User:Zihan Ding/sandbox

Women Study Final Project
For the final Wikipedia project, I want to focus on the scientific studies of women and men, and sex differences. Based on the article “In Pursuit Of Difference” by Lynda Birke, the differences between two women and men are determined by physical and biological factors, in contrast to gender differences which is more social or cultural constructed.

- The comparison between male and female should be standardized, otherwise various results would be determined. The length of a girl’s legs, for instance, is commonly shorter than that of a boy’s, thus it is easy for people to conclude that girls body structures are somewhat defective and weak, and they are not good at sports. However, if we consider the ratio of the whole body structure, these difference will disappear and people might change their perspective upon females.

-When we summarize the differences between males and females based on biology, should we consider that cultural differences are continuously affect human biology after all these centuries? At very beginning, we were given the biological body parts. Then our bodies and social effects start to react with each other, and have mutual influence. Consequently, cultural effects can be taken in to account for the differences between two genders.

November 21, 2013
-I added a paragraph to the "Sex differences in humans" Wikipedia page under the subtitle Physiology. []

Regardless of the distinguishable physical and biological differences between men and women, it is essential and noteworthy to reconsider the ways to compare women and men. As it is mentioned in Birke’s article “In Pursuit of Difference”, “if the results are adjusted for body size, the sex difference disappears.” Thus, there are various ways to weight the issue of sex differences.

November 25, 2013
- I extended the paragraph under the subtitle Social Effects on the Wiki page called "Women in Science" []

In addition to female scientists’ intention to become masculine in order to gain awards, women continue to be “underrepresented” in the field of science. It is appalling when scholars analyze the disparity between men and women’s career trajectories even when they have the same degree, as well as the salary figures and the job distribution among male and female. For example, it is mentioned in the book “The Gender and Science Reader” that “women consistently [were] earning between 87.5 percent and 83.6 percent of men’s salaries.” It is hard to believe that men and women can have this significant gap in between even when they have the same degree. For centuries, women are believed to be inferior to men. “women, on average, started out in lower ranks than men, and the disparity in their ranks continues…” (Zuckerman 1991, 37) This irrational and unfair trend leaves women no satisfactory nor appropriate places in the society. It hides too deep to be discovered so people are given the false impression than this world is already equal enough for women. Therefore, if people really want to make this world treat every individual equally, every aspect has to be reached and even reshaped. It is not called equality when the same education is provided to men and women while different salaries and positions are unfairly offered.

After I put it up, I received two talks from the same person who claimed that what I have written is less neutral to him. Then immediately this paragraph got taken down due to so much subjective information.

December 1, 2013
- I edited the paragraph under the subtitle "gender inequality in relatioships" at []

The inequality is highlighted when a couple starts to decide who is in charge of the family issue and who is primarily responsible for bringing back paycheck. For example, in Londa Schiebinger’s book, “Has Feminism Changed Science?”, she claims that “Married men with families on average earn more money, live longer, and progress faster in their careers,” while “for a working woman, a family is a liability, extra baggage threatening to drag down her career.” Furthermore, statistics had shown that “only 17 percent of the women who are full professors of engineering have children, while 82 percent of the men do.” Women in a relationship are continuously playing the role of assistant which is “for the most part invisible.”

- I edited the biological factors section on the following page called "Gender identity". [] The bolded sections are my additions.

Some of the research we see today suggests that the development of gender identity is related to genetic or hormonal influences. The biochemical theory of gender identity suggests that we acquire our gender identities through genetic and hormonal factors rather than through socialisation. '''In the article by Lynda Birke titled “In Pursuit Of Difference, scientific studies of women and men”, it is suggested that sex-determining hormone is produced at the early stage of fetal development. “Ovaries and testes produce hormones,” and “testes produce higher levels of certain hormones (androgen) than do ovaries.” “If the levels of androgens are high, then a penis and scrotum will develop; if they are low, then labia and a clitoris will develop.”''' When prenatal hormone levels are altered, phenotype progression may be altered as well. Therefore, the natural predisposition of the brain toward one sex may not match the genetic makeup of the fetus, or its external sexual organs. Numerous conditions and variations that have their basis in the prenatal stage can ultimately affect one's gender identity. Possible conditions may result from chromosomal alterations, in which the child doesn't have the normal two chromosomes of XX (female) or XY (male).

'''In addition to the hormonal influences on gender identity, genes also play a significant role. a gene is "a locatable region of genomic sequence, corresponding to a unit of inheritance found on human chromosomes . For human beings, thousands of genes are inherited from their parents and arranged into 23paris of chromosomes. One of them is a pair of sex chromosomes. Femals usually have two Xs: so each egg they produce contains one X. Males usually have one X and one Y chromosome, so that each individual sperm can have either an X or a Y chromosome. However, having Y chromosome does not necessarily mean that a person is a male. It is the genes on the Y chromosome that determine whether the human being will have the masculine pathway or not. It is a common mistake when people assume a Y chromosome makes a person a boy or a man and the lack of a Y chromosome makes a person a girl or a woman. For example, one physician educator had the challenging experience of trying to calm a 23-year-old patient who had just been told by a resident that she was “really a man” because the resident had diagnosed the patient as having a Y chromosome and complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS). As a matter of fact, it is the SRY gene on the tip of the Y chromosome that helps to send the embryo down the masculine pathway. In addition to this gene which is able to turn females in t males, another gene on the X chromosome (the chromosome one typically associates with “femaleness”) called DAX1 when present in double copy in a male (XY), transforms into a female. Thus, gender identity is the summary of the overall genetic makeup and hormones, which provide a blueprint of how the body is supposed to function.'''

One study conducted by Reiner & Gearhart provides some insight into what can happen when genetically male children are sexually reassigned female and raised as girls. In a sample of 14 children born with cloacal exstrophy and reassigned female at birth, follow-up between the ages of 5 to 12 showed that 8 of them identified as boys, and all of the subjects had at least moderately male-typical attitudes and interests. This provides some support for the argument that biological variables have an impact on gender identity and behavior independent of socialization.

Furthermore, evidence suggests that differences in verbal and spatial abilities, memory and aggression are linked to differences in hormone secretions between males and females. '''In the article by Lynda Birke called “In Pursuit Of Difference, scientific studies of women and men”, it is suggested that human brains and hormone secretions have mutual influence. During the early stage of fetal development, specific hormones will enter the brain and “permanently affect how the hypothalamus works. As before, high levels of hormones known as androgens will stop the hypothalamus from ever organizing hormone cycles. If there are low levels, then it will be cyclic.” This early influence on brain determines the different frequency of hormone secretion later in male or female’s life. “Obviously, women’s sex hormones usually follow a monthly cycle,” while “men’s sex hormones do not follow such a pattern.” This mutual influences between hormones and brains well illustrate the hormonal impact on gender identity.'''

Some studies have tried to establish a link between biological variables and transgender or transsexual identity, but such studies have been limited and their findings largely uncertain. Zhou et al. suggested in 1995 that a sex difference in the central subdivision bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTc) may serve as a biological marker for gender identity, as the volume of BSTc is larger in males than in either females or male-to-female (MtF) transsexual women.

Other research suggests that the same hormones that allow for differentiation between sex organs in utero also elicit puberty, as well as influence the development of gender identity. Different amounts of these male or female sex hormones within a person will result in varied behavior and external genitalia that do not match up with the norm of the actual sex, and they may instead act and look like the opposite gender.