Sexual Behavior: Apply It

  • Understand the biology of sexual behavior and motivation
  • Understand the research that lead to our current understanding of sexual behavior
  • Describe variations in sexual orientation and gender identity

Thinking about Sexuality

From an evolutionary perspective, it might seem as if human homosexuality would lead to the production of fewer offspring and should therefore not be favored as an evolutionary strategy (homosexual couples tend to have fewer children than heterosexual couples). Please read the abstract and introduction section (the first page) of the following peer-reviewed article entitled “Evidence for maternally inherited factors favoring male homosexuality and promoting female fecundity,” then answer the discussion and multiple-choice questions below.

Note that “Female maternal fecundity” refers to females within a family group who are predisposed to have more children than average (i.e. they are more fertile or “fecund”). This paper claims that there might be a genetic connection between having more homosexual men within a family group and having related women who are predisposed to have more children. 

Thinking about Gender

Watch this video and reflect on how the participants change their behavior based on the perceived gender of the baby.


You can view the transcript for “Girl toys vs boy toys: The experiment – BBC Stories” here (opens in new window).
Have you ever been asked to “rate your professor” after a class? Do you think that you are totally fair and impartial in those ratings? Are you equally critical or responsive to your teachers, no matter their gender? Student evaluations of teaching are a common practice in higher education, providing feedback to professors about their teaching effectiveness. However, it is essential to consider the potential for unconscious bias when interpreting these evaluations.

Unfortunately, research reveals that female professors tend to receive lower ratings than male professors, even when teaching the same material.[1] Another study found that student perceptions about gender even colored their perception of how fast their assignments were graded, and students tended to prefer professors with traits typically associated with masculinity while penalizing women who did not conform to traditional female stereotypes.

The research suggests that gender bias impacts students’ perceptions of teaching effectiveness, leading to a preference for male-associated traits in instructors. Additionally, female professors faced more negative backlash if they gave bad grades after an exam, and older female instructors were rated lower than younger women. [2] So, next time you evaluate your professor, think about what implicit biases you may hold about gender, age, or other factors, that may factor into your judgment.

 

  1. Boring, A., Ottoboni, K., & Stark, P. B. (2016). Student evaluations of teaching (mostly) do not measure teaching effectiveness. ScienceOpen Research, 0(0), 1-11. DOI: 10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-EDU.AETBZC.v1 ↵
  2. Flaherty, Colleen. (2022, October 31). Ratings and gender bias over time. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/10/31/ratings-and-bias-against-women-over-time ↵