EP105: Sex + Gender, Humans + Animals and Evolutionary Biology with Natalie Dinsdale

What You'll Hear:

• Definitions of sex + gender +intersex
• Sex is a functional category defined by the gametes you reproduce. Males produce sperm; females produce eggs.
• Sex is binary
• Gender is the social and cultural attributes and rules based on their sex
• Intersex is a mismatch between phenotype and genotype, or when sex based on observation is not obvious
• How common is intersex? Ambiguous genitalia is about 1 in 5000. (The origin of misinformation of intersex as 1 in 200, as common as redheads)
• Evidence of intersex increasing
• Explanatory power and unifying systems of evolution and astrology
• Is evolutionary biology equivalent to Darwinism?
• How evolutionary biology helps us understand female sexuality.
• How humans differ from animals- brain size, large energetically expensive brain related to the placenta, walk on two legs, intense social nature
• Are humans monogamous? Or Non-monogamous?
• Sex for pleasure, social reasons or reproduction
• Possible immunological benefit to monogamy- preeclampsia study as an example
• Female as coy, shy strategy waiting for males to come to them. Darwin in Victorian England. Female in estrus are aggressive and search out mates
• Strip clubs tips change based on where a woman is during her cycle!
• Role of homogenous spaces, same sex as well as same gender places
• Females produce a larger gamete, by definition females invest more heavily in reproduction and take on more risk, which presents asymmetry in the sexes.
• Why doesn't the male get to decide about abortion
• Role of homogenous spaces, same sex, same gender places
• Controversy of Vancouvers women's center that is female only
• Body, felt sense of sex. Our perception of sex is adaptive for coding for "female" and "male" for saefty
• Preferred gender pronouns and Using respectful pronouns
• Birth and gender
• Learning about sexuality through 1st person experience, kids coming to explorations through different avenues.
• Reductionist biology- we are pieces and parts and can just dismantle and take them apart
• Human pregnancy is much more expensive and risky than any other species
• Testosterone has a negative influence on fertility
• Fertility as an industry, and its impact on women
• Aquarian battle of the old and new. Futuristic and technological androgynous planet
• We felt controlled by reproduction and now we want control over it, rather than surrendering to our body
• Menopause is rare, grandmother investment