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BIOLOGICAL VARIATIONS DISSOLVE CATEGORIES

Biological Variations Dissolve Categories

By Violet Maw
Anthropology 1020
Signature Assignment
December 9, 2015
Salt Lake Community College

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BIOLOGICAL VARIATIONS DISSOLVE CATEGORIES

Biological Variations Dissolve Categories

Humans have long used the method of categorizing when it comes to sex, gender, race,
and ethnicity. Whether it was out of fear of the unknown, or to define and put a value on a
human, humans have used categorizing such as male or female, black or white, to establish, in
their own minds, and based on what they felt was right or wrong, these different categories. But,
with the help of modern science and understanding how biological variation works, scientists are
shedding light to these faulty methods, and making us rethink our previous methods of
categorizing. Authors Gary D. James (2013), in his article Climate-Related Morphological
Variation and Physiolgical Adaptions in Homo sapiens, and Anne Fausto-Sterling (1996), in her
article The Five Sexes Why Male and Female Are Not Enough, have both written articles
shedding light on the biological continuum of variation with regard to race and gender. James
and Fausto-Sterling have both written articles that specifically target how both areas have been
categorized wrong, and how in fact both areas can be shown to actually be biological variation
and adaption.

After reading both articles, it can be said that: Sex, gender, race, and ethnicity, cannot
simply be put into a category, but are actually biological variations within the human species that
leave little room for the categories that humans have suggested that they belong in. Though both

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articles are several pages long, there are several key points in both articles that back this thesis,
and they are: 1. As humans have navigated and inhabited the different regions of the world, their
adaptation to the different climates and environments has produced different phenotypes; 2.
Variation has produced more than two sexes; and, 3. The current system that we are using to
categorize both race and gender is inaccurate. To further understand these key points, lets first
discuss what author Gary D. James has to say regarding climate related morphological variation
and physiological adaptions in Homo sapiens.

Since scientists have found evidence to suggest that the first modern humans migrated
out of Africa, and spread out to inhabit all parts of the world. Their migration led them to inhabit
varying and different climates. This disbursement to these different climates triggered
evolutionary changes in humans to adapt to the different climates. As author Gary D. James
(2013), in his article Climate-Related Morphological Variation and Physiological Adaptions in
Homo sapiens, states, Many of these populations survived for millennia in extreme
environments, developing adaptations which have contributed significantly to the phenotypic and
to some extent genotypic variation found among present day people (p. 153). In other words,
humans, after spending long amounts of time in extreme climates, started developing observable
adaptions to their environment. Different geographical areas required different physical traits,
which slowly led to changes in appearance from one area to another. A good example of this

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adaptation is skin color. James (2013) points out, As dark-skinned humans moved out of high
UVR tropics to low UVR higher latitudes, their exposure to UVR is general and to UVB in
particular was markedly reduced, which rendered them unable to produce adequate amounts of D
to meet physiological demand (p. 161). Thus, as humans moved out of areas where sunlight was
less intense, their skin adapted accordingly, and lightened. This, along with other adaptations,
such as limb size, temperature acclimatization, adaptation to high-altitudes hypoxia, and climate,
show that there is an ever changing continuum of adaption to geographic location. Without
proper knowledge, these phenotypes have long been categorized into race. One variation that
James does not talk about, is the variation found within gender and sexual organs. Lets take a
look at how variation has produced more than the two sexes that most of us are familiar with.

Are you having a boy or a girl? This is one of the first questions parents-to-be, generally
get asked. These days, pregnant mothers can find out around 16 weeks of gestation, by way of
ultrasound, what gender their new baby will be. They assume that the answer is going to
automatically be boy, or girl. But, what they do not realize is, there is the chance that their
babys gender could be a combination of both, aka, intersex. According to author, Anne FaustoSterling (1996), in her article titled, The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough, she
claims that there are actually three additional possible genders, the so-called hermaphrodites,
whom I call herms, who possess one testis and one ovary (the sperm- and egg-producing vessels,

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or gonads); the male pseudohermaphrodites (the merms), who have testes and some aspects of
the female genitalia but no ovaries; and the female pseudohermaphrodites (the ferms), who
have ovaries and some aspects of the male genitalia but lack testes (p. 69). Fausto-Sterling
(1996) even further laments, I would argue further that sex is a vast, infinitely malleable
continuum that defies the constraints of even five categories (p. 69). Fausto-Sterling, who is a
teacher at Brown University, points out to her students that the number of intersex humans is
greater than one might think. She teaches her students that out of every 6,000 students, there are
about 240 intersexuals in that same group. (pg. 69). As we can clearly see from Fausto-Sterlings
findings, the variation within gender and sex is not so cut and dry either. Both authors, James
and Fausto-Sterling make it quite clear that the way we define race and gender, and the way that
humans have categorized both of these topics, has been wrong.

On nearly every kind of informational form that needs to be filled out, there is generally a
box for both race, and gender/sex. Given the science of genetic variation and adaption, this
method of categorizing, has been wrong. To try to define someone by a race based on
appearances such as skin color or stature, doesnt make sense given that there is no race, only
phenotypes that have developed as a way to survive. As author James (2013) concludes, This
variation occurs through a process of acclimatization (p. 163). Also, to try to define everyone
by being either male or female is inaccurate as well. As Fausto-Sterling (1996) is brave enough

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to admit, Western culture is deeply committed to the idea that there are only two sexes (p. 68).
It seems as our physical adaptations and evolution has occurred, so is our thinking with regards
to classifications that were once thought of as normal. Thanks to science and those willing to
speak openly about such deep subjects, we are starting to see that our old methods of
categorizing race and gender, are no longer applicable.

In conclusion, the method that humans have long used to categorize other humans is a
faulty method. Sex, gender, race, and ethnicity, cannot simply be put into a general category, but
are actually biological variations within the human species that leave little room for the
categories that humans have suggested they belong. The key points that support this notion are:
1. As humans have navigated and inhabited the different regions of the world, their adaptation to
the different climates and environments has produced different phenotypes; 2. Variation has
produced more than two sexes; and, 3. The current system that we are using to categorize both
race and gender is inaccurate. As a sophisticated species, whose understanding of life is
continually growing, one can only hope that our thinking regarding variation catches up to
evolvement that has already taken place in our magnificent bodies.

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Resources

Fausto-Sterling, A., (1996). The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough. The
Meaning of Difference: American Construction of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class,
and Sexual Orientation, 68-69.
James, G.D., (2013). Climate-Related Morphological Variation and Physiological Adaptations in
Homo sapiens. Essentials of Physical Anthropology, 153, 161, 163.