My school science department is confusing sex with gender

[beatrice14]

To all you wise mumsnetters out there,

I know I'm not really the right demographic for this board, (I'm 15), but I've really enjoyed lurking and reading posts here, and I was interested to see what people on here might think about this. My science teacher just sent round this email which mixed up sex and gender and then said that sex was a spectrum, and conflated intersex with transgender. I'm gender critical myself, and I disagreed with a lot of it, and found it rather odd. I've pasted it below, with the links they sent.
As we approach half term midway through this month of LGBT+ History month, you might like to read some of the materials below on the biology of sex and gender. We think it’s important to recognise that, whilst biology textbooks teach about sex in a fairly binary way, X and Y chromosomes are by no means the only factors that determine biological gender. It’s also important to note the damage that a binary concept of gender can have on the physical and mental health of those who don’t identify as male or female, or as their assigned gender. The following links might give you some interesting scientific material that presents the concept of gender in a much more recognised spectrum. To quote the final article in this list, which summarises it so well:

“Science tells us that gender is certainly not binary; it may not even be a linear spectrum. Like many other facets of identity, it can operate on a broad range of levels and operate outside of many definitions. And it also appears that gender may not be as static as we assume. At the forefront of this, transgender identity is complex – it’s unlikely we’ll ever be able to attribute it to one neat, contained set of causes, and there is still much to be learned.”

Articles

Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic - Scientific American

Sex isn't binary, and we should stop acting like it is (massivesci.com)

Sex redefined : Nature News & Comment

When Sex and Gender Collide - Scientific American

Between the (Gender) Lines: the Science of Transgender Identity - Science in the News (harvard.edu)

Podcasts

BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, Sex, gender and sport - the Caster Semenya case and the latest Denisovan discovery

We hope these provide an interesting source of material for you to extend your understanding of this important topic.

I think the way to go, in the current context, is to quite honestly, split the obvious distinguishes for sex - chromosomes, internal organs etc from gender which would be brain plasticity and hormones which can affect behaviours and how people feel and thus social perceptions relating to gender.

Might not be ideal politically ( depending on your views) but not inappropriate with regards to the biology, I don't think.

@beatrice14

Hi all, Thanks for all the replies – they’re really helpful. Basically, it’s my biology teacher who sent the links. She’s the head of the biology department – she sent it to all of our year as part of LGBT history month. I think it’s wrong – I’m a tomboy and I worry that some people in my year might take it very seriously, one classmate who is gay now says she is agender.

I agree you with Beatrice, it is wrong and your teacher is abusing her power and position of authority to indoctrinate teenagers. Please don't let it go, if you can't challenge the school independently or with your parents help then ask Safe School Alliance, Transgender Trend or Our Duty for help. Good luck

@alexk3

Where does she mix up sex and gender?

Several of the articles that the teacher references have titles which definitely look like they hold such a view.

Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic - Scientific American

Sex isn't binary, and we should stop acting like it is (massivesci.com)

OP, to make the articles clicky links on here, right click on the links in the original email, select "Copy link address" and then paste into the message window. Repeat for each one in turn.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/

massivesci.com/articles/sex-gender-intersex-transgender-identity-discrimination-title-ix/

www.nature.com/news/sex-redefined-1.16943

www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-sex-and-gender-collide/

sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2016/gender-lines-science-transgender-identity/

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004mfv

I think those are the correct links op

The teacher sounds very confused.

Science tells us that gender is certainly not binary; it may not even be a linear spectrum.

Science doesn't have much to tell us about 'biological gender' because it is a cultural concept.

Gender refers to the characteristics of women, men, girls and boys that are socially constructed. This includes norms, behaviours and roles associated with being a woman, man, girl or boy, as well as relationships with each other. As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time.

Nobody is 'assigned' a gender and people can reject gender expectations. Women have done this time and time again.

www.who.int/health-topics/gender#tab=tab_1

This article is a good read.

aeon.co/essays/the-idea-that-gender-is-a-spectrum-is-a-new-gender-prison

It's simple in one way,

1. sex characteristics according to biology = chromosomes, organs

2. gender = feelings, perception of self and societal perception affecting this. Obviously there is a biological element in terms of brain physiology affecting feelings and perception, the body's feedback, in turn, affecting brain physiology. Hormones can affect this. If they fluctuate or are outside the norm of what would be expected for a particular sex perception / behaviour could be altered. However because levels regarding these finer details have not being traditionally being ascribed to a particular sex they would belong within the gender category.

So there's the interrelation between perception and biology. They are distinctly different but there is an interaction.

Blimey OP I'm gobsmacked.

You say this teacher is head of department- I wonder if this is an example of how hard it is to recruit properly qualified teachers? I mean I HOPE she has a teaching qualification, but maybe she hasn't got a biology degree? Because I really just can't wrap my head round the idea of anyone with a biology degree (or O level come to that) coming out with all this.

Re your classmate, I think 'agender' is a fairly safe bet, I might even claim to be agender myself, just to mess with people's heads. I don't hold with gender at all so of course I would be agender.

I see PPs have suggested contacting/complaining to head. Another approach would be to communicate directly with your teacher's audience. Is there a forum or something? You could either argue directly with the teacher or post faux-naif questions, such as, 'sex is a spectrum??? so...what sex is between male and female???how would they breed?do they have sperm or eggs? or something else?

it's not on the GCSE curriculum

More than that, it explicitly contradicts the GCSE curriculum.

