Today's world seems to be overrun with hatred.

People continually oppress

others to make themselves feel superior and after some time these hateful stereotypes
get integrated into how a society views that group of people. An example of this can be
seen in how the world treats women. Women have been mistreated for so long that
sexism has become a key aspect in our discourse. Foucault, a french philosopher,
describes in ​Discursive Formations​ how we do not speak through discourses, but how
discourses speak through us1. We know sexism has enveloped the discourse of women
because it is seen in our books and government and social media; it is quite plainly
speaking through us. It is easy to believe that this is the only place it resides, but
according to Gee, an american researcher in discourse analysis, discourses “are ways
of being in the world”2. With this definition and through simple observation I realized that
sexism has infiltrated even our most logic based subjects including science. Sexism
doesn't just influence the way women are portrayed in society, but how they are
described through biology in the scientific community. Because sexism makes up a big
portion of the discourse of women, we have unknowingly been using biology to support
and fuel sexism.
To prove this to you I will first give a brief history of our evolutionary past, and
how homo sapiens evolved into the people we are today. Then , through simple
observations, I will give light to the many roles females play in nature, which will leads
us into the discussion of the differences between being a woman and being female, and
how our discourse has corrupted the meaning of both words.

Human Evolution
First we will turn to human evolution to understand the basics of our species as
described by science. Our evolution can explain some important aspects of sexism such
as where the division of work came from and why men tend to be physically stronger

1
Foucault, Michel. “Discursive Formations” ​Archaeology of Knowledge.​ Translated by A. M. Sheridan
Smith 1972.
2
Gee, James Paul. “Literacy, Discourse, and LInguistics: An Introduction”. 1989. PDF file.
than women. ​Since we are an extremely complex organism I will not go into how we
evolved as a whole, but I will instead focus on two closely linked factors that can be (at
least partially) attributed to the creation of sexism, our locomotion and sexual
dimorphism.
A seemingly novel and unimportant factor, bipedalism had a profound effect on
the evolution of homo sapiens and is an extremely rare characteristic in the animal
kingdom. We split from the lineages that would one day evolve into ​Pan ​Troglodytes
(the common chimpanzee) and ​Pan Paniscus​ (bonobos)3 approximately 7 million years
ago, and we began to walk upright approximately 4.4 million years after4. The exact
reason as to why this occurred is not known but multiple theories have evolved. One
believes a profound change in the climate is responsible for this adaptation. Around this
time in history, the dense forests in which we resided, began to become sparse with
stretches of flat land spanding between tree clumps5 which meant more walking and
less climbing for our ancestors. Walking on two legs is much more energy efficient than
walking on four, so this put forth a new selective pressure on bipedalism6. Another
theory is that male bipedal displays lead to bipedalism. This is performed by modern
day chimps, and is believed to be a way to resolve conflicts and established dominance.
The “better” male had a better bipedal display which ultimately resulted in bipedal
walking 7. This seemingly unimportant adaptation has some interesting and powerful
effects. First of all the adaptation to walk on two feet freed our hands. This allowed us to
use them for other things such as gathering food and taking care of young8. The use of
hands pushed our brains to evolve, which lead to us using our hands for more complex

