Question by : Gender and sexuality studies in relation to science. Please help me figure out how to combine them?
I love science and would love to have it geared at a specific topic of study
i love biochemistry and neuroscience the most
Is there a way i can use science to study things such as gender, sex and sexuality
Maybe genetics? Idk
I want to take courses and have a job that involves science but science that reveals or works to discover things about gender and sexuality
so think more in terms of genes or brain chemistry rather than psychology or sociology
please and thank you!
Best answer:
Answer by Paul
Not sure about sociologists, but many psychologists today rely on brain studies in their work, so don’t knock out some research just because it was carried out by a psychologist. Most studies that focus on a part of the brain involved in a certain activity use PET (positron emission tomography) scans, which can take minutes to capture a single image. In terms of sex, minutes can be, well, just a few minutes too long. But some studies have emerged in the last decade or so, some also making use of a technique known as fMRI.
Check out a 2003 study by Serge Stoléru, a neuroscientist at Pierre and Marie Curie University in France (see second source). They showed a series of pictures and films, including erotic and ordinary ones, to 15 men in an experiment. They scanned their brains during the viewing of the pictures and movies. In general, there was a definite difference in the brain recruitment between men who had “ordinary” sex lives and those who suffered from a condition that makes them experience sexual desires and fantasies much less than average people. Is that the kind of research that you’re interested in. Maybe a trip to France is in order. 🙂
Generally, we know in the brain, sex and the sexuality response seem to be located in the temporal lobe, which is too big a site to say we know much more about it than we did before we knew the temporal lobe was involved. Specifically, the amygdala seems to put together the emotional response, and the hippocampus takes care of memories (associating sights and smells with past experiences). Also, some studies have also revealed that higher centers (those normally associated with understanding other people’s intentions) also kick into gear.
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