Biology of gender
Encyclopedia
Biology of gender can have different meanings, depending on the meaning of gender
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Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
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- In medicine and biology it usually refers to the biology of sexual dimorphismSexual dimorphismSexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...
, e.g. sex differences in humansSex differences in humansA sex difference is a distinction of biological and/or physiological characteristics associated with either males or females of a species. These can be of several types, including direct and indirect. Direct being the direct result of differences prescribed by the Y-chromosome, and indirect being...
, sex determination and differentiation (human)Sex determination and differentiation (human)Human sex refers to the processes by which an individual becomes either a male or female during development.-The Jost Paradigm:Under typical circumstances, the sex of an individual will be determined and expressed through the following mechanisms:...
. - In social sciences, gender studiesGender studiesGender studies is a field of interdisciplinary study which analyses race, ethnicity, sexuality and location.Gender study has many different forms. One view exposed by the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: "One is not born a woman, one becomes one"...
, and in some feminist approaches to biology and sociobiology, particularly that of Anne Fausto-SterlingAnne Fausto-SterlingAnne Fausto-Sterling, Ph. D. is Professor of Biology and Gender Studies at Brown University. She participates actively in the field of sexology and has written extensively on the fields of biology of gender, sexual identity, gender identity, and gender roles.-Life and career:Fausto-Sterling...
, gender is understood as the social construct (gender roleGender roleGender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
) and types of behavior associated with that, rather than sex; see biology of gender–specific human behavior.