Society Does Not Make Gender

[Shana A]

Larry Young, Ph.D. and Brian Alexander

Society Does Not Make Gender
Posted: 08/21/2012 1:25 pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larry-young-phd/society-does-not-make-gender_b_1814112.html

Ruth Padawer's New York Times magazine exploration of boys whose behavior doesn't fit neatly into typical male molds has tapped into an argument that appears to have gained currency recently as a skirmish in our ongoing cultural warfare. Unfortunately, neither side seems to have heard of something called the Organizational Hypothesis.

According to the hypothesis, during fetal development male and female hormones not only help direct the formation of our bodies, they also shape the wiring of our brains. Society -- toy makers, churches, parents, fashion magazines -- does not make gender.

Science had clues to this as early as 1916. But it was in 1959 that Charles H. Phoenix and colleagues conducted the keystone experiment. They gave testosterone to pregnant guinea pigs and found that daughters were often born with what human doctors would call "ambiguous genitalia." Their bodies had been masculinized.