ANTH-1020 SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT

The Differences Between the Cultural and

Biological View of Human Variation.
Celia de la Cruz Perez
Salt Lake Community College

The dichotomy between how biology and culture explain human

variation has always been a conflictive topic in modern societies. For some
topics, people accept the biological view without problems. However, for
more controversial topics people tend to focus on their own cultural view of
human variation, leaving the biological explanations aside. So, in this essay,
we are going to talk about two articles in order to explain the difference
between how biology and culture interpret human variation. The first article
is called Climate-Related Morphological Variation and Physiological
Adaptations in Homo sapiens, written by Gary D. James. In this article, G.
James focuses on the biological aspect of human variation by explaining how
climate affects humans and their morphology. The second article, written by
Daniela Crocetti, is called Genes and Hormones: What Make up an
Individuals Sex. D. Crocetti explains in this article how modern societies use
to understand human variation, in this case sex and gender, by focusing
solely on the social body and not on the biological body.
First of all, we are going to talk about the biological perspective of
human variation. During thousands of years, Homo sapiens have been
adapting to severe weather and extreme changes of weather such as
changes on temperature, thermoregulations, high-altitude hypoxia, and
ultraviolet radiation. These different acclimatization processes, which we will
explain in further detail, have leaded to biological human variation. To begin,
we will describe Bergmanns and Allens rules, which explain how climate
affects adult body size and morphology of homoeothermic species. More
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specifically, Bergmanns rule says that within a wide-ranging

homoeothermic species, body mass increases with latitude and with
decreasing ambient temperature. (James, 2010, 154) What this means is
that animals that live in cold weathers have a bigger body mass to help them
keep the heath inside their bodies. However, animals that live in warm
weathers have smaller body mass and bigger ratio between surface area and
volume in order to expel their body heath and remain cool. Moreover, Allens
rule says that, in homeotherms from colder climates, the limbs are shorter
than in equivalent animals from warmer climates. (James, 2010, 154)
Although Allen and Bergmann discovered these theories about how
temperatures effects on animals, it wasnt until 100 years after when
Roberts studied Bergmanns rule and came up with the conclusion that those
rules are also applicable to the majority of humans.
The second climate-related adaptation is thermoregulation in adult
humans. The main purpose of thermoregulation is to keep body temperature
between 98.6/99.7 F and 37/37.6 F in order to avoid fatal consequences
like organ failure or death. One example of thermoregulation is the
adaptation to cold climates. As human populations left the African tropics
and colonized areas of colder climate, some have evolved unique biological
protection. (James, 2010, 157) An example of such biological protection is
how populations living in cold climates developed a higher BMR (Basal
Metabolic Rate) and a more generalized vasoconstriction.

High-altitude hypoxia is another climate-related adaption of human

body. According to G. James, High-altitude hypoxia is a severe physiological
stress caused by a decrease in available oxygen, which results from decline
in barometric pressure with an increasing altitude. (2010, 158) These effects
start usually at 2,500 meters above the sea level. The body adaptation
begins by retaining enough oxygen for cellular metabolism, which was the
only way for tropical cultures to survive. Oxygen saturation changes in a way
that the amount of oxygen carried to the body tissues increases, leading to a
higher heart rate and more blood emitted by the BMR. As a consequence of
these body adaptations to high-altitude hypoxia, the descendant
populations of the two high plateaus differ quantitatively in respiratory,
circulatory, and hematological traits which ameliorate the stress of life-long
hypoxia. (James, 2010, 159) So, as we can see, some climate changes such
as high-altitude hypoxia can have a tremendous impact on human biology
and they are also still present today.
The last climate adaptation that leaded to human variation is
adaptation to variation in ultraviolet radiation (UVR.) The adaptation of
human body to ultraviolet radiation is directly related to skin color. However,
UVR is not always the same. UVR is different in every climate, season of the
year, latitude, etc. which is why the majority of people born in cold climates
and closer to the poles have lighter skin, whereas people living in tropical
weathers have darker skin. The reason why people who live in warmer

