UC Santa Cruz Philosophy Colloquium - Sarah Richardson November 15, 2007

THE PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT
UC SANTA CRUZ
PRESENTS

Sarah Richardson
Stanford University

"Contextual Values and Sex Differences in the Genome"

The completion of the Human Genome Project and the renewal of interest in human genetic variation in its wake have produced new interest in, and theories of, genetic differences between males and females. Researchers claim, for instance, that "there is not one human genome, but two - male and female" (Duke University, 2005) and that human males and females differ by "two percent," "greater than the hereditary gap between humankind and its closest relative - the chimpanzee" (Hotz, 2005).

I examine these genomic claims about sex difference on several levels. I argue that the claim that human male and female genomes differ by "two percent" is inflated under any set of assumptions. Further, I argue that the use of population genetic and comparative genomic models to compare human males and females is inappropriate and misleading. Finally, I argue that the comparison of sex differenceswith species differences is diagnostic of conceptual confusion about sex difference in biology.

4:00 pm
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Cowell Conference Room
Cowell College

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