Lecture #4

8-29-02

CHROMOSOMES & HORMONES

I. WHY THE ISSUE OF THE BIOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTION TO GENDER IS POLITICAL (BRAINSTORM)

II. WHAT IS A SOCIOBIOLOGIST?

E.O. WILSON: HUMAN NATURE (1978)

V.S.

PHILLIP GOLDBERG, THE INEVITABILITY OF PATRIARCHY (1973) V.S.

ALICE ROSSI, BIOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVES ON PARENTING (1977)

III. QUESTIONS TO FOCUS ON IN RENZETTI & CURRAN CH.2:

1. HOW IS BIOLOGICAL SEX DETERMINED

2. WHAT DO CHROMOSOMES DO? HORMONES?

3. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SOMETHING GOES WRONG

4. WHAT ARE SEX DIFFERENCES, AND WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEX DIFFERENCES AND GENDER DIFFERENCES?

5. READ THE MATERIAL ON BRAIN LATERALIZATION

FOR YOUR OWN INFORMATION.

IV. RELAY RACE

THE RELAY RACE

1. SEX CHROMOSOMES FROM MOTHER AND FATHER COMBINE. FATHER DETERMINES SEX BY CONTRIBUTING AN X OR A Y.

XX= FEMALE XY=MALE: MALES DO NOT HAVE BARR BODIES TO ACT AS BACK-UP TAPES COMPENSATING FOR GENETIC DEFECTS. HENCE MORE BIRTH DEFECTS IN MALES.

M/F SEX RATIOS

130/100: CONCEPTION

105/100: BIRTH

98/100 BY AGE 20)

2. IF XY, THEN H‑Y ANTIGEN PROMPTS RELEASE OF ANDROGENS AT SIX WEEKS.

3. AT 8 WEEKS, TESTOSTERONE MAKES EXTERNAL GENITALS DEVELOP.

4. IF XX, FEMALE GENITALS DEVELOP

5. IF TESTES DEVELOP, THEN MORE ANDROGENS ARE RELEASED. HERE WE HAVE EFFECT OF PRENATAL HORMONES ON THE BRAIN.

6. AT BIRTH, WE MAKE A "SEX ASSIGNMENT" WHICH MAY BE CHANGED AS A RESULT OF GENETIC TESTS.

7. FROM BIRTH TO PUBERTY, THERE IS LITTLE DIFFERENCE IN HORMONAL LEVELS.

8. AT PUBERTY, ANOTHER SURGE OF HORMONES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF SECONDARY SEX CHARACTERISTICS.

V. WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM STUDY OF THE VARIETY OF “SEXES” NATURE MAKES. DISCUSSION OF FAUSTO-STERLING :How to build a man (K&M:306-310)

A. MONEY & EHRHARDT AT JOHNS HOPKINS GENDER ID CLINIC

1. ADRENOGENITAL SYNDROME (AGS)

2. ANDROGEN INSENSITIVITY SYNDROME (CF. FEMALE ATHLETES WITH Y CHROMOSOME)

B. IMPERATO‑McGINLEY STUDY IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

HORMONE DEFICIENCY SUPPRESSES EFFECT OF TESTOSTERONE UNTIL PUBERTY.

(5 alpha reductase)

VI SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION:

SOCIOLOGISTS OF GENDER DO NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CHROMOSOMES AND HORMONES. THE COMPLEX INTERACTION BETWEEN BIOLOGY AND CULTURE IS YET TO BE UNRAVELED.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

A. Terms and concepts

sex (or gender) difference

adrenogenital syndrome

androgen‑insensitivity syndrome

5 alpha reductase deficiency

"intersexed" people

sex assignment

the "relay" race of sexual development

hermaphrodite vs. pseudo-hermaphrodite

biological reductionism

barr bodies

sociobiology

B. Review Questions

1. Briefly describe the role of hormones in each stage of the development of physiological sex characteristics (prenatal, postnatal, pubertal, post pubertal).

2. Who are Money & Ehrhardt? What kind of research do they do?

3. Describe the problems that result from the disjunction of the X or Y chromosomes.

4. Describe John Money=s 10 road signs to being born Amale@ or Afemale@ as summarized by Anne Fausto-Sterling (K&M:307) .

5. On what basis does Fausto Sterling argue that scientists have woven their own Adeeply social understandings of what it means to be male or female@ into their discussions of this Arelay race@.

6. Why do many feminists object to sociobiology?