Sex and Gender: What We Know and Don’t Know

Distillations | Science History Institute

Several years ago historian of medicine Alice Dreger found herself in a room full of intersexed people, individuals with reproductive or sexual anatomy that is neither typically female nor male. Dreger noticed something strange: many of them had teeth that were in bad shape. She soon learned that many of them had endured such traumatic experiences with doctors that they wouldn’t go near anyone in a white coat, including dentists.

We were astonished by this story, so we asked Dreger to tell us more. She joined us for our December podcast alongside Eric Vilain, a medical geneticist and director of the Center for Gender-based Biology at UCLA. While intersex, transgender, and transsexual issues have recently entered the mainstream, our guests explain that there have always been those whose anatomy or identity prevents them from fitting neatly into the categories of male or female. And even with this newfound exposure, tensions continue to exist for them all.

But first we’ll hear about the experiences of a transgender couple desperate to conceive a child, but who struggled to find a willing doctor. Mariel Carr visits them at home in Philadelphia, where they’re adapting to life with an infant.

Show Clock:

00:03 Introduction 01:26 Feature story: "The Pregnant Man" 14:48 Interview with Alice Dreger and Eric Vilain

Credits:

Hosts: Michal Meyer and Bob Kenworthy Guests: Alice Dreger and Eric Vilain Reporter: Mariel Carr Producer: Mariel CarrAssociate Producer: Rigoberto Hernandez

Music:

Music courtesy of the Audio Network.