Biology Extra Credit Question... **ANSWER POSTED**

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
LOL!

 

[seedcorn]

You get the extra credit so I wouldn't rock the ship but your biology teacher is incorrect. Their gender is determined in the womb. In fact if 2 females are born at the same time, one will kill the other one. A female sex organ looks like a male organ in hyenas but the sex is determined before birth.

Sex-specific differences in internal phallic organization were evident at Gestational Day 45

http://www.biolreprod.org/cgi/content/full/73/3/554

Again, I wouldn't rock the ship but to quote this answer is incorrect.

the correct animal is platypus or can be (depending on stipulations) the mouse.

 

[patandchickens]

I completely do not understand how hyenas are the answer, unless some funny definition of "gender" is used.

Their biological sex is determined chromosomally at conception.

Their external anatomy and behavior are "funny" -- the females are more masculinized than the males, larger, more aggressive in general, and having a totally penis-and-testicles lookin' arrangement formed from normal female structures, but I do not see how that can be regarded as "gender" in any general biology kind of way (as opposed to human-society kind of way).

It has been speculated that female hyenas may manipulate the sex ratio of offspring by the way they do/don't separate them according to their CHROMOSOMAL sex (baby hyenas are apparently incredibly brutal to each other and often kill each other right after birth). But that is not altering the sex or gender of an individual, only its chances of living.

Hmph. LOL

Just sayin', (and btw thank you for the entertaining question, b/c it was lots of fun THINKING about, answers aside)

Pat

 

[Mahonri]

I think your teacher is WRONG.

It's chromosomal and therefore, genetic from conception.

 

[fowltemptress]

Frankly, I would rock the ship, so to speak. A teacher can be wrong, and they need to be informed when they are giving their students obviously false information. I highly doubt she would take the extra credit away simply because you inform her she's a victim of a misunderstanding, and as a teacher she'd probably feel rather glad that she has students intelligent enough to recognize a mistake on her part.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Hello all,

Just got back from my field trip and have just now read the messages. From what you have all said (fowltemptress, Mahonri, patandchickens, etc.) I do believe I should rock the boat. This isn't the first time my teacher has been wrong. One day in class we had an argument about whether our text books had the right answers in it and if the teacher was always right. Kinda confusing. But yea, I do believe that I should stand up to her. She even said it was in her college text book though. Ugh, more with the text books.

If you don't mind, I would like to maybe use this thread as proof, or especially the sites you gave me. Thank you all. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

[WriterofWords]

Something I found interesting:

What is the difference between sex and gender?
Sex = male and female

Gender = masculine and feminine

So in essence:

Sex refers to biological differences; chromosomes, hormonal profiles, internal and external sex organs.

Gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine.

So while your sex as male or female is a biological fact that is the same in any culture, what that sex means in terms of your gender role as a 'man' or a 'woman' in society can be quite different cross culturally. These 'gender roles' have an impact on the health of the individual.

In sociological terms 'gender role' refers to the characteristics and behaviours that different cultures attribute to the sexes. What it means to be a 'real man' in any culture requires male sex plus what our various cultures define as masculine characteristics and behaviours, likewise a 'real woman' needs female sex and feminine characteristics. To summarise:

'man' = male sex+ masculine social role

(a 'real man', 'masculine' or 'manly')

'woman' = female sex + feminine social role

(a 'real woman', 'feminine' or 'womanly')

Ref: http://www.med.monash.edu.au/gendermed/sexandgender.html

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
While your post makes sense and I have already thought about this point of view (someone else posted the same idea), in this situation, sex and gender are interchangeable.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

As a teacher, I will be the first to say that textbooks are not always correct. The book used here on campus for one of the gen ed classes is blatently wrong on several points. The professor in charge of this particular gen ed program didn't catch it and wrote the final with incorrect information on it. I had to teach my kids that this is the truth, but when you get to the standardized final, here is what they want you to say.

Textbooks are often just churned out from the presses with limited editing. The textbook manufacturers are there to make money. That's it.

Good luck. A little boat rocking might be educational all around.

 

[BethinIrving]

Various one celled animals should have been looked at before the Teach decided what the answer was. One of the most interesting facts about one celled animals was budding.

As well, yeast is still a topic of interesting debate. It still has not been firmly decided if yeast is a plant or animal.

I remember so well collecting water samples from ponds and spending days and days at the microscope, facinated by the one celled animals. I could hardly wait to show those little miracles to my children.

Now that the kids are grown, they laugh about my modes of teaching and punishments. If they acted up, I took them to the fossil pit where they worked out their anger and frustrations digging up wonderful things.

... and the times the other kids thought we were "weird" for doing such things ...