Les hormones sexuelles sont des objets hybrides et complexes à la frontière du sexe et du genre. Dès lors qu’elles sont synthétisées sous forme pharmaceutique, elles peuvent attribuer des caractéristiques sexuelles au corps de manière partiellement exogène à celui-ci. Il s’en suit que l’utilisation clinique qui en est faite est socialement réglementée. À travers une analyse de divers contextes d’utilisation des hormones observés à Bahia, au Brésil, cet article montre que le dualisme sexuel est le produit (...) de pratiques de régulation biomédicales qui visent à encadrer la circulation des hormones. Le sens du terme local « hormônio » n’est pas pleinement recoupé par celui d’hormone, qu’il excède. L’emploi commun qui est fait au Brésil du singulier procure au terme « hormônio » une qualité fluide et homogène. Dans ce contexte, les hormones sont comprises comme une sorte de substance qui peut circuler entre les corps. Cette conceptualisation des hormones comme une substance a des implications pour le statut ontologique des corps et révèle la relative plasticité de la relation sexe/genre. (shrink)

Although informed consent models for prescribing hormone replacement therapy are becoming increasingly prevalent, many physicians continue to require an assessment and referral letter from a mental health professional prior to prescription. Drawing on personal and communal experience, the author argues that assessment and referral requirements are dehumanising and unethical, foregrounding the ways in which these requirements evidence a mistrust of trans people, suppress the diversity of their experiences and sustain an unjustified double standard in contrast to other forms of clinical (...) care. Physicians should abandon this unethical requirement in favour of an informed consent approach to transgender care. (shrink)

Durant ces dernières années, le comportement sexuel des jeunes femmes dans les pays en voie de développement occupe une place de plus en plus importante dans les programmes de santé reproductive. En effet, à Haïti, par exemple, près de 35 % d’entre elles ont deux partenaires sexuels ou plus, ce qui a des conséquences fâcheuses tant sur la jeune fille que sur son environnement. L’objectif de cet article est d’identifier les différents facteurs socio-économiques qui influencent le multipartenariat sexuel chez les (...) jeunes femmes à Haïti. Les données utilisées dans le cadre de ce présent article proviennent de la dernière Enquête démographique et de santé (2017) et ont fait l’objet d’une analyse univariée et d’une analyse multivariée à travers un modèle logit. De ces analyses, il ressort que les variables « milieu de résidence », « niveau d’éducation », « religion », « niveau de vie », « accès à Internet » et « statut matrimonial » sont les facteurs clés dans l’explication du multipartenariat sexuel observé chez les jeunes filles à Haïti. (shrink)

La chambre à coucher des couples ordinaires ne relevant aucunement de la justice est souvent le théâtre d’une cruauté qui peut se manifester de manière subtile ou brutale. Mieux appréhender la violence sexuelle implique d’en approfondir les origines et la fonction. Les exemples cliniques montrent jusqu’où peut aller ce type de violence. Celle-ci demeure souvent cachée mais est source de grande souffrance. L’auteur souligne l’interaction des partenaires dans ces passages à l’acte. Il envisage une typologie des sadismes sexuels névrotiques.

La chambre à coucher des couples ordinaires ne relevant aucunement de la justice est souvent le théâtre d’une cruauté qui peut se manifester de manière subtile ou brutale. Mieux appréhender la violence sexuelle implique d’en approfondir les origines et la fonction. Les exemples cliniques montrent jusqu’où peut aller ce type de violence. Celle-ci demeure souvent cachée mais est source de grande souffrance. L’auteur souligne l’interaction des partenaires dans ces passages à l’acte. Il envisage une typologie des sadismes sexuels névrotiques.

