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Natalie Angier

Natalie Angier. Woman: An Intimate Geography. CH 14: Wolf Whistles & Hyena Smiles. Media imagery of young girls versus reality Commercials for girls toys (sweet) “first job of being a girl is to survive in a group of girls” Girls are aggressive

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Natalie Angier

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  1. Natalie Angier Woman: An Intimate Geography

  2. CH 14: Wolf Whistles & Hyena Smiles • Media imagery of young girls versus reality • Commercials for girls toys (sweet) • “first job of being a girl is to survive in a group of girls” • Girls are aggressive • Why describe girls in biological theory as “prosocial”; “verbal, interactive, attentive, amiable”??

  3. Turner’s Syndrome • Genetic condition in which a female has only one X chromosome • The X thus comes from either the male or the female parent. • Girls/women with the X from their fathers are more genial than girls with the X from their mothers.

  4. Turner’s (cont) • Scientists interpreting these data concluded that girls with the paternal X were more girl-like girls • those with the maternal X “boylike” • How does this follow? • Small N study (100) • Chromosomal abnormalities are difficult to study under most controlled circumstances

  5. Turners (cont) • Angier’s critique is the scientist’s application of social norms to their supposedly scientific research (see pg 262). • What about aggression in girls? • Male aggression is more obvious? • Commit most murders • Most muggings • Almost 100% of rapes

  6. Aggression • Violence – public health? • Degree of physical aggression? • Degree of social determination to ignore female aggression? • Aggression as a social negative.

  7. Hostess example • Guest arrives at home and is offered food or drink • Guest refuses • Polite interaction? • Hostess establishing control? Guest refusing to allow control? • Hostess being rejected? • Context is key

  8. Testosterone • The hormone of aggression? • Women have testosterone but much less of it (btw/20-70 nanograms of circulating blood) • Production 50/50 adrenal glands and ovaries • Men: 400-700 nanograms is normal • Production in testes

  9. High T Women ? • Women’s testosterone quotient on the upper end of the female range • More dedicated to career, sexually assertive, less interested in children • Little evidence for this • H: Because women have low levels of testosterone they are sensitive to small variations.

  10. Testosterone the myth? • Existing theories of brain sexing: • Male brain – testosterone works in utero and then later is activated at puberty • Female brain – steady state – no exposure to T prenatally; women reach puberty when estrogen and progesterone begin female specific brain design • Angier thinks these arguments are limited.

  11. Alternative view • Testosterone may not be what matters during the prenatal imprinting • Some believe T that reaches the brain is converted to estrogen and only as estrogen does it impact the brain • Which means that estrogen is what counts for the sexing of the brain and thus, aggression

  12. Problems with Hormones? • Research on hormones is inconclusive at best. • Testosterone is presumed to be the hormone of aggression not because the scientific evidence is conclusive but because it seems like a reasonable hypothesis. • Hyenas and androstenedione (andro-steen-DIE-own) • Hormones don’t cause behavior (influence) • Behavior can influence hormones

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