Sex and Gender Science: The World Writes on the Body

Brown, Alana; Karkaby, Laurice; Perovic, Mateja; Shafi, Reema; Einstein, Gillian

doi:10.1007/7854_2022_304

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…Examples of gendered exposures manifesting as sex differences were presented, but only as rare exceptions. Moving forward, it may be beneficial to focus less on the task of disentangling sex and gender, which recapitulates an unfruitful nature/nurture conundrum, and more on ways in which gender/sex as a single entity can be considered as complex, multidimensional, and socially embedded [ 14 , 15 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, we noted how the trainings represented the rationales for the policies, for example to improve generalizability of findings or unmask variation. Third, we evaluated how the concepts “sex” and “gender” were handled, attending particularly to the extent to which sex and gender were understood to be inextricably entangled vs. dissociable [ 14 , 15 ]. We also noted guidance related to how sex or gender categories should be operationalized or contextualized, for example how to choose a concrete, quantifiable variable such as chromosome complement or reproductive anatomy to represent sex category vs. relying solely on undefined categories [ 16 – 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Training in the implementation of sex and gender research policies: an evaluation of publicly available online courses

Gompers,

Olivier,

Maney

2024

Biol Sex Differ

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Background Recently implemented research policies requiring the inclusion of females and males have created an urgent need for effective training in how to account for sex, and in some cases gender, in biomedical studies. Methods Here, we evaluated three sets of publicly available online training materials on this topic: (1) Integrating Sex & Gender in Health Research from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); (2) Sex as a Biological Variable: A Primer from the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH); and (3) The Sex and Gender Dimension in Biomedical Research, developed as part of “Leading Innovative measures to reach gender Balance in Research Activities” (LIBRA) from the European Commission. We reviewed each course with respect to their coverage of (1) What is required by the policy; (2) Rationale for the policy; (3) Handling of the concepts “sex” and “gender;” (4) Research design and analysis; and (5) Interpreting and reporting data. Results All three courses discussed the importance of including males and females to better generalize results, discover potential sex differences, and tailor treatments to men and women. The entangled nature of sex and gender, operationalization of sex, and potential downsides of focusing on sex more than other sources of variation were minimally discussed. Notably, all three courses explicitly endorsed invalid analytical approaches that produce bias toward false positive discoveries of difference. Conclusions Our analysis suggests a need for revised or new training materials that incorporate four major topics: precise operationalization of sex, potential risks of over-emphasis on sex as a category, recognition of gender and sex as complex and entangled, and rigorous study design and data analysis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%