Florence Ashley has argued that requiring patients with gender dysphoria to undergo an assessment and referral from a mental health professional before undergoing hormone replacement therapy is unethical and may represent an unconscious hostility towards transgender people. We respond, first, by showing that Ashley has conflated the self-reporting of symptoms with self-diagnosis, and that this is not consistent with the standard model of informed consent to medical treatment. Second, we note that the model of informed consent involved in cosmetic surgery (...) resembles the model Ashley defends, and that psychological assessment and referral is recognised as an important aspect of such a model. Third, we suggest that the increased prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in the transgender population arguably supports the requirement of assessment and referral from a mental health professional prior to undergoing HRT. (shrink)

Steroid hormone receptors are ligand‐inducible transcription factors that exhibit potent effects on gene expression in living cells. Precise dissection of their mode of action at the molecular level can best be carried out in functional cell‐free systems. This article will describe the benefits of such systems and review their development up to the recent establishment of steroid receptor‐dependent in vitro transcription. Subsequent advances in our knowledge of receptor function arising from the exploitation of this powerful experimental tool will be described. (...) Particular emphasis will be placed upon two key problems: the role of steroid hormone in receptor action and the mechanisms by which steroid receptors activate gene transcription. (shrink)

Dans la rare littérature dédiée à la dynamique conjugale des sujets toxicomanes, plusieurs particularités sont mises en avant : l’indifférenciation sexuelle, la structure conjugale en triade, mais aussi l’investissement du toxique comme « mythe fondateur » du couple. L’article tend à mettre en évidence, chez des couples sous traitement de substitution, de quelle façon l’accès à la parentalité peut être source de bouleversements intenses, notamment par la réintroduction brutale de la différenciation sexuelle. À partir d’entretiens conjugaux, il a été relevé (...) un vécu corporellement et psychiquement effractant au moment de la naissance du premier enfant. On observe une réorganisation de la dynamique conjugale avec une impossibilité à poursuivre la vie conjugale sur le plan sexuel et une confusion des rôles parentaux. (shrink)

Cet essai présente une description de plusieurs travaux inédits de Jacques Derrida au sujet de Marx et d'Althusser datant des années 1960 et 1970. Au-delà du travail philologique, il s'agit aussi d'une étude théorique de notions telles que 'idéologie', 'fétichisme', 'reproduction', 'division du travail', 'différence sexuelle', 'domination', 'économie politique', 'matérialisme dialectique', ou 'production culturelle' — tout autant à travers les textes marxistes que dans les lectures déconstructives qu'en propose alors Derrida. Durant les années 1970, dans le cadre de son séminaire, (...) Derrida s'efforce de penser une autre économie politique, au-delà de l'économie du propre qu'il identifie aussi bien chez les économistes classiques que chez leurs critiques marxistes. Ces lectures détaillées et combattives de textes marxistes restent aujourd'hui inédites. Leur prise en compte contribue à redéfinir l'image de Derrida et de la déconstruction, en témoignant de ses discussions très avancées de Marx, d'Althusser, et de la pensée marxiste — et ce dès la fin des années 1960 et le début des années 1970, plus de 20 ans avant la publication de Spectres de Marx (1993). -/- Une version plus courte de cet article fut traduite en espagnol par Ramiro Parodi, et publiée en 2019 dans le numéro 7 de la revue Demarcaciones — numéro consacré au 25ème anniversaire de la publication de Spectres de Marx. (shrink)

In the context of transgender health, most people are not comfortable with allowing a twelve‐year‐old child with gender dysphoria to elect to undergo gender reassignment surgery. The likelihood is too high that the child would be unable to fully comprehend the scope of a decision that carries significant, permanent consequences, particularly because the decision to surgically change gender is based upon a conception of gender that can fluctuate during adolescent years. Conversely, however, most people would not contend that this fluidity (...) is reason to wholly deny certain medical care such as hormonal treatments to transgender youth, a demographic with extremely high rates of violent behavior, self‐harm, and suicide. This paper will explore ethical considerations to this emerging debate of what therapeutic options should be offered to transgender children and adolescents.Pediatric endocrinologists have been treating gender dysphoric adolescents with puberty‐suppressing drugs and, to a lesser extent, with cross‐sex hormone therapies for more than twenty years. Clinicians and thought leaders have mentioned ethical components of this emerging practice in the few cohort studies and clinical review articles about the subject. However, ethics have generally been a secondary consideration in the medical academic literature. In this paper, I will provide a brief overview of the practice, summarize the current research on hormone treatment for transgender minors, and provide an ethical analysis of the practice. (shrink)