The great thing about being 15 is that no-one can sack you for being obstreperous. Personally I would write a complaint to the head of department (because they should hopefully understand this is nonsense) making something around the following points:

1. The teacher seems to confuse having a disorder of sexual development with being transgender. The two are not linked.

1. The teacher seems to confuse having a disorder of gender identity with being a third sex, this is an offensive myth about DSDs with no basis in fact.

1. The teacher seems to confuse a person's personal identity with their sex.

1. The teacher seems to confuse an opinion piece about how sex should be described with accepted scientific fact. There are no textbooks which say sex is a spectrum because this is a political viewpoint, not a scientific one.

1. It is wildly inappropriate for a teacher to foist their personal opinions on you in this way. It is no different from an evangelical Christian telling you evolution isn't real.

If you get a punnet square cross for sex in the Biology exam and you write 'sex is a spectrum' you will not receive any marks.

Finally, I'm sorry you got a thick teacher. It's a good learning experience that we don't know everything and even Scientific training doesn't guarantee an understanding of the Scientific method. Hopefully this spurs you to take Science at uni and help keep it rigorous, rather than putting you off.

She’s the head of the biology department

Sorry, missed this on first read through- Christ on a bike, has to be the head then.

is to quite honestly, split the obvious distinguishes for sex - chromosomes, internal organs etc from gender which would be brain plasticity and hormones which can affect behaviours and how people feel and thus social perceptions relating to gender.

But that's not gender at all. Gender is just a catch all term for a set of stereotypes. Hormones don't make you feel female or male and the way people behave varies wildly within the sexes.

In fact most of the sex correlated behaviours/traits which were once thought to have a biological basis (such as mathematical aptitude or spacial awareness) are being demonstrated to be social (often down to opportunity to practice skills).

There is a persistent gap between the sexes empathy and ability to read non-verbal signals but everything else is probably cultural.

Hi OP,

I think the best course of action is for your parents to forward the email to the head of school and ask for clarification- if they don’t get a satisfactory response then they can raise it as a formal complaint with the governors, and if they still don’t get a satisfactory response then a complaint to Ofsted might help.

Your parents complaining will hold more weight than you. Which is daft because you sound like you have a solid head on your shoulders but sometimes you have to work with the system you’ve got to try and get anywhere.

Hormones don't make you feel female or male and the way people behave varies wildly within the sexes.

Hormones do alter behaviour and how people feel, though. Testosterone levels, for example have been linked to aggression. However, because these 'feelings' and 'behaviours' are not strictly sexed and gender is indeed perceptual / people of the same sex behave and feel differently, I would agree with what you are saying, in that sense.

However, what I was trying to illustrate was the interrelation between psychology, physiology and the physical nature of people. That is where the complexity lies. Gender, it being a social construct, is complex because it involves people's perceptions. Some scientists would even disagree we have free will and that all our decisions are based in our genetics. It follows that what is cultural and perceptual does relate to our biology to a degree.

I would agree, though, that physical sex characteristics have been quite clearly defined in science and are largely binary. Gender, though, is much more complex simply because it is about individual and societal perceptions. Gender relates to sex in that our perceptions affect the way we define and understand ourselves and the world around us and understanding affects our neural networks.

This is biology so chromosomes and internal organs as not actually the important bit of sex. The difference between the sexes is one has large immobile gametes and the other small mobile gametes. Organisms either have one or the other or both. (mammels never have both). So I would focus on these gametes and ask what other gametes there are and what role they play in the reproduction of eg apple trees, cows or humans?

There are two sexes and members of each group create the gamete associated with their sex.
Not all men are fertile but those who are always produce small, motile gametes. Not all women are fertile (and those that are aren't fertile for their entire lives), when they are they always produce large, non motile gametes.
Differences of sex development don't create a new sex class. There is no third gamete, there is no alternative to gestation.

Agree with PP that you should get your parents to complain. This directly contradicts recent Department of Education advice. You should go through headteacher and school governors first, if no joy, complain directly to the Department of Education.

Sex is really NOT complicated. It is the basic category on which human life depends. We reproduce sexually, by combining two different gametes. If there are more than two sexes, what is their reproductive function?

Your teacher is abusing her position of power to push her personal political views, under the cover of LGBT History month. This is against the legal framework governing schools, they have to be politically neutral.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_sex-determination_system

Sex is Chromosomes and genetics
Gender is a society/ cultural human discussion

@Flapjak

Gender has got no place in anything other than social science. Sex is binary, intersex isnt on a spectrum. Your teacher needs to educate him/her/theyself and take a step away from wokesville 🤯

Hardly surprising. My nephew is doing film studies and somebody asked his teacher ( Not a stand in but a film studies teacher) whether Alfred Hitchcock came from Britain or America. She didn't know and had to look it up.

I am always baffled by this confusing human reproductive biology and “gender”... as if humans aren’t mammals after all.

Imagine pulling this nonsense at vet school.

Please speak to the teacher first before alerting all authorities, sounds like they have tried to be woke and got it a bit wrong

Please speak to the teacher first before alerting all authorities, sounds like they have tried to be woke and got it a bit wrong

I disagree with this advice. A Head of Biology who is prepared to go so far as they do in this message is unlikely to respond well to a child correcting them. Nor is it a child's responsibility to correct or challenge her teacher on this scale.

Escalate to adults. Let them make this right.

Nor is it a child's responsibility to correct or challenge her teacher on this scale.

Very much agree with this.

Barracker

"Escalate to adults. Let them make this right."

Definitely this, remember what happened to the lad in Scotland when he argued with the teacher.

( Not a stand in but a film studies teacher) whether Alfred Hitchcock came from Britain or America.

He was definitely born in England, but I think had dual British/American nationality.