dr. Money leaves no room for a normal
homosexual, homosexuality is always queer J
o
F-S. asks: Why does science not take
homosexuality as a “normal” expression of sexuality? Or, how “scientific” is it
to consider homosexuality or not heterosexual desire as an abnormality?
o
How objective is the study of gender development?
Robert
M. Sapolsky: The Trouble with Testosterone: Will Boys
Just be Boys?
Relationship
between testosterones and aggression
Please keep your answers succinct:
1. An
individual is castrated, then injected with 20% of the
amount of testosterones that his testicles produced before his castration. How
will this change his aggressive behavior?
2. In a
status hierarchy experiment a third ranking monkey behaves submissively to
monkeys ranked 1st and 2nd, but nasty and bullyish to
monkeys ranking
4th and 5th. What happens if the third ranking monkey is injected with a heavy
load of testosterones?
3. The amygdala is a central organ in the brain responsible of
sending electronic impulses causing aggressive behavior. If the amygdala is flooded with testosterones, what happens to the
firing potentials of the amygdala – and thus the
aggressive behavior of the individual?
4. According
to Sapolsky, why do female hyenas raised in in
5. Describe relationship
between testosterones and aggression/violence according to Sapolsky
in one short sentence.