La sexualité préoccupe le Moyen Âge occidental : miroir de la nature peccamineuse de l’homme, elle en révèle le meilleur (tempérance, renoncement) et le pire (appétit, violence). Envisagée dans le seul mariage chrétien, elle est hors de ce cadre adultère, condamnée (juridiquement, judiciairement) et expose les individus à la vindicte populaire. Les lettres de rémission (grâce royale des crimes) des xiv e et xv e siècles témoignent de façon originale de l’impact que le type de conjugalité vécu peut avoir sur (...) les violences sexuelles faites aux femmes. Si les sources sont muettes et absentes sur les violences matrimoniales, isolement, célibat laïc, séparation et adultère exposent les femmes médiévales au viol. Mariée, la femme est appropriée, son corps territorialisé, gardé ; seule ou concubine, elle est mal famée et son corps à prendre. C’est dans ce paradigme que la question du couple et des violences sexuelles se pose alors. (shrink)

Debates about the underdetermination of theory by data often turn on specific examples. Cases invoked often enough become familiar, even well worn. Since Helen Longino’s discussion of the case, the connection between prenatal hormone levels and gender-linked childhood behaviour has become one of these stock examples. However, as I argue here, the case is not genuinely underdetermined. We can easily imagine a possible experiment to decide the question. The fact that we would not perform this experiment is a moral, rather (...) than epistemic, point. Finally, I suggest that the ”underdetermination’ of the case may be inessential for Longino to establish her central claim about it. (shrink)

Collins provides a grand theory that unifies all forms of human violence occurring in face-to-face situations, ranging from spousal abuse to medieval warfare. Laitin appreciates Collins's microscopic analysis of diverse data but points to important shortcomings in the theory, especially Collins's metaphoric explanations that are not testable. Here Collins's theory is merged with an existing biosocial model of dominance, replacing the metaphors with tangible, measurable hormonal mechanisms.

This study examines steroid production in fathers watching their children compete, extending previous research of vicarious success or failure on men’s hormone levels. Salivary testosterone and cortisol levels were measured in 18 fathers watching their children play in a soccer tournament. Participants completed a survey about the game and provided demographic information. Fathers with higher pregame testosterone levels were more likely to report that referees were biased against their children’s teams, and pre- to postgame testosterone elevation was predicted by watching (...) sons compete rather than daughters as well as perceptions of unfair officiating. Pregame cortisol was not associated with pregame testosterone or with perceived officiating bias, but cortisol did fluctuate synergistically with testosterone during spectator competition. Although fathers showed no consistent testosterone change in response to winning or losing, pregame testosterone may mediate steroid hormone reactivity to other aspects of their children’s competition. (shrink)

Quelle est la situation actuelle des mutilations sexuelles féminines (M.G.F.), en Afrique, après vingt ans de controverses? On estime à environ 115 millions le nombre de femmes qui dans le monde ont subi des mutilations génitales : clitoridectomie, excision ou infibulation (Rapport Hosken,1993). L'immense majorité d'entre elles vivent en Afrique où les mutilations génitales continuent d'être pratiquées au nom de traditions culturelles et religieuses. Ces pratiques ont lieu à tout âge...

Barley aleurone cells have long served as a model system for studying the regulation of gene expression in plants. In this review we survey what is known about hormone‐regulated gene expression in aleurone cells. We also describe the effects of heat stress on gene expression in this system, and speculate how the aleurone cell prioritizes its response between hormone‐induced and environment‐induced programs of gene expression.

