Alice Dreger: Is anatomy destiny?

http://www.ted.com Alice Dreger works with people at the edge of anatomy, such as conjoined twins and intersexed people. In her observation, it's often a fuzzy line between male and female, among other anatomical distinctions. Which brings up a huge question: Why do we let our anatomy determine our fate?

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate.

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Science & Technology

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• TED
• TEDTalks
• Alice Dreger
• anatomy
• conjoined
• twins
• intersex

[peaceandparty]

@lord666christoph

hey!

1% eh?

in america. the isna is the intersex society of north america

how much percent in central america?south america? canada? asia? africa?britain?ireland?europe in general?russia?get my drift!

all intersex cases have not got known causes!

explain klinefelters syndrome and the cause!how?

i am all ears!

and i am intersex!yes--we walk among you!

and they are not natural??wow you should write science textbooks and add to the misinformation of "facts"!

[MushashiMiyamotoSama]

The Founding Fathers looked to Roman Republic as a model of an anti- monarchal state to base the American system on. President, from First Citizen (Principate), the senate etc. Enlightenment looked to Rome and Greece. Just like Rome, women and slaves had limited rights. What they put together wasn't as radical as she is making it out to be. Also, typical American ideology, America has to lead because it is the bastion of democracy, then give e.g. like Iran. How about UK, Australia, Canada etc.?

[lightandbeautiful]

Homosexual activists understand the power of words.

Please visit my channel to watch a one-minute video clip in which popular atheist author Richard Dawkins admits that homosexual activists "hijacked the word 'gay'".

The word "homosexual" is more appropriate and accurate because it, unlike the word "gay", actually describes the behavior/attraction/relationsh­ip being discussed.

The word "gay" helps homosexual activists push their agenda.

[ogutu2]

Analyzing scientific data is a skill clearly lacking here

[crangdaniel]

@crangdaniel Can you think of any consequences for ill patients if we are not able to define the difference between sick and healthy and if everybody is the same?

[crangdaniel]

@Decktrio I think its is a mistake that "doctors attempt to change the anatomical differences of someone's who's healthy" It takes long education and harsh training to even begin to understand what "decease" is, thats kinda´ the reason why the education is that long. And through that education you will learn a lot of small but significant differences between things that will allow you to make a proper diagnosis of illness. If you apply her "sameness" idea to science you destroy that ability.

[DistressSignal]

@D503z What the hell?? I'm laughing here. As if I'm the one that's drifting from the point (in fact I have been reiterating the exact same point, you just don't or won't understand it). Where the hell did you get this imaginary discrimination against "ordinary heterosexual males"? And what is your reasoning to back it up? What is so harmful about the idea that gender and sexuality is fluid and more ambiguous than mainstream society likes to think? You seem irrational and repressed.

[D503z]

@DistressSignal

Now you are simply trying to get away from your previous statement. You are either unable to understand that, or you're simply lying to push your beliefs. This is not a struggle for basic human rights of gays, transsexuals, intersexuals etc. This is a struggle for special privileges of those groups and against the rights of ordinary heterosexual males. Your ideas will not be less insane if you put them in milder words. I have the strongest contempt for this kind of rhetoric.

[DistressSignal]

@D503z What "insane ideas", pray tell? I don't deny that boys and girls are different on certain levels, but what I detest is the idea that these differences must imprison people's fates ("you're a girl, you're supposed to be girly and never enter into politics/power over anything" etc). What do you think of transsexuals, boyish girls, girly boys, gays, etc? Human beings that don't fit into the black and white man/woman dichotomy? And yes, I don't think these differences mean much ultimately.

[D503z]

@DistressSignal

No, it's not merely a thing between the legs, there are vast differences in anatomy of the body and the brain, hormones, behavior, etc. Every time someone points to the most simple fact - that boys and girls are not the same - lunatics are there to tell him that he is ignorant, sexist, homophobic, patriarchal etc. I do not hesitate to call people such as yourself utter lunatics and crazy fanatics who ignore every reality to push their insane ideas.

[DistressSignal]

@D503z So males and females have something different between their legs. So what? Our society is so obsessed with that part of anatomy to divide us and label us. It's like we've never moved past kindergarten. I'd say that it's not nature to be so obsessed with this ultimately useless distinction (except for procreation, that is), but patriarchal society that dictates that men and women have absolutely nothing in common, nor should they, for sexist, homophobic religious and political reasons.

[MushashiMiyamotoSama]

She has important things to say, like we ought to avoid over-simplifciations then she goes ahead and proceeds to do that very thing.