Biology teachers - teaching sex inheritance as a simplification

[Littlepinkstarsbyradish]

Is anyone else here a bio teacher?

so many topics are simplified for gcse (eg the exam boards teach eye colour as monohybrid when it isn’t, so kids always get irate that green eyes aren’t included!)

I did an extension activity showing the actual inheritance of sex using the really good flowchart published in Scientific American, which makes it really clear that 99% of people are “typical” but also shows how things like Klinefelters, XX males, etc happen. It’s a purely science lesson, focused on meiosis and hormone expression.

I’ve now had a parent furious about me introducing a “trans agenda” into my lessons. there is literally no mention whatsoever of trans people. It only mentions “intersex” once! It’s not pshee, it’s biology! the lesson is literally trying to show how genetics is simplified for gcse and actually far more complex and showing how few traits are actually monohybridic. It actually explicitly then links to melanin production, eye colour, skin colour etc - it only uses sex inheritance as an example to illustrate (as it’s a gcse spec point)

how would you respond??

Bio teacher here. You’ve done nothing wrong, but trying to explain yourself is unlikely to make the situation any better, as they’re probably clouded by ideology and won’t understand. I wouldn’t reply, I’d pass the email onto my line lead to deal with, and request that the school’s anti-harassment policy is followed, as they’re being too confrontational.

I’d send a very short, one line, response:
”Thank you for your email. Just to confirm, the lesson was not was about transgender people. It was about biology. If you have any further queries, please contact Mrs Head of Department” and copy her in.

Only thing that I would say is it isn’t 99% it is higher than that. 99.99% do not have dsd.

The 1% of people are intersex (as common as red hair) is a completely bollocks statement that magically appeared and is often repeated.

Only thing that I would say is it isn’t 99% it is higher than that. 99.99% do not have dsd.The 1% of people are intersex (as common as red hair) is a completely bollocks statement that magically appeared and is often repeated.

This- some parents concerns may stem from the fact that pro-trans groups will often refer to instances of intersex as a reason why sex alone "isn't suitable as a tool for classification (not a position i agree with).

That said, its biology and i wouldn't have objected, as long as your content was factually accurate about how rare scenarios other than XX & XY are.

Agree with the above poster. I'd have objected if you'd taught that 1 percent of people have DSds, and I've have also been unhappy about the term intersex, but when you've taught the biology accurately then I think you just need to explain that to the parent. Unfortunately for those of us deep in the gender wars, we have heard the intersex 'gotcha' a thousand times. So this parent has probably reacted as if you were using dsds to argue there are more than two sexes, as they'll have heard that many times before. I'd send your ppt to make clear this wasn't what you were doing.

Out of interest, what is wrong with the term intersex? Since some countries (notably, Germany) now use this term on passports afaik for those who are born with biological characteristics of both sexes, and who wish to be represented as such, I have used the term in class.

OP, of course you did nothing wrong. I have never specifically included it, but every year there are questions about this from students and I explain what can, and does, happen.

Some parents complain about what we teach, including evolution, so I wouldn't worry too much about this. Have your presentation ready for inspection by your line manager, just in case, but other than that, put it behind you.

Ah, I just looked up the graphic you were using.

I think the headline "Visualising sex as a spectrum" may be what has caused the uproar?

Inter means between eg intermolecular bonds are between chemicals or, for those of a certain age, intercity trains were between cities. (Intra means inside so the difference between intERnet and intRAnet)

Intersex therefore means between sexes. Which is biological nonsense. Everyone is either male or female. Those with DSD will present differently and may respond to sex based hormones differently but are still male or female.

Sex is not a spectrum. Some secondary sex characteristics can be.

This isn’t totally correct in all circumstances, but I understand your point

i havent had any more blow back from the lesson, so that’s good. Am worried about my choice for book week now though 😂
I chose “Bitch”, by Lucy Cooke
such a great book about animal behaviour and the impact of a male dominated science on the study of female animal behaviour. But I can now anticipate the follow up to kids reading about clown fish/the biological reality of Nemo 😂😂

Every definition of sex that I've read from reasonably reputable sources seems to accept intersex as the correct term. And once you go down the route of what makes a biological woman and a biological man the term intersex makes a lot of sense, although it does exclude DSD where there are no chromosomal abnormalities.
Having read a bit more, Germany has got around that part by allowing citizens to choose "diverse" on official documents (not intersex as I originally thought).

@OhBeAFineGuyKissMe I did once read, many years ago, that the presence of a Y chromosome automatically defines a person as male (I assume for passport etc. purposes). Is that what you mean?

The term intersex does not necessarily mean sex can be defined as a spectrum if it is more categorical than continuous, surely?

I would be interested to know what intersex condition means someone isn’t male or female? E.g Klinefelters is a DSD that affects males, boys are born with an extra X. Still male. I haven’t heard of any that make up a separate category.

If you were just showing the complexity then I would be happy. If you used the 1% of people are intersex or sex is a spectrum (title from the graphic) then I would have been unhappy.

Passports are irrelevant here, we are taking biology.

I hate the way genetics is taught at GCSE- it's a massive oversimplification and it often causes confusion at A-level, and higher.

FWIW I use Klienfelter Syndrome as an example of non-disjunction at A-level. As many as 1 in 500 male births have Klienfelter, so it's relatively common for a non-disjunction. It's also a non-disjunction that isn't severely life limiting, so I feel it's "safer" to bring up.

Students are often already familiar with the term intersex at A-level, and as they tend to find genetics difficult anyway, I'd rather they used a term they were familiar with than introducing another term which isn't needed by the spec and just adds to cognitive load.

However, I will say if it's the graphic here https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/beyond-xx-and-xy-the-extraordinary-complexity-of-sex-determination/
Then it does mention trans/non binary at the top of it, if you cropped that off, it may help to let parents know that.

However, in state schools in the UK, children will hear the terms trans/non binary/intersex etc regardless- if parents really don't want their children to hear those things (I'm guessing these are Y11 students), then they probably need to take their children out of state school.

With a complaint like this, if my HoD was sympathetic, I'd probably pass it up the line to them.

Bio teacher here. I am really pushing the sex vs gender definitions at the moment and am teaching genetics to GCSE and A-level. It's a subject I love so I do go off piste and explain how Klinefelter's and Turner's syndromes occur. On Friday we were discussing the SRY gene and Androgen Insensitivity syndrome. Haven't had any parental kick back yet. Sex is definitely binary in my classroom.

Scientific American is known amongst sex realists as being 'captured' by genderwoo, so it probably wasn't the best source to use for this - especially if as others have said they have lived up to their reputation by in any way suggested that sex is a spectrum or using terms like 'non-binary' or 'intersex'.

If the school has a wider issue with teaching gender identity ideology either as fact or in a biased way (eg without mentioning sex realist views or detransitioner stories) then parents will be on high alert and you may have therefore have had a slight overreaction on this particular lesson due to what's happening elsewhere.

Biology teachers are in a great position to correct some of the damaging and inaccurate ideas that children may have picked up elsewhere about the nature of sex and gender.