Quelle est la situation actuelle des mutilations sexuelles féminines (M.G.F.), en Afrique, après vingt ans de controverses? On estime à environ 115 millions le nombre de femmes qui dans le monde ont subi des mutilations génitales : clitoridectomie, excision ou infibulation (Rapport Hosken,1993). L'immense majorité d'entre elles vivent en Afrique où les mutilations génitales continuent d'être pratiquées au nom de traditions culturelles et religieuses. Ces pratiques ont lieu à tout âge...

La sexualité préoccupe le Moyen Âge occidental : miroir de la nature peccamineuse de l’homme, elle en révèle le meilleur (tempérance, renoncement) et le pire (appétit, violence). Envisagée dans le seul mariage chrétien, elle est hors de ce cadre adultère, condamnée (juridiquement, judiciairement) et expose les individus à la vindicte populaire. Les lettres de rémission (grâce royale des crimes) des xiv e et xv e siècles témoignent de façon originale de l’impact que le type de conjugalité vécu peut avoir sur (...) les violences sexuelles faites aux femmes. Si les sources sont muettes et absentes sur les violences matrimoniales, isolement, célibat laïc, séparation et adultère exposent les femmes médiévales au viol. Mariée, la femme est appropriée, son corps territorialisé, gardé ; seule ou concubine, elle est mal famée et son corps à prendre. C’est dans ce paradigme que la question du couple et des violences sexuelles se pose alors. (shrink)

Dans la rare littérature dédiée à la dynamique conjugale des sujets toxicomanes, plusieurs particularités sont mises en avant : l’indifférenciation sexuelle, la structure conjugale en triade, mais aussi l’investissement du toxique comme « mythe fondateur » du couple. L’article tend à mettre en évidence, chez des couples sous traitement de substitution, de quelle façon l’accès à la parentalité peut être source de bouleversements intenses, notamment par la réintroduction brutale de la différenciation sexuelle. À partir d’entretiens conjugaux, il a été relevé (...) un vécu corporellement et psychiquement effractant au moment de la naissance du premier enfant. On observe une réorganisation de la dynamique conjugale avec une impossibilité à poursuivre la vie conjugale sur le plan sexuel et une confusion des rôles parentaux. (shrink)

Understanding how traits are integrated at the organismal level remains a fundamental problem at the interface of developmental and evolutionary biology. Hormones, regulatory signaling molecules that coordinate multiple developmental and physiological processes, are major determinants underlying phenotypic integration. The probably best example for this is the lipid-like juvenile hormone (JH) in insects. Here we review the manifold effects of JH, the most versatile animal hormone, with an emphasis on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, an organism amenable to both genetics (...) and endocrinology. JH affects a remarkable number of processes and traits in Drosophila development and life history, including metamorphosis, behavior, reproduction, diapause, stress resistance and aging. While many molecular details underlying JH signaling remain unknown, we argue that studying “hormonal pleiotropy” offers intriguing insights into phenotypic integration and the mechanisms underlying life history evolution. In particular, we illustrate the role of JH as a key mediator of life history trade-offs. BioEssays 27:999–1010, 2005. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Plant hormones are signalling molecules that control growth and development. Growth of the aerial parts of higher plants requires the continuous activity of the shoot apical meristem, a small mound of cells at the apex of a plant. KNOTTED1‐like HOMEOBOX (KNOX) genes are involved in regulating meristem activity, however, little is known about how this regulation is mediated. Recent evidence suggests that KNOX transcription factors may control meristem development by regulating the balance of activities of multiple hormones. BioEssays (...) 26:395–404, 2004. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Some scholars attempt to explain sexual desire biologically by claiming that sex hormones play a necessary causal role in sexual desire. This can be claimed even if sexual desire is seen to be an experience. Yet the evidence for such biological essentialism is inadequate. With males the loss of sexual desire following hormonal changes can easily be explained in terms of social stigmas that are attached to the physiological situation. Concerning females, the relevance of sex hormones here is (...) even more unclear. Although some women seem to have fluctuations in sexual desire during hormonal changes, other women do not. Even where there are such fluctuations these can be explained by responses to other physiological changes or the meanings that are attached to the situation. Research with non-human primates supports this view of the non-essential relation of sex hormones to sexual desire. A phenomenology of sex hormones is given that shows a possible non-essential relation between sex hormones and sexual desire. Here hormone induced excitations in the genitals may or may not lead to sexual desire depending on the meaning they are given within awareness. This suggests that sexual desire has its origin in the meanings we give our biology and not in our biology itself. (shrink)

