Name _______________________
Dr. Eric Vilain, “Born This Way? Biological Tales of Sexual Orientation”
lecture
1. According the introduction, what experience may have led to his
current line of study?
A) he was born in Paris, France
B) he worked with babies born with ambiguous genitalia
C) he attended Pasture University
D) he had a family member struggling with gender identity
2. Vilain begins his speech by suggesting that people “are less afraid of
things they understand better.” He most likely does this in order to…
A) warn the audience about some of the content to come
B) set up a potential counter-argument to his research
C) make a concession to resistors in his audience
D) establish a primary motivation for his research
3. How does Vilain define “intersex”?
A) People born with genitalia that are ambiguous
B) People who feel they were born in the wrong body
C) People who psychologically don’t fit in a clear category
D) People who are attracted to people of the same sex
4. Define these three terms:
Gender Identity:
Gender Role Behavior:
Sexual Orientation:
5. Within the first ten minutes of the speech, Dr. Vilain lays out what his
lecture will be about? Which best encapsulates his topic?
A) He will be looking at the genetics of early sex development –
what happens to make an embryo develop male sex organs or
female sex organs.
B) He will be talking about the genetic factors that lead to a child
being born as intersex.
C) He will be exploring the development of gender identity, role
behavior and sexuality.
6. What is “childhood gender nonconformity”?
7. Which of the following has not been revealed by “longitudinal
studies” of childhood gender nonconformity?
A) the majority of boys who exhibit gender nonconforming
behaviors turn out to be gay.
B) nonconforming girls and just as likely as nonconforming boys
to grow up to be gay.
C) nonconforming children are most likely to grow up to be
transgender.
D) gender nonconformity is very predictive of adult
homosexuality.
8. Thought Question: Dr. Vilain offers one theory as to what these
longitudinal studies suggest. What might be another theory to explain
these results?
9. What is one way that Zucker and other scientists have measured
gender role behavior?
10. Why does Vilain compare Zucker’s study to a study of monkeys’
gendered toy play?
A) to rule out the possibility that it is environmental factors that
cause non-conforming behavior among boys or girls.
B) to rule out the possibility that it is environmental factors that
cause typical gender role behavior.
C) to rule out the possibility that genetics determines everything
when it comes to gender role behavior.
11. What did Melissa Hines’s research into girls with CAH reveal?
12. Which of the following statements fits with Dr. Vilain’s thesis about
gender role behavior?
A) Childhood gender roles are learned behaviors that are strongly
correlated with sexual orientation in later life.
B) Childhood gender roles are strongly influenced by biology and
are strongly correlated with sexual orientation in later life.
C) Childhood gender roles are strongly influenced by biology but
not correlated with sexual orientation.
13. Putting aside the wonderfully droll comment that “it was the
assumption that no boy or man could live with such a small penis,” what
happened to the control and variable group of XY boys born with micropenises in Mazur’s study?
CONTROL:
Raised as boys
VARIABLE
Raised as girls
Gender Identity later
In life =
Gender Identity =
Gender Role Behavior later
In life =
Gender Role Behavior =
14. Vilain concludes from the two XY micropenis studies that….
A) Gender role behavior and gender identity both seem
fundamentally tied to biology.
B) While gender role behaviors seem to be tied to biology, gender
identity does not.
C) While gender identity seems to be tied to biology, gender role
behaviors do not.
D) Neither gender role behaviors nor gender identity seem to be
tied to biology.
15. For completely identical twins, what is the concordance rate for
homosexuality? Put another way, if one twin is gay what are the
chances the other twin, who has the exact same genetic material, will
also be gay?
A) 0%
B) 25%
C) 50%
D) 100%
16. For fraternal twins, what is the concordance rate for homosexuality?
Put another way, if one twin is gay what are the chances that the other
twin, who shares the womb but was fertilized by a different sperm, will
also be gay?
A) 0%
B) Over 20%
C) Over 50%
D) 100%
17. Studies into genetics seem to point to the fact that the genes for
homosexuality are associated primarily with…
A) the X chromosome
B) the Y chromosome
C) both the X and Y chromosome
D) neither the X nor the Y chromosome
18. Dr. Vilain digresses briefly to discuss the changing costs of genetic
research. Which seems most likely the purpose for this digression?
A) Dr. Vilain is trying to explain why genetic research is
problematic.
B) Dr. Vilain is trying to explain why research on the genetics
of sexuality is still inconclusive.
C) Dr. Vilain is trying to build excitement for the findings just on
the horizon.
19. The study with the XXY mice shows what?
A) That the extra X chromosome seems to produce more
feminized optic nerve structures.
B) That the extra X chromosome seems to have little impact on
brain structures.
C) That the extra X chromosome creates higher levels of estrogen.
20. More phthatlates, which come in hard plastic bottles, in the blood
seem to be associated with
A) more atypical play behavior in boys
B) greater incidence of homosexuality
C) more feminine body types
21. Which hypothetical scenario best exemplifies a possible finding in
epigenetics?
A) scientists find that the genetic code for deafness is located near
the genetic code for blindness.
B) scientists find that exposure to second hand smoke deactivates
a gene for aggression control.
C) scientists find that increased exposure to plastics can cause
cancer.
22. What is one of the two environmental factors that people falsely
believed may cause homosexuality?
23. What is one environmental factor that does seem to increase the
likelihood of homosexuality in boys?
24. Dr. Vilain discusses the ex-gay movement in order to…
A)
B)
C)
D)
25. What was one of the problems with the Spitzer paper, which
supposedly showed that sexual orientation can be reoriented?
26. In your own words, what does Dr. Vilain conclude his lecture with?
Silly Bonus Questions
1. What color hair did the late student have and what color was her
sweatshirt?
2. Where did this lecture take place?
3. Which side of Dr. Vilain’s shirt was awkwardly bunched up?
Question and Answer Bonus Questions
1. What are two possible reasons why lesbianism has not been as
studied as much as male homosexuality?
2. Why are women’s phenotypes much harder to track?
3. What do cross cultural studies of occupational interests show?
Starts early on – gender role behavior
Something on the x gene
There is something in the tap water
Reparative therapy does not have evidence to back it up
Atypical gender role behavior may be a early sign of sexual orientation
Subset of gay men
100 gay men how many were gender nonconforming
hard to tell
conservative and liberal
genes for sexual attraction no gay gene
the end point is completely socially constructed BUT
crosscultureal studies show the same things
40 item questionnaire (highly dimorphic)
SWEDEN PAKISTAN – same occupational interests
Why are women harder to chart the female phenotype
Xq28
Spitzer
SWAN,LIU
What color hair did the late student have and what color was her
sweatshirt?
Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more
common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is
almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence
and determination alone are omnipotent. – Calving Coolidge
Complete that Quiz!
I am a big believer in second go-arounds. The first time we approach something
(lecture, work of art, person), we are often focused on making broad sense of it.
Returning to the subject allows us to see and comprehend more because we arrive
at the subject on firmer footing.
You may revise any question from the quiz, including questions you did not answer,
by doing the following:
1. locate the part of the lecture the question concerns. (The questions on the
quiz are chronological).
2. re-watch that part of the lecture.
3. write me a sentence or two answering the quiz question and paraphrasing
the key idea:
e.g. Dr. Vilain defines “intersex” as people born with genitalia that
are “ambiguous,” which is different from someone who is gender
non-conforming.
For those who have missed an assignment or would like some extra credit, you can
watch the first 30 minutes of another lecture from this series and write me a reader
response paragraph that summarizes, paraphrases, and “talks back” to the source.
The lectures are available through youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/WhomYouLove2012