Get Over It: Men and Women Are from the Same Planet

Agustín Fuentes shreds a recent paper from PLoS ONE that claims a litany of “sex differences” in trying to define “masculinity-femininity” at the SciAm guest blog:

“Sex” and “Gender” are not the same thing.  Sex is a biological state that is measure via chromosomal content and a variety of physiological and developmental measures.  Gender is the roles, expectations and perceptions that a given society has for the sexes.  Most societies have two genders on a masculinity-femininity continuum, some have more.  The two are interconnected, but not the same thing.  We are born with a sex, but acquire gender and there is great inter-individual diversity within societies and sexes in regards to how sex and gender play out in behavior and personality.

Check out the post for more. Plenty of mention on where the body of literature stands on the development of gender vs. sex.

Naomi Wolf's "Is Pornography Driving Men Crazy" wrongly dresses up her opinions as scientific fact

Feminist and author Naomi Wolf wrote a little piece about pornography and male behavior recently for CNN. She sprinkled on a little neuroscience in order to try and draw conclusions about how males treat sexuality today and how that correlates with the rise of internet pornography. It’s a pretty interesting set of claims that she makes there.

via CNN

The only problem is that she butchered the science, and it doesn’t mean what she thinks it does.

From the Knight Science Journalism blog:

“The views expressed in this article are solely those of Naomi Wolf.

And that’s the problem. These points I’ve plucked from the post are not “views.” We are not entitled to opinions on whether there is a “dopamine hole” in the brain. There is one, or there isn’t. We’re not entitled to a “view” that pornography addiction is identical to gambling or cocaine addictions (or whether they are identical to each other).

Whether the wide availability of pornography on the Internet is adversely affecting society and relationships is an important question. We ought to ask it, and researchers ought to do careful studies to find out.

Treating opinions or views as scientific facts does not help us answer that question. Nor does it help Wolf. Her argument would be far more persuasive and credible if she supported her views with scientific findings. If Wolf wants her opinions to matter, she ought to do the reporting.

Wolf is one of the most influential thinkers in what’s sometimes called third-wave feminism. She owes us much better than this.”

Gene Switches Sexual Desires of Female Mice - 09 July 2010 - New Scientist

Being Korean, I don’t know if these authors see the humor in the name of the gene they chose, but it was a great choice!

As for the paper mentioned, here’s what I take from this:  This gene, when knocked out, affects the development of a certain part of the brain and changes the way a hormone called estradiol might be sensed.  These could lead to a mimic of male sexual behavior in female mice.  BUT, I have a hard time believing it would be this simple in humans.  People have almost certainly looked for genetic similarities among homosexuals, and something this simple seems like it would have popped up before.  I could look up those papers, but I am feeling lazy and Entourage is on my DVR.

Interesting all the same …

fuckyeahdevelopmentalbiology:

A GENE has been discovered that appears to dictate the sexual preferences of female mice. Delete the gene and the modified mice reject the advances of the males and attempt to mate with other females instead.

While it is impossible to say whether the finding has any relevance for human sexuality, it provides a clue as to how sexuality develops in mammals.