Coalitions and alliances are core aspects of human behavior. All societies recognize alliances among communities, usually based in part on kinship and marriage. Aggression between groups is ubiquitous, often deadly, fueled by revenge, and can have devastating effects on general human welfare. Given its significance, it is surprising how little we know about the neurobiological and hormonal mechanisms that underpin human coalitionary behavior. Here we first briefly review a model of human coalitionary behavior based on a process of runaway social (...) selection. We then present several exploratory analyses of neuroendocrine responses to coalitionary social events in a rural Dominican community, with the objective of understanding differences between in-group and out-group competition in adult and adolescent males. Our analyses indicate: (1) adult and adolescent males do not elevate testosterone when they defeat their friends, but they do elevate testosterone when they defeat outsiders; (2) pre-competition testosterone and cortisol levels are negatively associated with strength of coalitionary ties; and (3) adult males usually elevate testosterone when interacting with adult women who are potential mates, but in a striking reversal, they have lower testosterone if the woman is a conjugal partner of a close friend. These naturalistic studies hint that reciprocity, dampening of aggression, and competition among friends and allies may be biologically embedded in unique ways among humans. (shrink)

The interconversion of key regulatory proteins between phosphorylated and dephosphorylated forms is an extremely versatile mechanism for reversible altering their activities, and in mammalian cells may be almost as common as allosteric regulation. It is now evident that protein phosphorylation is the basis of a complex network of interlocking systems which allow a variety of hormones and other extracellular signals, acting through just a few second messengers to coordinate biochemical functions.

Der Autor blickt auf seine dreißigjährige Erfahrung mit der Behandlung, Evaluierung und Konsultation in mehr als 300 Fällen sexueller Grenzverletzungen zurück. Er schildert, dass seine ehedem optimistische Beurteilung der Möglichkeit, solche Übergriffe zu verhindern, angesichts der durchgängigen Selbsttäuschung von Analytikern und Therapeuten einer eher pessimistischen Sicht gewichen ist. Seine Einsichten in die Idiosynkrasien der Über-Ich-Aktivität und in die Fähigkeit, ethische Erwägungen anders zu beurteilen, wenn sie nicht auf andere, sondern auf sich selbst bezogen werden, haben ihn bewogen, seine einstmalige Kategorisierung (...) übergriffiger Behandler zu revidieren. Abschließend erläutert er, welchen Beitrag Gruppenphänomene in analytischen Organisationen seiner Ansicht nach zur Entwicklung von sexuellen Grenzverletzungen ­leisten. (shrink)

Le silence qui recouvre les abus sexuels incestueux, souvent subis à un âge prépubère, constitue une entrave dans la construction de l’identité, de la relation de couple et de la filiation. L’article s’appuie sur trois vignettes cliniques pour illustrer ce constat et montre que la lente reconstruction après ces traumatismes est le fait d’une parole tenue dans un cadre analytique où l’interdit du toucher et l’absence d’emprise sont la règle.

Le silence qui recouvre les abus sexuels incestueux, souvent subis à un âge prépubère, constitue une entrave dans la construction de l’identité, de la relation de couple et de la filiation. L’article s’appuie sur trois vignettes cliniques pour illustrer ce constat et montre que la lente reconstruction après ces traumatismes est le fait d’une parole tenue dans un cadre analytique où l’interdit du toucher et l’absence d’emprise sont la règle.