climates have darker skin is because their bodies produce higher amounts of
melanin in order to protect their skin from sunburn.
Nevertheless, the biological view of human variation due to climate has
not always been accepted like it is today. According to G. James, That this
variation might be partly related to environmental adaptability was not
obvious to physical anthropologists through to first half of the twentieth
century, when cultural perspectives led most researches to focus on the
description of racial types. (2010, 153)
Lastly, I would like to say that even though human adaptation to
climate such as the difference on skin color has always been a social and
cultural problem (racism), people nowadays accept that skin color is
determined solely by biological factors. However, other topics such as
gender and sex are also a social and cultural problem because are seen from
a cultural perspective and are rarely explained focusing on the biological
evidence.
So, what is cultural and social perspective of human variation and what
are its consequences stated in the article Genes and Hormones: What Make
up an Individuals Sex.? Before getting into the subject, it is important to
know the difference between sex and gender. When we talk about sex we
refer to the biological aspects such as sexual organs, but when we say
gender, we are talking about the social interpretation of sex. The word
gender implies what its normal or natural and what is not. For example, it
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is normal for men to have facial hair and a bigger body size than women.
However, it is not normal for men to have long hair, wear makeup, etc. Just
like D. Crocetti says, Sex has come to refer to biological objects such as
genes and hormones and gender to social aspects such as identity and
behavior. (2013, 23) But, where are all these ideas of gender and their
supposed social roles coming from? The answer is from science itself,
especially medicine. To explain what that means we will talk about the two
most common myths about sex and gender.
The first myth is the believe that a persons phenotype is determined
solely by sex chromosomes (XX and XY.) According to D. Crocetti since their
discovery in the beginning of the twentieth century, they have come to
represent the final argument as to what biological sex really is, even
though one might look or feel like one belongs in a different category.
(2013, 24) What this means is that culture has created this rule by which
depending on your chromosomes, you will have to be, feel, and act as
woman, or as a man. If your chromosomes are XX you will be socially
considered a women and therefore, you will be expected to act like so, but if
you are born with XY chromosomes, you will be expected to act as a socially
acceptable man.
The second myth about sex and gender is the fact that hormones
have gender and belong to either the male body or the female body.
(Crocetti,2013, 24) As it was mentioned before, the culturally accepted
explanation of human variation is the one that states that people with XX
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chromosomes are considered women and people with XY chromosomes are

considered men. What modern society dont seem to understand is the
matter that hormones influence only secondary sex characteristics, but they
do not determine a persons gender, sexuality, personality, etc. therefore,
XX individuals are not always biologically female or XY individuals
biologically male. (Crocetti, 2013, 25) So if the normal thing is to be
either male or female, what happens when someone is considered to be
intersexual or DSD (Disorders of Sex Development)?
The majority of the population diagnosed with DSD identify themselves
with one gender or another, but the medical treatment and terminology they
receive along with the social expectations become their core problem. Since
their early childhood, DSD people are considered to have a disorder and are
directly put under medical treatments, even though most of them dont have
any type of functional problems. As D. Crocetti states, The surgical
manipulation of childrens genitals to conform to social expectations is still a
highly contested part of DSD treatment. (2013, 26) So, as stated before,
their problem is not physical malfunction, but identity dilemmas that start
with the terminology that medicine and society uses when referring to them.
Just like D. Crocetti says, if the doctor believes chromosomes dictate sex
and gender, the doctor might tell patients they are biologically or genetically
a man but physically a woman. (2013, 27) Moreover, if the doctor believes
that hormones and chromosomes dictate someones sex, he or she will
probably prescribe a treatment of hormones as a treatment of DSD. These
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hormones treatment, in most cases, will not improve the patients health,
instead, they will just make them look for feminine or masculine to fit
societies cultural way of interpreting sex and gender.
So, the social and cultural beliefs about chromosomes and hormones
determining a persons gender have leaded to a stigmatization of people
catalogued ad DSD. These people are being treated like if they had a
physical sickness while they dont because society tends to avoid the right
biological explanation of gender and sex.
In conclusion, we have focused on the articles Climate-Related
Morphological Variation and Physiological Adaptations in Homo sapiens,
written by Gary D. James and Genes and Hormones: What Make up an
Individuals Sex., written by Daniela Crocetti to explain the main differences
between the biological and the cultural way in which modern society
understands human variation. As we have seen, climate-related human
variation tends to be explained by a biological point of view. However, taboo
topics such as gender and sex are more often explained by the cultural view
of human variation.

References Cited
Crocetti, D. (2013). Genes and Hormones: What Make Up an Individuals Sex. In M. Ah-King
(Ed.), Challenging Popular Myths of Sex, Gender and Biology (pp. 23-32). Switzerland:
Springer International.
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.