gender is deeply rooted in our identity
our culture our biology and how we
operate within our cultures on a daily
basis while some people view these
issues as simply one way or another
contrary to what was once believed the
traditional classification of male or
female is anything but straightforward
so today let's explore what we in the
brain based sciences understand about
gender and sexuality but before I do
make sure to subscribe to my channel if
you want to learn more about that thing
in your head no not that hairy situation
you've got yourself into last night
that's none of my business but the brain
so hey let me ask you a question have
you ever thought something was so well
known that you were shocked to find out
that you may have been in the minority
when it comes to that knowledge you
assumed was so widespread well that's
how I feel about the neuroscience
surrounding gender and biological sex
also if you've ever had that experience
where you were surprised to find out
that something you knew wasn't common
knowledge I'm actually curious about it
so leave me a comment below turning our
attention to the topic a hint whenever
anyone says that science does not
support gender or biological sex outside
of being a strictly male or strictly
female I'm just like really really well
I'm gonna begin by clearing up some
common misconceptions first and foremost
one's biological sex for first two ones
reproductive organ type and chromosomal
makeup such as extra female and ex-wife
or male but this is not always so binary
as there are instances of people having
only one X chromosome or two x's and one
Y chromosome in addition to this are the
primary hormones that produce changes
that occur during puberty these hormones
are either androgens which help promote
sexual characteristics of mouth or
estrogens which help promote sexual
characteristics in females what's
important to know about this is that
biological sex is simply that the
physical characteristics one is born
with a common misconception people often
hold is the belief that gender is equal
to biological sex this is simply not the
case
gender is the cultural roles one adopts
that is often representative of their
biological sex gender is also a
psychological phenomena
that changes within and between cultures
for example the Chu chim
for example that Shambu Li people for
example that gym bully people of New
Guinea showed a complete reversal of
stereotypical gender roles compared to
that of the United States anthropologist
which are awesome researchers who study
various cultures have documented that in
the chimbly culture women controlled
finances manufacturing and even more
responsible for courting their male
counterparts the men were expected to
display what would be considered
feminine characteristics by North
American standards they're viewed as
dependent and the partner wants to
decorate and ornament their bodies with
jewelry and flowers generals in modern
North American society are best
understood in how society accepts men
and women to behave in places such as
the workplace or even how society its
best one to excel on specific tasks such
as the expectation of superior verbal
ability in women and mathematical
ability in men even though this
achievement gap between men and women
regarding a spatial and verbal ability
has increasingly narrowed over time
biologists and anthropologists agree
that biological sex and gender share a
relationship but this relationship ends
when one's internal biology counters
that cultural expectation for example
some individuals may experience what's
known s Turner dysphoria this is where
one's gender is unrelated to one's
biological sex so there's a mismatch
between one sex and one's gender in
simple terms most cases of gender
dysphoria work like this one may be born
with one biological sex but their brain
is more like the opposite sex sadly
these differences in gender have been
misunderstood both inside and outside of
scientific community so I understand the
concern especially considering
homosexuality was formerly considered a
mental disorder however keep in mind
that the classification of gender
dysphoria is only designed to capture a
real experience of those who feel as if
they are not the appropriate gender
especially when the mismatch between sex
and gender results in severe distress in
cases where a mismatch between sex and
gender is present people often try to
manipulate their appearance so that they
more accurately reflect their gender I
did
these people are considered to be
transgender generally speaking most
transgender people are either female to
male or male to female but there are
transgender people who prefer androgyny
that is they prefer to equally display
both masculine and feminine
characteristics often dictated by their
cultures transsexual people are those
who have undergone hormonal treatments
and even reassignment surgery so that
there's secondary sexual characteristics
more closely aligned with their gender
identity unfortunately many in our
current society have considered
transgender people as either mentally
disordered or making the choice to be
trans a science does not support these
assumptions in neural imaging studies
researchers found that the brains of
males and females differ and that before
hormone replacement therapy is involved
females who identify as males have
brains with white matter tracts that are
more closely representative of male
brains additional studies have examined
male to female transgender people and
found that their white matter tracks are
different from both males and females
and these differences are most apparent
in areas of the brain responsible for
movement and emotional processing this
is a really interesting finding and
makes a lot of sense when we consider
male and female development of the brain
while in the womb the presence of the
hormone testosterone masculinize is the
brain while the absence of this hormone
produces a feminine brain and this
process occurs during a different phase
of development from the production of
male or female sex organs so basically
during fetal development masculinization
or feminization of the brain occurs
independently from the development of
sex organs that's the brains under or
over exposure of testosterone can result
in people feeling a mismatch between sex
and gender you know I spent hours on
Twitter sometime last year
detailing what I told you just now to
someone who denied if that gender was
separate from biological sex and then
further claimed that anyone who has
gender nonconformist was essentially
faking it I ended up responding to their
original post with a long AF thread and
they ended up blocking me I tried so
hopefully I've been able to clear up
some common misconceptions that gender
identity and even biological sex is
binary or a straightforward affair there
are many factors that contribute
to who we are and how we define
ourselves and science makes a compelling
case for a flexible gender spectrum now
culture needs to be flexible enough to
reflect the evidence presented by
science if you liked what you watch
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