Episode 2: Opposites Attract
31 08 2007
On today’s show, we look at the seemingly obvious idea that women and men are opposites. So many cultures historically have assumed this to be so, and so many of these cultures have argued that differences between men and women had a natural basis. We will see how difficult that argument has been to maintain as science has probed deeper into the human body.
Guest essay: Amber Hoerauf, “The Hormone Revolution”
- for further reading:
- Anne Fausto-Sterling, “The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough,” The Sciences (March/April 1993): 20-25; and “The Five Sexes Revisited,” The Sciences (July/August 2000): 18-23.
- Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990).
- Eva Moore, Amy Wisniewski, and Adrian Dobs, “Endocrine Treatment of Transsexual People: A Review of Treatment Regimens, Outcomes, and Adverse Effects,” Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 88 (2003): 3467-3473.
- Nelly Oudshoorn, Beyond the Natural Body: An Archaeology of Sex Hormones (New York and London: Routledge, 1994).
- Amber Hoerauf will graduate in December from Southwestern University with a degree in biochemistry. Katy Nichols, a fellow student at Southwestern, narrated the essay.
Host essay: “Yin to His Yang”
- for further reading:
- Charlotte Furth, A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China’s Medical History, 960-1665 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999).
- Charlotte Furth, “Androgynous Males and Deficient Females: Biology and Gender Boundaries in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century China,” Late Imperial China 9, no. 2 (1988): 1-31.
- Emma Donoghue, The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits: Stories (New York: Harvest Books, 2003).
- Alice Domurat Dreger, Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998).
- Will Roscoe, Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998).
Audio credits:
All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network except where noted.
- Sunburn in Cyprus, History (intro & outro)
- Music in guest essay:
- Glenn Miller, Moonlight Serenade (1939 recording)
- Maestross, Orchestral
- Brunswick Duo, Carmen Fantasie 1 by Borne
- Francisco Drum, Coffeesong
- Derek K. Miller, Cold Cloth and an Ice Pack
- Alan Renkl, Lemonade
- Music in host essay
- Guardian Mind Mix, Worldly Composer
- Tilopa, Chinese Princess (courtesy of Magnatune)
- Edie Carey, Chemistry (following guest essay)
- Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials, Natural Man (following host essay)
- Happy Gemini 3, Pondering the 10th Planet (transitions)
- Sound effects courtesy of the FreeSound Project
Contest: Leave a substantive comment here on the website or on iTunes by September 25, and your name will entered into a drawing to win two books on the history of science fiction. Be sure to leave your e-mail address so that I know how to contact you.
This is wonderful! The quality is great; the subject matter is fantastic. Thank you for sharing it with us!
excellent what a great way to engage students
Another great episode! The essays have all done a great job thus far of blending more technical, scientific information with social and cultural insights and inquiry. Very informative and entertaining. I’m looking forward to the next episode!
I listened to this when you first posted it, but am just now getting back to comment. This episode really stuck with me. The whole concept of the fluidity of gender is a fascinating one, and an important one. Your essay gave some useful historical and cross-cultural perspective on the issue.
In August, 2007 The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine ran a two part article on a Boston area physician who, in mid-life, had gone through the transition from male to female. It described his history, and the reactions of his patients, and his family. As one can imagine, his wife and children had a very painful time of it. I like to think that information such as presented in your podcast can open minds, and, perhaps, help to rewrite these stories in the future.
Best,
Kathleen