In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, a mystery hit the news headlines: Men, it seemed, were dying from the infection at twice the rate of women. To explain this alarming disparity, researchers looked for innate biological differences between the sexes, for example, protective levels of sex hormones or different immune responses between men and women. Some even went so far as to test the possibility of treating infected men with estrogen injections.
This focus on biological sex differences turned out to be woefully inadequate, as a group of Harvard-affiliated researchers pointed out earlier this year. By analyzing more than a year of sex-disaggregated Covid-19 data, they showed that the gender gap was more fully explained by social factors such as mask use and distancing behaviors (less common among men) and testing rates (higher among pregnant women and healthcare workers, who were mostly women).
The researchers revealed medicine’s long-standing tendency to attribute differences in health outcomes to biological, rather than social, factors. In fact, men were dying at higher rates long before the pandemic, for reasons that had nothing to do with immunity or hormones. And even if gender differences contributed to poor health, it was crucial to consider how these differences interacted with social and cultural disparities.
The 2022 paper is just one example of how feminist interventions can course-correct bad science, advancing fields from epidemiology to evolutionary biology. It was written by members of the Gender Sci Lab, an interdisciplinary lab that employs feminist science, an approach that seeks to identify and interrogate common assumptions about sex and gender that many people, including scientists, unconsciously operate under.
However, most of the people who found these findings probably had no idea that feminism played a role in the research. In a way, this is not surprising. During my three years reporting on the 2022 book “Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage,” I encountered a profound disconnect between how most researchers view feminist science and the tools that feminist scientists have to offer.
This focus on biological sex differences turned out to be woefully inadequate, as a group of Harvard-affiliated researchers pointed out earlier this year.
It’s not hard to see why. Among mainstream scientists, the word feminist has often been viewed with disdain, hostility, and an implicit belief that feminist ideals are incompatible with true science, that the former speaks of ideology; the latter, objective authority.
Feminist science actually offers a powerful set of tools for examining the history, context, and power structures in which scientific questions are asked. By bringing marginalized perspectives to the table, it can generate new questions and methodologies that help scientists identify and correct hidden biases. Think of it as a stake tied to a growing tree—it provides scaffolding to help the tree get back on track when it starts to lean too far to one side.
“Feminist science on the ground looks no different than other sciences,” says Heather Shattuck-Heidorn, an evolutionary biologist and co-founder of the GenderSci Lab (who read an early version of my book). “You have hypotheses that are supported or not, you do analysis, you test things, you operate on variables.”
The difference lies upstream, who is focused on and what questions are valued. If more scientists understood this, we could improve science for everyone.
Unfortunately, this misunderstanding is deeply rooted. Just ask the evolutionary biologist Patricia Gowaty, one of the first wave of researchers who was radicalized by the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s and assumed the title of feminist scientist. In 2012, Gowaty conducted a series of careful replication experiments with fruit flies that challenged the “Bateman principle” of sexual selection.
Their findings helped show that this principle, which states that males tend to be more promiscuous than females due to the asymmetry between sperm and eggs, was more of a hypothesis, and a flawed one at that. However, outside of gender studies departments, Gowaty’s work is not widely taught. Meanwhile, in hallowed halls like Oxford, Bateman’s principle remains canon.
Part of the reason, author Lucy Cooke writes in her recent book “Bitch: On The Female of the Species,” is that Gowaty was effectively labeled an ideologically driven feminist. “The F-word has a polarizing effect, so much so that it can undermine sound science,” Cooke writes. Even the scientists I interviewed for my book who used these tools—for example, the urologist who mapped the human clitoris to reveal an “iceberg organ” or the bioengineer who convinced his field that the uterus is a uniquely regenerative organ, they balked at the idea of calling. her feminist work.
But is it really a problem? As long as the science is done, who cares what we call it?
What we lose when feminism is minimized is an understanding of how science actually works.
I would say it does matter. What we lose when feminism is minimized is an understanding of how science actually works. Removing the word “feminist” perpetuates the outdated idea that female scientists should (and can) be objective: that when they enter the laboratory, they somehow take away the values, quirks, and prejudices that plague the rest of us mortals. In reality, the language of objectivity has long served as a cloak for political ends, whether it’s race science being used to support eugenics policies or pro-life lawyers organizing studies to prove , supposedly, that life begins at conception.
Ironically, cutting away from the model of science being objective makes science less objective, more impervious to criticism, and easier to divert for nefarious purposes. Straightening the tree of science means first recognizing that researchers never operate with a “vision from nothing,” to borrow the philosopher Thomas Nagel’s phrase. Scientists, like feminists, like all of us, have agendas and values, blind spots and prejudices. We each see through our own limited lens.
By turning the lens on the scientists themselves, feminist scientists allow these hidden biases to be seen and corrected. In the case of Covid-19 sex differences, Shattuck-Heidorn and her co-authors pointed to science’s long history of using biology to explain perceived sex and race differences, a history steeped in imperialism and eugenics westerners Awareness of this dark past made the GenderSci Lab skeptical of any purely biological explanation and pushed them to explore other hypotheses.