The decision for women to go on hormone therapy remains controversial. An historical oscillation of beliefs exists related in part to expectations of the medicinal value of HT over longer-term use beyond the initial peri-menonpausal period. Studies thought to resolve issues surrounding the efficacy of HT were perhaps overstated as confusion still permeates the decision making with regard to HT. Overzealous advertising and exaggerated understanding of the results undermine patient and physician decision making. There remains no magic bullet with regard (...) to HT. What remains is still the possibility of HT longer-term efficacy on diverse end organ systems with pockets of clinical and scientific ambiguity while working to engender reasonable expectations. (shrink)

The question of why women, in consultation with their physicians, should choose hormone therapy in response to menopause represents a renewed controversy at the beginning of the new century. Conflicting messages regarding the health risks and benefits of HT have been conveyed in the mainstream media, especially information in the media regarding the results of large-scale studies of the health impact of hormone therapy. Women who have been on one or another of the hormone replacement regimes have been forced to (...) reconsider continuing on HT. Doctors who suggest these hormones to their patients are somewhat confused, as are perimenopausal women who are considering HT. Pharmaceutical companies that produce these compounds are worried, and public health officials are on the defensive.Media coverage of HT research has been extensive. In particular, two large-scale studies, one here in the U.S. and the other in Great Britain, have recently cast a negative light on the use of hormone therapy, after years of routine prescription of HT for menopausal women. (shrink)

Insect neurogenesis has been subjected to extensive study and as a result is regarded as being well understood. It is, therefore, all the more surprising when a fundamentally novel aspects of the process is uncovered. Until recently it was thought that the production of central neurons ceased before the emergence of the adult. Recently, however, Cayre et al. have shown that neurogenesis also occurs in the adult brain. Their studies also show that the rate at which adult neuroblasts divide is (...) controlled by hormones, suggesting that hormones may play a more important role in regulating neurogenesis than previously suspected. (shrink)

The prescription of growth hormone therapy for children who are not growth hormone deficient is one of the controversies in contemporary paediatric endocrinology. Is it morally appropriate to enhance the growth, by means of medical treatment, of a child wish idiopathic short stature? The medical, moral, and philosophical questions in this area are many. Data on the effects of human growth hormone (hGH) treatment will not on their own provide us with answers, as these effects have to be evaluated from (...) a normative perspective. In this article we consider hGH treatment for children of idiopathic short stature from three normative perspectives: the goals of medicine, the good of the patient, and the public good. We argue that the prevention of psychological and social problems due to short stature (and not merely the enhancement of growth) should be the ultimate goal of medical treatment and research. (shrink)

La transcription, la traduction et l’étude du libelle d’un petit procès daté de 1435 extrait d’un registre judiciaire (liber maleficiorum) de Bologne permet de comparer les abus sexuels perpétrés par des hommes à l’encontre des filles et des garçons. Pour exprimer une agression sexuelle sur une petite fille, on emploie les mêmes mots que ceux qui servent à désigner le viol d’une femme. Pour décrire la violence commise sur un garçon, on use du vocabulaire de la sodomie. Ce constat permet (...) de montrer qu’à la fin du Moyen Âge, c’est bien la pénétration qui crée l’acte sexuel et que ce que les textes désignent par “vice sodomite” peut souvent avoir le sens moderne de “pédophilie” vis-à-vis des garçons. (shrink)

