NSC 205 - Sex, Gender & the Brain

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR: Meets general academic requirement SC.
We will explore the biological and neurobiological basis for sex/gender differences across many species, including humans. We will briefly discuss evolutionary explanations: Why did sex evolve? What evolutionary mechanisms lead to sex differences? We will examine genetic, hormonal, and neural explanations. In many species, adults change sex – how does this happen? Are there sex differences in certain parts of the brain? If so, how are these differences related to differences in behavior? How do lived experiences contribute to sex/gender differences? We will examine the social and cultural reasons that neuroscientific studies often ignore the sex/gender of their study subjects, and we will contemplate the consequences of disregarding sex/gender as meaningful characteristics within neuroscience.