Sex, Gender and Science (Electronic book text)

In Sex, Gender and Science, Myra Hird outlines the social study of science and nature, specifically in relation to 'sex', sex 'differences' and sexuality. She examines how Western understandings of 'sex' are based less upon understanding material sex differences, than on a discourse that emphasizes sex dichotomy over sex diversity and argues for a feminist engagement with scientific debate that embraces the diversity and complexity of nature. With a talent for explaining scientific terms and research in clear and non-threatening language, the author also describes new developments in the natural sciences, providing those readers who find themselves grappling with 'the body' and 'difference', tools to analyse how physical processes of change and differentiation take place. Contextualised descriptions of the biological elements typically used to explain sexual difference (gametes, skeletons, hormones, genes and sexual reproduction), a glossary of terms and carefully selected reading suggestions make Sex, Gender and Science the place to turn for everything a social scientist wanted to know about sex but was too embarrassed to ask.