Human biology is far more expansive than the simple categories of female and male

Being human entails a complex interplay of biology and culture, and while there are important differences between women and men, there are also many variations and overlap. Sex Is a Spectrum offers a bold new paradigm for understanding the biology of sex, drawing on the latest science to explain why the binary view of the sexes is fundamentally flawed*. 

Our conversation explores patterns across animal species, bio-cultural roles and impact, historical perspectives on sex & gender, why men have nipples, how female hyenas are bad a**, where political and social structures can occlude progress & how an honest, science-based foundation is paramount for being curious, learning & talking about the human experience at large.

Agustín Fuentes is professor of anthropology at Princeton University. His books include Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature; The Creative Spark: How Imagination Made Humans Exceptional; and Why We Believe: Evolution and the Human Way of Being.

Agustín Fuentes

*from Princeton University Press 
Princeton University Press

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Chapters: (0:00 ) Introduction & Why this Book
(2:50 ) Princeton Professor
(3:45 ) Learning from Animals
(4:45 ) Sex Biology v. Gender
(6:45 ) Talking About Genitals is OK!
(8:10 ) Lives influence Gender Presentation
(9:18 ) 3G Sex Categories
(10:15 ) Sex as a Spectrum
(11:05 ) It’s about Patterns & Variations
(12:38 ) Sea Horses & Spotted Hyenas
(14:38 ) Fish Sex Changing
(15:10 ) Bio-Culture: Look at a Baby Toe
(16:20 ) Gender Rules are Contemporary
(18:00 ) Anecdotes & Stories v. Science
(20:05 ) No Male or Female Brain
(23:10 ) Men are Mammals.  Men have Nipples
(26:55 ) Differences in Current Cultures w/Bodies
(27:45 ) What DNA Defines
(30:05 ) Global & Political Challenges
(31:10 ) The Binary is Two Completely Different Things
(33:00 ) Using a Spectrum as Descriptive
(36:05 ) Backlash, Hate & Official Government Doctrine
(38:50 ) You Can Hate: But Don’t Mask it w/Biology
(40:05 ) K-12 Education Needed
(41:50 ) It’s Okay to Not fit in the Binary
(43:10 ) Accessing the Book – Go Local
(44:55 ) It’s Been Amazing & Difficult
(45:10 ) Wrap Up

Local Cleveland Area Bookstores: 
Mac's Books, Coventry Mac's Backs Book Store
Fireside Books, Chagrin Falls Fireside Book Shop
Black Cat Books & Oddities, Medina Black Cat Books & Oddities
Loganberry Books, Larchmere Loganberry Books
Apple Tree Books, Cleveland Heights Apple Tree Books
Clevo Books, Cleveland Clevo Books

Thanks for listening! Therapist Caise 

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