3
“Bonobo.” ​A-Z Animals - Animal Facts, Pictures and Resources​, a-z-animals.com/animals/bonobo/.
4
​Jablonski, Nina G., and George Chaplin. “The Origin of Hominid Bipedalism Re-Examined.” ​Archaeology in
Oceania​, vol. 27, no. 3, 1992, pp. 113–119. ​JSTOR​, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40386949.
5
​Jablonski, Nina G., and George Chaplin. “The Origin of Hominid Bipedalism Re-Examined.” ​Archaeology in
Oceania​, vol. 27, no. 3, 1992, pp. 113–119. ​JSTOR​, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40386949.
6
​Jablonski, Nina G., and George Chaplin. “The Origin of Hominid Bipedalism Re-Examined.” ​Archaeology in
Oceania​, vol. 27, no. 3, 1992, pp. 113–119. ​JSTOR​, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40386949.
7
​Jablonski, Nina G., and George Chaplin. “The Origin of Hominid Bipedalism Re-Examined.” ​Archaeology in
Oceania​, vol. 27, no. 3, 1992, pp. 113–119. ​JSTOR​, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40386949.
8
​Wayman, Erin. “Becoming Human: The Evolution of Walking Upright.” ​Smithsonian.com ​Smithsonian Institution,
August 6, 2012.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/becoming-human-the-evolution-of-walking-upright-13837658/​.
Accessed January 31, 2018.
tasks which pushed our brains to evolve even more etc etc. (It is important to note that
the freed hands was not the only factor that lead to a bigger brain. Other aspects, such
as complex social structures, also contributed.) With our bigger brain we began to think
and discover. About a million years after we began to walk upright the first tools were
created9, and soon thereafter a realization was made that more work could be done if
the work was divided. Females have offspring so they would take care of the young
while males could scavenge for food. Fast forward to approximately 400,000 years ago
and the first fire was made, resulting in the cooking of meat. This new type of food
caused our brains to triple in size10, eventually resulting in the development of ideas,
culture, and finally a society.
Another important aspect found in evolution is sexual dimorphism. Sexual
dimorphism is a concept that describes differences between two sexes that does not
include their reproductive organs. For example, male homo sapiens are on average
taller and stronger than females. This was due to our fission fusion society. Our
ancestors lived in groups of both males and females, where males mated with multiple
females. Females can only mate so much, as they are physically constrained by the
number of offspring they can have, but no such limit exists for males. The more they
mate, the more they will pass on their genes, the greater their reproductive success.
This results in competition between males, resulting in the bigger and stronger male
getting the mate. This put forth a selective pressure on males that was not present for
females, causing males to evolve to be a little taller and a little stronger than females11.
This concludes the so simple and yet so powerful reason as to why women are
oppressed. It all comes down to natural selection and evolution. Women have kids so it
only makes sense for them to stay home. Because of evolution this is how it’s supposed
to be. When you look at our evolutionary past and even at organisms around you,

9
​Jabr, Ferris. “Meat of the Matter.” ​Scientific American​, vol. 307, no. 6, 2012, pp. 28–31. ​JSTOR​, JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/26016208.
10
​J​abr, Ferris. “Meat of the Matter.” ​Scientific American​, vol. 307, no. 6, 2012, pp. 28–31. ​JSTOR​, JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/26016208.
11
​Rogers, Alan R., and Arindam Mukherjee. “Quantitative Genetics of Sexual Dimorphism in Human Body Size.”
Evolution​, vol. 46, no. 1, 1992, pp. 226–234. ​JSTOR​, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2409817.
females are the ones who take care of the infants because they are the ones who give
birth. It’s a fundamental part of nature. Right?
At first I believed this to be the entire answer to the problem of sexism. However,
one day, as I was staring at a male Copperhead Titi monkey with a little baby clinging to
his back, I wondered when, exactly, did a female become a woman? And when did a
male become a man? Why is it weird for Aiden, the titi monkey I was looking at, to play
the main role in raising his offspring? Looking at male and female roles throughout the
natural world made me realize that man and male, and woman and female, are two
extremely different concepts, and the roles of one do not justify the fabricated roles of
the other.

Comparison
I intern at the primate center where I work with Copperhead Titi monkeys. These
small monkeys are a fascinating species, but the aspect I want to focus on is that they
are monogamous, meaning they have one mate for their whole life, and both parents
help raise the offspring. Just after a monkey is born, it rides on its parents backs. At first
the baby rides on the mother’s back, but within a day or two, it will start riding on the
dads back. As more time goes on, the more the female refuses to hold the infant, and
the more time the infant spends on dad. The result is a very strong infant-father bond,
causing infants to become much more anxious when separated from dad than mom,
and if an infant dies, the dad shows more signs of mourning than the mom. Not only that
but there is next to no sexual dimorphism in titi monkeys. Both sexes are extremely
similar in size, and though on average males may be ever so slightly bigger, when I am
looking at them it is nearly impossible to tell which monkey is which sex. This was
extremely different from the roles seen in men and women, and I decided to research
more.
Another interesting example of reversed roles can be seen in bonobos. One of
our closest relatives, bonobos live in a fission fusion society, same as us. Bonobo
females play the main role in raising offspring similar to homo sapiens, yet the bonobos
live in a female dominant society. Not only that but bonobos are extremely peaceful,
and rarely ever show any signs of aggression12. Here is an example of females taking
care of infants, of females being the dominant sex, and of a society absent of
aggression.
The more I looked the more I found “females” cannot be tied to one role in
nature. Certain species of praying mantis and spiders engage in sexual cannibalism13
where females will eat the male after mating. Male seahorses give birth to offspring.
Male emperor penguin take care of the egg while the female goes out in search of food.
Marmosets have a similar role to titis except the infants only ride on dad's back.14.
Elephants, killer whales, and honey bees, in addition to bonobos, all live in matriarchal
societies.15 The Amazon Molly is a species of fish composed completely of females16,
female komodo dragons are known to reproduce without the help of a male,17 and the
clown fish will change sexes from a subordinate male, to a dominant male, to a
dominant female in one lifetime18.

