This is a video created through Living Laboratory(c) at the Museum of Science Boston, in collaboration with the Mahalingaiah Lab at Harvard School of Public Health. It explains menstruation in a non-gendered, non-sexual way to inform young people about changes in their bodies
Video: The Origin of Gender
This video, from the PBS “Origin of Everything” series, discusses the origins of gender in humans. The concept of gender is distinguished from biological sex, and the homology of sex organs is briefly discussed as it played a role in developing the concept of gender in some societies. Most of the video is spent how ideas of gender have developed through history in multiple cultures. We noted a valuable and rarely made distinction : the video discusses how the concept of “man” has often been closely associated with race and class, not just with gender.
TED Talk: "The way we think about biological sex is wrong" by Emily Quinn
Emily Quinn, an intersex activist, delivered this 14-minute talk at the TedWomen 2018 event. Emily tells her personal story and discusses the little-known truth that biological sex is a spectrum and not a binary. This is true whether we measure biological sex by chromosomes, hormones, gonads, or external genitalia. She dispels the myth of intersex people as extremely rare outliers, and humanizes diversity in biological sex.
It's rare to meet an intersex person that hasn't been operated on. Oftentimes, these surgeries are done to improve intersex kids' lives, but they usually end up doing the opposite, causing more harm and complications, both physical and emotional. I'm not saying that doctors are bad or evil. It's just that we live in a society that causes some doctors to "fix" those of us who don't fit their definition of normal. We're not problems that need to be fixed. We just live in a society that needs to be enlightened.
This video is uploaded to Youtube but its mature content tag makes it inaccessible through some school internet filters. Alternatively, TED.com page contains the video, transcript in 24 languages, and further reading list.
Discovering Diversity in Science Education - Webinar from Shifting Schools
Sam gave this one-hour webinar for an audience of science educators - not strictly limited to biology content, but with much overlap with our Gender-Inclusive Biology Framework. The webinar also spends time on on science identity, science language, equity in chemistry, and meaningful teaching about diverse scientists.
Shifting Schools is a wonderful organization with a weekly series of free webinars for educators with an equity lens - check out their webinars, podcasts, and other events!
Video: One of a Kind
This is the second episode of the PBS documentary series “9 Months That Made You.” The episode uses family interviews, documentary footage, and computer animations to detail the relationship between genetic and phenotypic variations in humans. Among those featured is güevodoces, a specific intersex trait observed in the Dominican Republic. We felt that the individuals were portrayed with empathy and autonomy, and using modern language. As a post-viewing exercise, students may discuss the various choices of language used to describe variation within the episode.
The güevodoces clip can be streamed for free on Vimeo. The entire episode can be streamed for free on Kanopy with a public library card or university login. It is also available with a paid subscription on Netflix and PBS as of the time writing this post.
Video: Are There "Male" and "Female" Brains?
This SciShow video reviews data concerning differences in the brains of biological males and biological females. The writers are careful to mention that research on this topic does not account for transgender or intersex individuals, and that neuroscience research as a whole is heavily focused on studying the brains of male humans and animals. You may also wish to discuss with students about the definition of “biological sex” and how that definition has changed throughout history.
Why does Homosexuality Evolve?
This video by Soliloquy outlines several hypotheses for why same-sex sexual behavior has persisted rather than becoming extinct in human and nonhuman species. Although not all of these hypotheses are supported by data, the video demonstrates how a behavior that appears deleterious to an individual can actually be neutral or beneficial when considering the complex social interactions within a population.
Neuroscientists You Should Know: Ben Barres
Science education video host Alie Astrocyte gives a brief profile of the late transgender neuroscientist Ben Barres, his research, and his work on gender equity in science.
Video: What It's Like To Be Intersex
In this video, four intersex individuals talk about the meaning of intersex, their personal identities, the difference between gender identity and biological characteristics, and "normalizing" surgery. In the biology classroom, this video is a way to supplement textbooks and other curricular resources that may pathologize and anonymize the topic of intersex traits.
Video: Touch-Based Sex Determination in Slipper Limpets
Slipper limpets are unique because their sexual development is influenced by touch with other individuals of the same species. Maryna Lesoway from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign concisely explains current research on the phenomenon.
Video: Intersex Across the Animal Kingdom
This SciShow video reviews several intersex traits in humans and several patterns of hermaphroditism in animal species. At different times in the video, the host describes this phenomenon as a “condition,” “disorder,” and “variation”. You may wish to discuss the impact of these word choices with your students.
Editor’s note: The term "hermaphrodite" is appropriate for referring to non-human animals with sex characteristics that do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies. For humans, “intersex” is the appropriate term—learn more here!
Video: Secrets of the X chromosome
This TED-Ed video by Robin Ball comes with a small set of questions to be used in a lesson. The gendered language and visuals used in the video are more nuanced than most.
Video: There Are More Than Two Human Sexes
This SciShow video summarizes the complexity of human sex determination, which often wrongly thought to be binary. Mosaicism, chimerism, and intersex traits and nonconsensual surgeries are mentioned.
Video: The Crocodile's Unusual Sex-Determination System Explained
This video from Facts in Motion illustrates how the sex of crocodiles is determined by environment and not genetics. The sex ratio of developing crocodile eggs is shown to be a function of temperature, thought to be mediated by a thermosensor protein. Climate change may impact or even cause the extinction of crocodile populations.
This sex-determination system is not so “unusual” because it occurs in other reptiles and fish species. But it is certainly interesting and gathering attention. The College Board’s 2018 AP Biology exam had a free response question about temperature-dependent sex determination in fish.