The MoJo Daily newsletter, Monday through Friday.
At the library a few weeks ago, a book in the new-releases section caught my eye. The cover contained a picture of Matisse's Dance above the words Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist. I flipped to the center photo section to find images of chimpanzees and bonobos engaged in various sex acts. I was sold. For years, I've been fascinated by the question of whether sex differences are innate or socially constructed. In gender studies classes and in books like Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine, I learned that there are few if any innate differences between male and female brains, and that any broadly different patterns we may notice between men and women are socially constructed. Primatologist Frans de Waal's book just confused me. There are minor differences between male and female brains, he writes, but it's unclear if those differences are innate or are shaped by years of social conditioning. By the end of this book, which ran so contrary to everything I had learned, I had to throw up my hands. We've recently seen this debate enter the public sphere, with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) asking Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to define "woman" during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) later asking Dr. Yashica Robinson the same during a House hearing on abortion access. This question is so perplexing because there is no black-and-white answer. Our brains and bodies are complex things. The debate over nature vs. nurture is far from settled. You can read two well-researched books by different types of experts and come to radically different conclusions. I bring all of this up, on this first day of Pride Month, to point out how facile conservative arguments against medical care for trans kids or discussing sexuality in school are. If there's one thing de Waal's book makes clear, it's that same-sex sexual behavior and gender nonconformity are natural and abundant in the animal kingdom. It's fascinating to try to make sense of gender and sex differences. To try to legislate them is foolish at best, and harmfully discriminatory at worst. —Abigail Weinberg |
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We fight for our freedoms, only to see them stripped away. |
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The modern food system may be reaching its limits. |
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Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. |
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