Analysis
The more I looked, the more I found. Females defying the rules of what a female
is “supposed” to be, but what defines what a female “should” be? It appears we have
projected the ideas and rules of being a woman onto females, and we have used the
biology of a female to justify the roles of a woman. However, we cannot justify a
woman’s place in society through science because it is not a scientific concept, nor can
we justify a female's “role” in nature, because these are cultural concepts that cannot be

12
​Waal,​ ​Frans B. M. De , “Bonobo Sex and Society” ​Scientific American ​June 1, 2006.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bonobo-sex-and-society-2006-06/​. Accessed January 31, 2018.
13
​“Meet the mate munchers” ​Nature ​March 18, 2010
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/what-males-will-do-meet-the-mate-munchers/953/
14
Harness, Jill, et al. “12 Impressively Active Animal Fathers.” ​Neatorama​,
www.neatorama.com/2010/06/17/12-impressively-active-animal-fathers/
15
“9 Matriarchal Animal Societies.” ​Mercola.com​,
healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/09/15/matriarchal-animal-society.aspx.
16
​Ingo Schlupp, “Mate Choice and the Amazon Molly: How Sexuality and Unisexuality Can Coexist”, ​Journal of
Heredity​, Volume 101, Issue suppl_1, 1 March 2010, Pages S55–S61, ​https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esq015
17
The Dodo - For Animal People, Lindsey Robertson. “Grrrl Power: 9 Badass Females In The Animal Kingdom.” ​The
Dodo​, The Dodo, 25 July 2014, www.thedodo.com/grrrl-power-9-badass-females-i-641279883.html.
18
​“Gender-Bending Fish.” ​Understanding Evolution​, evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/fishtree_07.
found in the natural world; nature is not looking to fulfill a certain criteria with each male
and female.
Judith Butler, a renowned feminist, expands on this concept in her book ​Gender
Trouble​. She states that there is a “radical discontinuity between sexed bodies and
culturally constructed genders. Assuming for the moment the stability of binary sex, it
does not follow that the construction of “men” will accrue exclusively to the bodies of
males or that “women” will interpret only female bodies.”19 The reason we resist this
realization is because of biology. We point out differences in sex organs and label men
and women. We look at what our ancestors did in our evolutionary past and we tell the
story of division of work to justify a woman wearing a dress while staying at home taking
care of the kids. We say that men are the ones who should be in charge, and then we
see examples of sexual dimorphism throughout nature and this statement becomes a
justifiable fact. We have used biology to justify our fabricated gender rules that when we
come across a situation that breaks this reality, it is ignored. This is why when we see a
male seahorse giving birth we dare to label it as ​unnatural​. This is not what men do so
we have convinced ourselves that this is not what males do. Women raise the children,
so we have justified that this is what all females do, and when we come across an
example that says otherwise we label it as an “exception” and it is dismissed.
Sexism has become such a deep and intrinsic part of our culture and society that
it is now found in even the most logical and evidence based fields. Our discourse has
become rotten with this oppressive idea, that it can easily go unseen. Our subconscious
justification of a woman’s place in society based on the evolution of a homo sapien
female, and the “general” characteristics that are seen within females, must be
acknowledged and changed. We need to become aware that a “woman” is a title,
formed out of a culture, that has constantly been changing meaning throughout history.
However, this does not mean that this title is unimportant or that we should disregard all
differences between women and men. We must have awareness that “woman” does not

19
​“Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity.” ​Gender Trouble: Feminism and the
Subversion of Identity​, by Judith Butler, Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2015, p. 6,
lauragonzalez.com/TC/BUTLER_gender_trouble.pdf.
describe all females across all species nor does it describe all females within our
species. We need awareness that a woman does not have one specific job, just like
how a female does not have one specific set of roles in nature. We need to celebrate
the diversity of all who identify with this title, and not limit them by “what science tells us”
because when one takes the time to truly look at the world around them, it is clear that a
female can do just about anything.