In 1948 the pharmaceutical company Leo launched a placental hormonal preparation, called Gonadex, in Sweden. During a press conference, and in commercials and newspapers, it was said that Gonadex could cure sterility as well as many other problems related to the endocrine system. The remedy was described as effective and pure, with no side effects whatsoever. For several reasons, Gonadex was looked upon as a ‘Swedish triumph’. Inspired by research on ‘mediation’, conducted within the field of social studies of pharmaceutical (...) drugs, the present essay explores the political and scientific visions and values behind Gonadex; the propaganda for and marketing of Gonadex; the mediated image of Gonadex in the press; the reception by the medical profession, and finally the hopes and fears of the women who tried Gonadex. The essay argues that the public image of Gonadex was ‘oversell’ of hormone therapy, and that it was shaped by the way endocrinologists at Karolinska Hospital, notably Professor Axel Westman, mediated between Leo, the mass media, and the consumers when, and even before, Gonadex was introduced to the market. (shrink)

Cet article vise à donner un aperçu de l’essor récent des travaux historiques portant sur les violences sexuelles faites aux enfants dans l’espace européen. Il couvre toutes les périodes, de l’Antiquité jusqu’au xxie siècle, abordant une grande variété de thématiques : la pédérastie à but pédagogique, la question de l’innocence ou de la dépravation infantile, les violences au sein des familles, la protection infantile ou encore l’évolution des dispositifs législatifs. La conclusion évoque les enjeux contemporains de ces études et (...) revient sur le défi historiographique que constitue le dilemme entre approche essentialiste et approche relativiste des violences sexuelles faites aux enfants. (shrink)

[85] Les théories de la sexualité qui tendent à attribuer des fins naturelles au désir sexuel font très souvent partie d’un discours plus général sur les lieux légitimes du genre et du désir dans un contexte social donné2. Parler du désir naturel et corrélativement de la forme naturelle des relations sexuelles humaines revient à adopter un dis- cours invariablement normatif, puisque les formes du désir et de la sexualité qui tombent en dehors des paramètres du modèle naturel sont alors (...) compri... (shrink)

The article provides a review of the book "Italian Feminist Theory and Practice: Equality and Sexual Difference", edited and published by Graziella Parati and Rebecca West in 2002.

Cooption and modularity are informative concepts in evolutionary developmental biology. Genes function within complex networks that act as modules in development. These modules can then be coopted in various functional and evolutionary contexts. Hormonal signaling, the main focus of this review, has a modular character. By regulating the activities of genes, proteins and other cellular molecules, a hormonal signal can have major effects on physiological and ontogenetic processes within and across tissues over a wide spatial and temporal scale. Because of (...) this property, we argue that hormones are frequently involved in the coordination of life history transitions (LHTs) and their evolution (LHE). Finally, we promote the usefulness of a comparative, non-model system approach towards understanding how hormones function and guide development and evolution, highlighting thyroid hormone function in echinoids as an example. BioEssays 27:64–75, 2005. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

In this paper, we examine how polycystic ovary syndrome is racialized in biomedical research. Drawing from Star’s seminal concept of triangulation, we analyze how the diagnostic criteria for PCOS combine two different biomarkers: body hair and testosterone. Hair and hormones are both haunted by their use in eugenic research, and as clinical measures, they can carry forward powerful narratives of biological difference. PCOS researchers circulate strong claims about racial difference in hirsutism as if they were established knowledge, sometimes calling (...) for race-specific diagnostic thresholds. Tracing the links between race and hirsutism, hirsutism and testosterone, and testosterone and race, we find that these connections are all conceptualized in ambiguous and inconsistent ways. Through triangulation, the uncertainty clouding each link is mitigated by the apparent strength of the chain as a whole. The logic linking race to disease is attenuated, allowing race to persist as a ghost variable. As PCOS is increasingly reframed as a risk factor for other conditions, racial stratification is submerged, implicit but actionable, at every stage of the life course cascade of risk. (shrink)

