The Plasticity Of Sex

The Plasticity of Sex: The Molecular Biology and Clinical Features of Genomic Sex, Gender Identity and Sexual Behavior provides a comprehensive view on the development of human sexuality. As there has been a crescendo of interest over the past several decades about the nature and diversity of human sexuality, this reference brings the evidence-based research into one place. The emergence of issues surrounding gender identity, genital ambivalence and the transition from one sex to another is striking, with the public and treating physicians alike clamoring for an evidence-based, comprehensive treatment of human sexuality and all its variations. This is a must-have reference for biomedical researchers in endocrinology, neuroscience, development biology, medical students, residents, and practicing physicians from all medical areas. Winner of the 2021 PROSE Award in Biomedicine from the Association of American Publishers! Discusses the role of biology in gender identity from research in genetics, endocrinology and neuroscience Addresses important health disparities and how to address them when treating the transgender patient Reviews evidence-based information on the biological basis and impact of environmental and hormonal factors at different life stages Outlines schema for treating variations in the sexuality and sexual function of the individual patient

A groundbreaking twentieth-century history of transgender children With transgender rights front and center in American politics, media, and culture, the pervasive myth still exists that today’s transgender children are a brand new generation—pioneers in a field of new obstacles and hurdles. Histories of the Transgender Child shatters this myth, uncovering a previously unknown twentieth-century history when transgender children not only existed but preexisted the term transgender and its predecessors, playing a central role in the medicalization of trans people, and all sex and gender. Beginning with the early 1900s when children with “ambiguous” sex first sought medical attention, to the 1930s when transgender people began to seek out doctors involved in altering children’s sex, to the invention of the category gender, and finally the 1960s and ’70s when, as the field institutionalized, transgender children began to take hormones, change their names, and even access gender confirmation, Julian Gill-Peterson reconstructs the medicalization and racialization of children’s bodies. Throughout, they foreground the racial history of medicine that excludes black and trans of color children through the concept of gender’s plasticity, placing race at the center of their analysis and at the center of transgender studies. Until now, little has been known about early transgender history and life and its relevance to children. Using a wealth of archival research from hospitals and clinics, including incredible personal letters from children to doctors, as well as scientific and medical literature, this book reaches back to the first half of the twentieth century—a time when the category transgender was not available but surely existed, in the lives of children and parents.

Now updated with groundbreaking research, this award-winning classic examines the construction of sexual identity in biology, society, and history. Why do some people prefer heterosexual love while others fancy the same sex? Is sexual identity biologically determined or a product of convention? In this brilliant and provocative book, the acclaimed author of Myths of Gender argues that even the most fundamental knowledge about sex is shaped by the culture in which scientific knowledge is produced. Drawing on astonishing real-life cases and a probing analysis of centuries of scientific research, Fausto-Sterling demonstrates how scientists have historically politicized the body. In lively and impassioned prose, she breaks down three key dualisms -- sex/gender, nature/nurture, and real/constructed -- and asserts that individuals born as mixtures of male and female exist as one of five natural human variants and, as such, should not be forced to compromise their differences to fit a flawed societal definition of normality.

It's obvious why only men develop prostate cancer and why only women get ovarian cancer. But it is not obvious why women are more likely to recover language ability after a stroke than men or why women are more apt to develop autoimmune diseases such as lupus. Sex differences in health throughout the lifespan have been documented. Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health begins to snap the pieces of the puzzle into place so that this knowledge can be used to improve health for both sexes. From behavior and cognition to metabolism and response to chemicals and infectious organisms, this book explores the health impact of sex (being male or female, according to reproductive organs and chromosomes) and gender (one's sense of self as male or female in society). Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health discusses basic biochemical differences in the cells of males and females and health variability between the sexes from conception throughout life. The book identifies key research needs and opportunities and addresses barriers to research. Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health will be important to health policy makers, basic, applied, and clinical researchers, educators, providers, and journalists-while being very accessible to interested lay readers.

Why won't he ask for directions? Why does she always want to talk about the relationship? Why is it so hard for men and women to understand each other . . . and what can we do about it? These are the kinds of questions that are resolved at last in this fascinating book from the founder of gender medicine. Dr. Marianne Legato not only confirms that men and women are different, but she uncovers the neuroscientific reasons behind the age-old disputes between the sexes, while providing a groundbreaking, authoritative, and reader-friendly guide to resolving them.

