Sex Itself
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€92.99
20th century
A01=Sarah S. Richardson
academic
Author_Sarah S. Richardson
biologist
biology
Category=JBSF
Category=PDX
Category=PSAK
chromosomal
chromosome
contemporary
cultural
culture
determination
difference
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
eq_society-politics
female
gender
genes
genetic
genome
human
hypothesis
male
modern
molecular
norms
penis
philosophy
postgenomic
research
scholarly
science
scientific
sexuality
theoretical
theories
vagina
x
y
Product details
- ISBN 9780226084688
- Weight: 680g
- Dimensions: 17 x 24mm
- Publication Date: 06 Nov 2013
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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Human genomes are 99.9 percent identical - with one prominent exception. Instead of a matching pair of X chromosomes, men carry a single X, coupled with a tiny chromosome called the Y. Tracking the emergence of a new and distinctive way of thinking about sex represented by the unalterable, simple, and visually compelling binary of the X and Y chromosomes, Sex Itself examines the interaction between cultural gender norms and genetic theories of sex from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present, postgenomic age. Using methods from history, philosophy, and gender studies of science, Sarah S. Richardson uncovers how gender has helped to shape the research practices, questions asked, theories and models, and descriptive language used in sex chromosome research. From the earliest theories of chromosomal sex determination, to the mid-century hypothesis of the aggressive XYY supermale, to the debate about Y chromosome degeneration, to the recent claim that male and female genomes are more different than those of humans and chimpanzees, Richardson shows how cultural gender conceptions influence the genetic science of sex.
Richardson shows how sexual science of the past continues to resonate, in ways both subtle and explicit, in contemporary research on the genetics of sex and gender. With the completion of the Human Genome Project, genes and chromosomes are moving to the center of the biology of sex. Sex Itself offers a compelling argument for the importance of ongoing critical dialogue on how cultural conceptions of gender operate within the science of sex.
Sarah S. Richardson is assistant professor of the history of science and of studies of women, gender, and sexuality at Harvard University. She is coeditor of Revisiting Race in a Genomic Age. She lives in Chester, CT.
