Sex and Gender: What We Know and Don’t Know

12/01/15 • 24 min

Distillations | Science History Institute

Several years ago historian of medicine Alice Dreger found herself in a room full of intersexed people, individuals with reproductive or sexual anatomy that is neither typically female nor male. Dreger noticed something strange: many of them had teeth that were in bad shape. She soon learned that many of them had endured such traumatic experiences with doctors that they wouldn’t go near anyone in a white coat, including dentists.

We were astonished by this story, so we asked Dreger to tell us more. She joined us for our December podcast alongside Eric Vilain, a medical geneticist and director of the Center for Gender-based Biology at UCLA. While intersex, transgender, and transsexual issues have recently entered the mainstream, our guests explain that there have always been those whose anatomy or identity prevents them from fitting neatly into the categories of male or female. And even with this newfound exposure, tensions continue to exist for them all.

But first we’ll hear about the experiences of a transgender couple desperate to conceive a child, but who struggled to find a willing doctor. Mariel Carr visits them at home in Philadelphia, where they’re adapting to life with an infant.

Show Clock:

00:03 Introduction 01:26 Feature story: "The Pregnant Man" 14:48 Interview with Alice Dreger and Eric Vilain

Credits:

Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob Kenworthy Guests: Alice Dreger and Eric Vilain Reporter: Mariel Carr Producer: Mariel CarrAssociate Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez

Music:

Music courtesy of the Audio Network.

Show Clock:

00:03 Introduction 01:26 Feature story: "The Pregnant Man" 14:48 Interview with Alice Dreger and Eric Vilain

Credits:

Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob Kenworthy Guests: Alice Dreger and Eric Vilain Reporter: Mariel Carr Producer: Mariel CarrAssociate Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez

Music:

Music courtesy of the Audio Network.

Previous Episode

Stealing Industry Secrets: Not as Easy as You Think

Hackers. Spies. Secrets. This is the menacing language of industrial espionage. But how easy is it to plunder a company for its ideas? Not very, says our guest, Douglas O’Reagan, a historian of science and technology. Throughout history, O’Reagan argues, stealing trade secrets has proven more complicated than lifting a blueprint or section of computer code. What makes a company successful is usually much harder to grasp.

But first we look at how one company is trying to pass on the skills and secrets responsible for its success. Reporter Susanne Gietl visits the small Bavarian town of Ingolstadt, headquarters of German automaker Audi. There she finds hundreds of Mexican workers learning skills, secrets, and the “German way” to build cars so they can bring that knowledge back to Mexico.

Join us for a trip to the murky world of technology transfer.

Show Clock:

00:04 Introduction01:40 Feature story: Learning the "German way" 10:20 Interview with Douglas O'Reagan

Credits:

Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob KenworthyGuests: Douglas O'ReaganReporter: Susanne GietlProducer: Mariel CarrAssociate Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez

Music:

Music courtesy of the Audio Network.

"Odyssey" by Kevin MacLeod Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Next Episode

Is Space the Place? Trying to Save Humanity by Mining Asteroids

2015 was a good year for outer space. Star Wars: Episode VII came out, NASA started hiring astronauts again, SpaceX successfully launched and returned a rocket, and the U.S. Congress passed the SPACE Act of 2015—a bill that gives any American who extracts resources from an asteroid legal rights to the bounty they reap. Since no one has yet mined an asteroid this legislation might seem premature, but it’s essential to the future of two Silicon Valley asteroid mining companies. That’s right, they already exist. They’re just waiting for humans to start colonizing space.

Reporters Katie Gilbert and Annie Costakis talk to Daniel Faber, the founder of Deep Space Industries, about his dream: to build the space equivalent of Home Depot, as well as fueling stations and manufacturing plants. They also explain a few of the untested theories behind asteroid mining.

We wanted to know more about the history of space dreaming and space colonies, so we talked to Patrick McCray, a historian of science and technology and the author of The Visioneers: How a Group of Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a Limitless Future. He says utopian space visions have long filled the heads of scientifically minded dreamers, especially when life on Earth isn’t going so well.

Show Clock:

00:03 Introduction01:26 Will asteroid mining save us?12:40 Who were the visioneers?

Credits:

Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob KenworthyGuest: Patrick McCrayReporters: Katie Gilbert and Annie CostakisProducer: Mariel CarrAssociate Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez

Music:

"Boop" By Podington Bear, courtesy of the Free Music Archive.

Additional music courtesy of the Audio Network.