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April Dabb

ANTH 1020

Professor Deborah Graham

Biology and culture have always had outstanding differences, even when talking about

the same subject. So many different topics can be discussed when it comes to these dichotomies.
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Two topics that I will be discussing in this paper is the difference between biological sex and

society’s idea of gender, and the influce of dysphoria on both of those. I’ll also touch on body

dysmorphia vs. how biology decides body type. When it comes down to it I believe gender and

dysmorphia are both more concerned with culture rather than biology.

Gender is not realistic to biology because it is different than sex. Sex is related to

chromosomes and genes. If you are born with XX chromosomes then your sex is female. If you

are born with XY, your sex is male. Gender is then assigned at birth, it’s always correlated with

sex. However gender is an identity. So as an individual gets older and goes through puberty,

there’s a chance that that individual may feel uncomfortable with the sex they were born with.

When I state that gender is an identity, it doesn’t need to align with anything biological as it is all

mental. Gender, in society it can be changed if needed. Transgender is the term used to describe

someone who decides to change their gender identity from their sex.

Society views gender as having two very distinct categories with no in between. Those

categories being men and women. Both genders have harsh stereotypes associated with them.

Men are supposed to have flat chests, strong builds, deep voices, a tall stature, and assertive

mannerisms. Women on the other hand are supposed to be skinny, have big breasts, and a big

butt. They're supposed to be submissive and the caretaker of a family. Both body dysmorphia

and dysphoria can be results of these strict stereotypical norms in society today. Many people are

born with a certain body type based off of their genetics and environment. A simple diet and

exercise isn’t always the most reliable answer to everyone with dysmorphia. Dysmorphia is a

mental illness that affects so many people. It’s an obsessive feeling over your body that it isn’t

good enough. It’s the reason that disorders like anorexia and bulimia occur. Societal standards

are the cause for these terrible mental illnesses. It’s created such a tough image of beauty, and in
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this day and age, beauty has become one of the most important things to focus on as an

individual.

When it comes down to it, the dichotomy between culture and biology is prevalent in so

many situations of life. Gender and sex is a huge one. Biological body types and societal beauty

standards is another great example. It’s important to always be open minded and educated about

both sides of these dichotomies when it comes to science versus culture because of the negative

effect that culture can have on individuals when biology isn’t dominant. What I mean by that is

when you aren’t feeling good about your biological makeup (sex, body type, etc.) society can be

the first to make it worse.

REFERENCES CITED:

Crocetti, D. (2013). Genes and Hormones: What Make Up an Individual’s Sex. In M. Ah-King

(Ed.), Challenging Popular Myths of Sex, Gender and Biology(pp. 23-32). Switzerland:

Springer International.
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James, G. D. (2010).Climate-Related Morphological Variation and Physiological Adaptations in

Homo sapiens. In C.S. Larsen (Ed.), A Companion to Biological Anthropology(pp. 153-

166). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.