{"title":"教授生物性别决定的复杂性,目的是创造一个更具包容性的课堂,或许还能挑战性别二元过于简单化的修辞的关键部分。","authors":"Rebecca Delventhal","doi":"10.1016/j.ydbio.2025.08.018","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Individual belief in a rigid definition of gender underlies significant social costs, from the gender pay gap, violence and discrimination against transgender and gender diverse people, to global economic losses. These beliefs are often rooted in essentialist thinking that gender is distinct, non-overlapping, unchangeable, and biologically based. Gender is a multidimensional social concept, partly informed by perceptions of sex, which is a distinct concept referring to a collection of biological traits. Contrary to the belief that biological sex is strictly binary, the genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms that control development of sex-specific tissues and organs can and do result in outcomes that are not strictly male or female. In other words, the mechanisms at play in sex determination suggest that biological sex is not binary, but instead bimodal. To the extent that perceptions of biological sex inform an individual's beliefs about gender, I posit that teaching students about the true complexity of sex determination has the potential to challenge overly simplistic beliefs about <em>gender</em>. If biological sex is neither binary nor immutable, then perhaps gender, a complicated, socially constructed idea, isn't either. Through greater understanding of these developmental processes, students who learn that biological sex is not discrete may have their essentialist beliefs regarding discreteness of gender challenged. They may also gain new evidence to contradict the rhetoric around biological sex that is so prevalent in public discourse, particularly in the justification of anti-transgender legislation. In this article, I briefly review the diversity of sex development mechanisms across the tree of life, with a focus on mammals, and the implications for our understanding of human sex. I discuss some of the contributing factors to our binary beliefs about gender and the negative impacts on different aspects of society. I then review some considerations for gender- and sex-inclusive teaching of developmental biology, including an example lesson plan that I use in my course, along with describing ways in which altering undergraduate students' gender belief systems could potentially reduce gender bias more broadly.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":11070,"journal":{"name":"Developmental biology","volume":"528 ","pages":"Pages 174-187"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Teaching the complexities of biological sex determination with the goal of creating a more inclusive classroom and perhaps challenging key components of the oversimplified rhetoric of the gender binary\",\"authors\":\"Rebecca Delventhal\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.ydbio.2025.08.018\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><div>Individual belief in a rigid definition of gender underlies significant social costs, from the gender pay gap, violence and discrimination against transgender and gender diverse people, to global economic losses. These beliefs are often rooted in essentialist thinking that gender is distinct, non-overlapping, unchangeable, and biologically based. Gender is a multidimensional social concept, partly informed by perceptions of sex, which is a distinct concept referring to a collection of biological traits. Contrary to the belief that biological sex is strictly binary, the genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms that control development of sex-specific tissues and organs can and do result in outcomes that are not strictly male or female. In other words, the mechanisms at play in sex determination suggest that biological sex is not binary, but instead bimodal. To the extent that perceptions of biological sex inform an individual's beliefs about gender, I posit that teaching students about the true complexity of sex determination has the potential to challenge overly simplistic beliefs about <em>gender</em>. If biological sex is neither binary nor immutable, then perhaps gender, a complicated, socially constructed idea, isn't either. Through greater understanding of these developmental processes, students who learn that biological sex is not discrete may have their essentialist beliefs regarding discreteness of gender challenged. They may also gain new evidence to contradict the rhetoric around biological sex that is so prevalent in public discourse, particularly in the justification of anti-transgender legislation. In this article, I briefly review the diversity of sex development mechanisms across the tree of life, with a focus on mammals, and the implications for our understanding of human sex. I discuss some of the contributing factors to our binary beliefs about gender and the negative impacts on different aspects of society. I then review some considerations for gender- and sex-inclusive teaching of developmental biology, including an example lesson plan that I use in my course, along with describing ways in which altering undergraduate students' gender belief systems could potentially reduce gender bias more broadly.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":11070,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Developmental biology\",\"volume\":\"528 \",\"pages\":\"Pages 174-187\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":2.1000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-09-04\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Developmental biology\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"99\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012160625002350\",\"RegionNum\":3,\"RegionCategory\":\"生物学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental biology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012160625002350","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
Teaching the complexities of biological sex determination with the goal of creating a more inclusive classroom and perhaps challenging key components of the oversimplified rhetoric of the gender binary
Individual belief in a rigid definition of gender underlies significant social costs, from the gender pay gap, violence and discrimination against transgender and gender diverse people, to global economic losses. These beliefs are often rooted in essentialist thinking that gender is distinct, non-overlapping, unchangeable, and biologically based. Gender is a multidimensional social concept, partly informed by perceptions of sex, which is a distinct concept referring to a collection of biological traits. Contrary to the belief that biological sex is strictly binary, the genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms that control development of sex-specific tissues and organs can and do result in outcomes that are not strictly male or female. In other words, the mechanisms at play in sex determination suggest that biological sex is not binary, but instead bimodal. To the extent that perceptions of biological sex inform an individual's beliefs about gender, I posit that teaching students about the true complexity of sex determination has the potential to challenge overly simplistic beliefs about gender. If biological sex is neither binary nor immutable, then perhaps gender, a complicated, socially constructed idea, isn't either. Through greater understanding of these developmental processes, students who learn that biological sex is not discrete may have their essentialist beliefs regarding discreteness of gender challenged. They may also gain new evidence to contradict the rhetoric around biological sex that is so prevalent in public discourse, particularly in the justification of anti-transgender legislation. In this article, I briefly review the diversity of sex development mechanisms across the tree of life, with a focus on mammals, and the implications for our understanding of human sex. I discuss some of the contributing factors to our binary beliefs about gender and the negative impacts on different aspects of society. I then review some considerations for gender- and sex-inclusive teaching of developmental biology, including an example lesson plan that I use in my course, along with describing ways in which altering undergraduate students' gender belief systems could potentially reduce gender bias more broadly.
期刊介绍:
Developmental Biology (DB) publishes original research on mechanisms of development, differentiation, and growth in animals and plants at the molecular, cellular, genetic and evolutionary levels. Areas of particular emphasis include transcriptional control mechanisms, embryonic patterning, cell-cell interactions, growth factors and signal transduction, and regulatory hierarchies in developing plants and animals.