Reference no: EM133385645
Questions
1. What evidence is there for the claim that women's evolutionary "strategy" might be promiscuity?
Women are particularly sexually active when they are fertile.
Women are the only primate females who are potentially sexually receptive even when they are not fertile.
Women are the only primate females who enjoy sex more than their male counterparts.
Having multiple sexual partners increases a woman's chance of having a healthy child.
2. What is one problem with contemporary research about gender differences between the right and left hemispheres of the brain?
The associations scientists make with each hemisphere are entirely shaped by cultural factors that do not actually correspond to the brain or its structure.
Scientists keep changing their minds about the functions of each hemisphere, which one is superior, and which one is dominated by men or women.
It is actually impossible to judge how men and women experience their thoughts and emotions, and both sexes often misreport these in surveys.
The two hemispheres are so vastly differently proportioned between men and women that it is unclear whether they have the same function.
3. What have the studies on twins that seek the "gay gene" shown?
Male twins very often have the same sexual orientation, but female twins do not.
Female twins very often have the same sexual orientation, but male twins do not.
There is actually little concordance between twins with regard to sexuality.
The gay gene is only a factor with multiple births.
4. What are the political implications of biological essentialism?
They are all over the political map, depending on the affiliations of the researchers involved.
They are generally politically conservative because these arguments tend to postulate that the status quo is part of the unchangeable state of nature.
They have no political affiliations and are based solely in the service of scientific endeavor.
They are generally politically liberal because these arguments postulate that we cannot help our identities and should work to change our environments instead.