and why is that perspective important?
Although commonly considered passive players, female animals possess extraordinary control over their reproduction using diverse mechanisms. They regulate major aspects of mating and conception as well as offspring survival, growth, and development. Yet, historically, the female perspective has been given short shrift. Why?
Nearly 150 years ago, in 1875, Antoinette Brown Blackwell suggested an answer “The older physiologists not only studied nature from the male standpoint—as, indeed, they must chiefly, being generally men—but they interpreted facts by the accepted theory that the male is the representative type of the species—the female a modification preordained in the interest of reproduction” (Blackwell, 1875:16-17). For example, anatomical features that occur in both sexes may be given male names, for example the embryonic genital tubercle is also referred to as a primordial phallus. Even adult female structures may be given male names, such as the enlarged clitoris (aka “pseudopenis”) of female hyenas. Unfortunately, contemporary terminology is not exempt from bias. As recently as 2011, a textbook on behavioral endocrinology used male traits to define female behaviors. But not just the naming of features or concepts has a historical bias but also the development of concepts and theories. This historical bias underlies our understanding of reproductive physiology, and, in fact, of physiology in general.
Reproduction is the mainstay of natural selection. Females with the most progeny shape the next generation. Survival as a metric of natural selection is only important if reproduction ensues. Consequently, reproduction is primary for natural selection.
In the context of natural and sexual selection all physiological systems exist so that reproduction can successfully occur. Survival and adaptation to environmental change are irrelevant if no progeny are produced by those genetic modifications. Thus, anatomical, physiological, and behavioral systems have been molded by the constraints of reproduction. Yet, by focusing on males or non-reproductive females, most anatomical and physiological studies treat reproduction as secondary to all other bodily processes. In mammals and many other organisms, much of the energetic, nutritional, and temporal investment in reproduction is by females. Thus, to more fully understand physiological processes we must more thoroughly understand the biology of reproductive females and improve how researchers take female reproduction into consideration.
A major difference between reproduction and other systems, e.g. respiration, is that reproduction requires the interaction of at least 2 individuals (females with males and/or progeny). Females are nearly always the highly investing sex (energy, time, resources) and thereby key for these interactions. Furthermore, physiological functions must be molded to the needs of reproduction, especially of females as the heavily investing sex. By understanding female biology we can better understand the major evolutionary drivers for anatomical, physiological, behavioral, and phylogenetic changes in both sexes.
For this reason, ignoring the reproductive state of a female when studying respiration, digestion, metabolism, or circulation (etc.) severely limits the depth of understanding how these systems are integrated into female lives and work together. Interestingly enough, not just scientists but also physicians often treat reproduction as secondary to other bodily processes. The NIH did not include women in clinical trials until 1993 and only mandated that females were included in pre-clinical trials in 2016. Female biology is key not only to reproductive medicine but also to evolutionary adaptations.
This symposium will expand our understanding of reproduction by using a female-centric perspective. The symposium will investigate the theoretical and practical ways in which focusing on female biology can alter our understanding of functional morphology, physiological mechanisms, and behavioral patterns. This is key because historically the field has been largely focused on a male-active/female-inactive paradigm (ex. sperm as driving “fertilization” by swimming to the “egg” in an inert female reproductive tract). Together with the complementary sessions, the symposium will generate new ideas, prospects for future research, and collaborations across divergent taxa and fields. Our symposium asks: how do our findings change when we investigate reproduction from the female-focused perspective? What important advances can we make when we challenge ourselves to develop a more neutral perspective as we question terminologies and assumptions about sex-roles? Our speakers will present research ranging across diverse areas of study and taxonomic focus but with these common themes. Organizers will use the venue, especially a terminal round-table discussion, to gather information for a published commentary on future research directives and mechanisms to achieve them.
This symposium will bring together scientists who are at different career stages, focus on different fields, and normally attend different meetings. The interactions of these individuals will allow discussion and collaboration across divergent research areas of female biology and across taxonomic groups. As 100% of the speakers will be women from various career stages, this symposium will contribute to increasing the profiles of women in STEM and will provide unprecedented networking opportunities.
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text from SICB blog written by TJ Orr and V Hayssen
s4 SICB Austin- Why reproduction shouldn’t take a backseat….