This is not the first time that feminist science has corrected wrong science. For decades, scientists described sperm as active agents that sought out the passive egg and penetrated it. Feminist anthropologist Emily Martin pointed out the sexist tropes that underpinned this narrative and pushed researchers to discover equally active elements in the female body: for example, chemical signals that the egg released to attract sperm and female fluids that allowed it to the sperm is fertilized. ready in the first place.
Similarly, sexual development in the womb was long described as proceeding along one of two paths: either a fragment of the Y chromosome coded for so-called maleness, that is, the development of testicles and penis. Or their absence led to the development of ovaries and clitoris “by default,” as a 2017 textbook put it. In this view, the female was like the factory settings of an iPhone, while the male was the version with bells and whistles.
Both ideas were based on the assumption that the female body was more passive, simpler and the default body configuration. Once these assumptions were laid bare, it became clear that female development had not been subject to the same rigorous scrutiny as male development. Feminist scientists, such as geneticist Jennifer Graves, helped expose this oversimplification, spurring the discovery of genetic elements that suppressed male pathways and led to ovarian development.
Scientists, like feminists, like all of us, have agendas and values, blind spots and prejudices. We each see through our own limited lens.
However, biology students typically do not learn the origins of this new knowledge. The names of feminist scientists do not appear in most academic notes and citations. Instead, students learn that science is self-correcting, even if the correction in this case comes from outside the establishment. This means that the ideas that feminist scientists bring to their fields can become part of general knowledge, but without any trace of how they came about.
Clearly, the larger power structures in science need to update their understanding of how feminist science can help expand human knowledge and validate the ways in which it already has. But until then, there is one thing scientists who intentionally address these biases can do: When possible, openly identify as feminist scientists. Erasing this term only continues the cycle of dismissal and marginalization of feminist scientists and their critical contributions to the field.
What is it about terms like feminist science that make some female scientists so uncomfortable? Perhaps it’s that when you recognize that one can be both, that all researchers can, and indeed must, balance having deeply held beliefs with a critical view of the world, the model of vision from nothing begins to sink It’s time for science to look this possibility in the eye and stop being so afraid of the F-word. Only by doing so can we begin to widen the lens and make science better for everyone.
Rachel E. Gross is a science journalist and author of “Vagina Obscura: An Anatomical Voyage.”
: belief and defense of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes expressed especially through the activity organized in favor of the rights and interests of women. feminist
What is the example of feminism?
Belief in or defense of women’s social, political and economic rights, especially regarding gender equality. Feminism is defined as a movement for equal rights for women. To see also : The prospects for the endangered US small business research program are brightening. The women who fought for the right to vote, called suffragists, are one of the first examples of feminism.
What are the examples of the women’s movement? Contents
- Suffrage movement.
- Women’s Liberation Movement.
- black feminism
- Feminist sexual wars.
- Riot Grrls.
What is feminism explain?
Feminism is an interdisciplinary approach to issues of equality and equity based on gender, gender expression, gender identity, sex, and sexuality as understood through social theories and activism politician.
What is feminism and types?
The four main types of feminism are: radical feminism, Marxist feminism, cultural feminism, and liberal feminism. See the article : Sarah Evanega commended for public service in science. There are other important types of feminism such as black feminism and ecofeminism.
What are the main ideas of feminism?
Feminist theory seeks to understand the nature of gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations and sexuality. This may interest you : Data science can unlock the value of your legal information. Feminism is also based on experiences of gender roles and relationships.
What is the symbol for feminism?
The clenched and raised fist combined with a Venus symbol represents feminism. It is an iconic symbol of the women’s liberation movement.
What colors represent women’s rights? At its founding, the International Alliance for Women’s Suffrage adopted yellow as its color. The color yellow or gold (for many practical purposes, they are the same color) had long been used by American suffragists, and yellow and white became the colors that symbolized the international women’s suffrage movement.
What is the official color of feminism?
Explain why purple is the color of choice for International Women’s Day: Internationally, purple is a color to symbolize women. Historically, the combination of purple, green and white to symbolize women’s equality originated with the Women’s Social and Political Union in the United Kingdom in 1908.
What does feminism stand for?
So what does feminism mean to us? Simply put, feminism is about all genders having equal rights and opportunities. It is about respecting the different experiences, identities, knowledge and strengths of women, and striving to empower all women to achieve their full rights.
What is the synonym of feminist?
synonyms: libber, women’s liberationist, women’s rightists.
Why feminism is called feminism?
The word feminism was first coined in 1837 by the French philosopher Charles Fourier (as feminism). It originally referred to “feminine qualities or character”, but this sense is no longer used.
What is the real meaning of feminism? So what does feminism mean to us? Simply put, feminism is about all genders having equal rights and opportunities. It is about respecting the different experiences, identities, knowledge and strengths of women, and striving to empower all women to achieve their full rights.
Who named feminism?
The word feminism was first coined in 1837 by the French philosopher Charles Fourier (as feminism).
Where does the word feminism come from?
Origin of the word “feminism” Its origins lie in the Old French feminine, which comes from the Latin word femina, meaning âwoman,â and âisme comes from the Latin suffix âismus, which makes a noun in a practice, system or doctrine .