'This study builds on feminist scholarship that has critiqued this claim, and that has argued for a reconsideration of the relationship between sex/gender and the brain through the lens of neuroplasticity. In this dissertation, author argues that plasticity can indeed be used to develop a critical, material-semiotic account of how sex/gender comes to matter in the brain. However, noting the neoliberal, post-feminist tendencies of popular plasticity discourses, which compel individuals to engage in intensive self-surveillance and self-management through narratives of empowerment and choice, author also asks what kinds of norms, values and subjectivities a plasticity-based approach might unintentionally foster. By mapping the ontological, epistemological, and ethical considerations that this question provokes, The Politics of Plasticity examines the stakes that are involved in (re)thinking the sexed/gendered subject as a neuroplastic subject.'

Sex discrimination is supposedly a distant memory. Yet popular books, magazines and even scientific articles defend inequalities by citing immutable biological differences between the male and female brain. Why are there so few women in science and engineering, so few men in the laundry room? Well, they say, it's our brains.

Technologies of Sexuality, Identity and Sexual Health highlights the complex ways in which sexuality is expressed and enacted through local ideologies, global identities and material cultures, and their influence on people's sexual health and well-being. Its impetus is the renewed interest in technology and the 'social life of things,' including pharmaceuticals, expanded sexual and related surgery, the growing exploitation of markets for sexual and contraceptive products, and the impact of these on sexual and health practices and outcomes. Organised loosely into three parts, the opening chapters concentrate on female contraception, its availability, and the varied cultural significance attached to the ability to control its use, exploring the politics of reproductive health and birth control, and the ties between technology and power. The middle section turns its attention to men, and the impact of traditional and contemporary concerns about masculinity, and the social and sexual roles of men. The final chapters look at the commonalities across cultural borders and sexual gendered identities - how products and procedures travel, not only through the formal channels of globalisation, but also informally, carried by individuals across cultural and social boundaries through sexual, social and commercial interactions. The volume brings together anthropologists, sociologists and cultural studies scholars, both senior and emerging, from around the globe. Offering an important and topical contribution to the developing global literature on sexuality, sexual identity, culture and health, it is of interest to researchers and advanced students in these areas.

The announcement that we had decoded the human genome in 2000 ushered in a new and unique era in biomedical research and clinical medicine. This Third Edition of Principles of Gender-Specific Medicine focuses, as in the past two editions, on the essentials of sexual dimorphism in human physiology and pathophysiology, but emphasizes the latest information about molecular biology and genomic science in a variety of disciplines. Thus, this edition is a departure from the previous two; the editor solicited individual manuscripts from innovative scientists in a variety of fields rather than the traditional arrangement of sections devoted to the various subspecialties of medicine edited by section chiefs. Wherever it was available, these authors incorporated the latest information about the impact of the genome and the elements that modify its expression on human physiology and illness. All chapters progress translationally from basic science to the clinical applications of gender-specific therapy and suggest the most important topics for future investigation. This book is essential reading for all biomedical investigators and medical educators involved in gender-specific medicine. It will also be useful for primary care practitioners who need information about the importance of sex and gender in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness. Winner of the 2018 PROSE Award in Clinical Medicine from the Association of American Publishers! 2018 PROSE Awards - Winner, Award for Clinical Medicine: Association of American Publishers Outlines sex-specific differences in normal human function and explains the impact of age, hormones, and environment on the incidence and outcome of illness Reflects the latest information about the molecular basis of the sexual dimorphism in human physiology and the experience of disease Reviews the implications of our ever-improving ability to describe the genetic basis of vulnerability to disease and our capacity to alter the genome itself Illustrates the importance of new NIH guidelines that urge the inclusion of sex as a variable in research protocols

Countersexual Manifesto is an outrageous yet rigorous work of trans theory, a performative literary text, and an insistent call to action. Seeking to overthrow all constraints on what can be done with and to the body, Paul B. Preciado offers a provocative challenge to even the most radical claims about gender, sexuality, and desire. Preciado lays out mock constitutional principles for a countersexual revolution that will recognize genitalia as technological objects and offers step-by-step illustrated instructions for dismantling the heterocentric social contract. He calls theorists such as Derrida, Foucault, Butler, and Haraway to task for not going nearly far enough in their attempts to deconstruct the naturalization of normative identities and behaviors. Preciado’s claim that the dildo precedes the penis—that artifice, not nature, comes first in the history of sexuality—forms the basis of his demand for new practices of sexual emancipation. He calls for a world of sexual plasticity and fabrication, of bio-printers and “dildonics,” and he invokes countersexuality’s roots in the history of sex toys, pornography, and drag in order to rupture the supposedly biological foundations of the heterocentric regime. His claims are extreme, but supported through meticulous readings of philosophy and theory, as well as popular culture. The Manifesto is now available in English translation for its twentieth anniversary, with a new introduction by Preciado. Countersexual Manifesto will disrupt feminism and queer theory and scandalize us all with its hyperbolic but deadly serious defiance of everything we’ve been told about sex.