finals notes

Marksist forces 

culture can be efficacious on biology 

culture can be as an adaptive force as biology 

we as a species have disentangled sex from its adaptive force 

• spreading their genes 
• can work in mal adaptive ways 
• use sex in socially creative ways 
• can work on gene pools 

if a more technologically advanced society comes into a less technologically advanced society there will be war or sex 

• this reduces biological diversity 

we are defined by a minimal amount of genetic variation 

• more genetic variation in gorillas 

2 million years ago there were 3 types of humans 

• paranthapus 
• austrolopithocines 
• homo 

1.8 million years ago homo erectus came 

• first to move out of africa 
• died out 400,000 years ago 
• found a skeleton 30,00 years old 

homo sapiens 

• 200k-250k years old 

neanderthals die out 30k years ago 

• bread them out of existence 

most variation in east africa 

• significant die off in our species 75-100k years ago 

more significance in cultural variation and less on biological variation 

social race: profound emphasis 

• social 
• religious 
• education 

conflate race and social variation 

Yugoslavia broke into Serbia and the Czech republic 

• ethnic and tribal wars 
• biologically similar 

NATURAL

sex: the biological designation of an individual as either male or female 

• sexual dimorphism: nature bifurcates the species as 1 or 2 types male or female 
• genetic determinism
• seen by eugenicists 
• all our traits are genetically determined: universalist thesis 
• deterministic thesis: if its xx i got a female if its xy its a male   

gender: the social designation of an individual ( and her behavior) as either male or female or more to the point masculine or feminine 

• culturally variant: not all masculine behaviors are the same 
• makeup: in america only women wear it but in some cultures men wear makeup 
• our gender categories are not merely descriptive they are prescriptive 
• ways of being or behaving 
• prescriptive is in contrast to descriptive : what should be the case
• descriptive: what is the case
• if you go outside of prescriptive it could lead to violence or being ostracized 
• if you encounter the question is what justifies this aspect of our gender categories 
•  this comes from sexual behavior itself 
• since nature only has male and female men should be masculine and females should be feminine 
• some ways of being are natural 

sexual orientation: the tendency to engage in either homosexual, heterosexual or or bisexual behavior

• if you want to have sex with men but only have sex with women what are you ? 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Byne and Stein 
• Within the past four years, the size of three different brain structures has been reported to vary  with sexual orientation in men, and the size of a fourth structure has been reported to vary in genetic males as a function of gender identity. During this same period homosexuality has been reported to be linked to the tip of the X chromosome in some families. Several of these studies have garnered a great deal of positive response in the media, but reactions from the science community have been mixed.  
• some researchers have concluded that science is converging on the conclusion that sexual orientation is innate others have cautioned that reports of simple and direct links between biological factors and sexual orientation have a poor track record of reliability.
• Mixed results in the gay community as well some think that the biological research is homophobic and may lead to biological intervention aimed at preventing or "curing" homosexuality. Others maintain that, by bolstering the argument that sexual orientation is not chosen, the biological evidence will enhance society's tolerance of homosexuality, making a variety of social and political goals more easily attainable.
• In the fields of neuroendocrinology and neuroanatomy, most research on sexual orientation is a sexually dimorphic trait, that is, a trait with two forms, one typically associated with males and the other typically associated with females.
• a male form causes the sexual attraction of women which is shared by heterosexual men and lesbians, and a female form that causes sexual attraction to men which is shared by heterosexual women and gay men. 
• we refer to the assumption that homosexuality results from a sex reversed or incompletely sexually differentiated brain as the 'intersex assumption.' This is what the assumption of homosexual men being feminine 
• until 6th week embryos xx an xy embryos are anatomically identical each develop an embryonic gonad dubbed the "indifferent gonad" because their structures are both male and female reproductive systems. by the first month and a half of embyonic development all the embryos gave a set of female ( mullerian) ducts an a set of male ( wolffian) ducts. during the 6th week genetic information present on the y becomes actively involved in promoting synthesis of a protein called H-Y antigen. Seem to help form the testis
• Complex traits, however, arise not simply by accretion of a set of macromolecules, they form part  of a yet larger more complex physical forms such as cells, tissues and organs
• Natural Selection- Darwin’s conception that nature itself, via the environment ‘selects’ certain characteristics such that the possessors of those characteristics have a better than average chance of surviving and/or reproducing…with the result that subsequent generations will come to more closely resemble the selected members of the original population rather than an average member; and much more so than an organism from a different environment (where presumably other characteristics might be selected.)