Gender affirming hormone treatment is an important part of the care of trans adolescents which enables them to develop the secondary sexual characteristics congruent with their identified genders. There is an increasing amount of empirical evidence showing the benefits of gender affirming hormone treatment for psychological health and social well-being in this population. However, in several countries, access to gender affirming hormone treatment for trans adolescents has recently been severely restricted. While much of the opposition to gender affirming hormone treatment (...) for trans adolescents has in part been ideologically motivated, it also reflects a debate about whether there are harms that outweigh the benefits of the treatment. Accordingly, a systematic and comprehensive philosophical analysis of the ethics of gender affirming hormone treatment for trans adolescents is needed. Herein, I offer such an analysis that draws on the four principles of biomedical ethics by Tom Beauchamp and James Childress. Based on the considerations of beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy, and justice, I argue that the provision of access to gender affirming hormone treatment for consenting trans adolescents is ethically required and that the current restrictions to such treatment are ethically wrong. (shrink)

Cet article montre que les discours qui rendent compte de l’usage sexuel des psychoactifs révèlent tout autant les règles sociales dominantes qui assignent à chaque sexe un code de conduite spécifique dans l’acte sexuel que l’idéologie normative en vigueur dans un sous-groupe particulier. L’analyse, centrée sur l’usage de psychoactifs associé à la pénétration anale entre hommes, s’appuie sur cinquante entretiens ouverts et semi-directifs avec des usagers de psychoactifs s’identifiant comme gay et des informateurs clés, dans le cadre de l’enquête ethnographique (...) Homosexualité masculine et usage de substances psychoactives en contextes festifs gais. On voit dans ce contexte, comment la consommation de psychoactifs, par ses effets attendus sur les inhibitions sexuelles, “autorise” l’actualisation de fantasmes ou de pratiques contrevenant aux prescriptions sociales en matière de genre ou de sexualité, et permet de répondre à l’injonction de performance valorisée dans ce sous-groupe. (shrink)

Pour protéger « l'innocence » des filles, les éducateurs du XIXe siècle leur dissimulaient, autant que possible, les réalités biologiques de la sexualité et de la procréation. Au tournant du siècle, des protestations se font entendre. Des médecins (surtout les vénérologues) des prêtres (hostiles aux pratiques contraceptives), des libres-penseurs, des féministes refusent l'obscurantisme. Les milieux les plus progressistes de l'Education nationale se mobilisent entre les deux guerres, mais leur audience reste modeste. Parallèlement, les progrès de la psychologie, et plus encore (...) de la psychanalyse, révèlent l'importance de la sexualité, y compris chez les enfants. L'éducation sexuelle devient alors aux yeux des gens avertis, une dimension indispensable de l'éducation tout court. Les féministes de la deuxième vague (années 70) ont considéré l'éducation sexuelle comme le fondement même de la libération des femmes. En essayant de la définir et de l'organiser, elles ont redécouvert la différence des sexes. (shrink)

Displacing the physiological model that had held sway in 19th-century medical thinking, early 20th-century medical scientists working on hormones promoted a new understanding of the body, psychological reactions, and the sexual instinct, arguing that each were fundamentally malleable. Hormones came to be understood as the chemical messengers that regulated an individual's growth and sexual development, and sexologists interested in this area focused primarily on children and adolescents. Hormone research also promoted a view of the body in which ‘hermaphroditism’, (...) homosexuality, and ‘sexual perversions’ such as masochism and sadism were attributed to anomalies in the internal secretions produced by the testes or the ovaries. This article focuses on Spanish, Italian, Argentinian, and Brazilian sexology shaped by endocrinological research in the interwar period. First, it shows the key role hormone treatments played in the historical development of sexology in Southern Europe and Latin America. Second, it looks at how sexologists employed hormone research to study human sexual development in the early stages of life, and how they set about ‘correcting’ what they viewed as ‘sexual anomalies’. (shrink)

In a previous article, I argued that assessment requirements for transgender hormone replacement therapy are unethical and dehumanising. A recent response published by the Journal of Medical Ethics criticises this proposal. In this reply, I advance that their response misunderstood core parts of my argument and fails to provide independent support for assessment requirements. Though transition-related care may have similarities with cosmetic surgeries, this does not suffice to establish a need for assessments, and nor do the high rates of depression (...) and anxiety justify assessments, especially given the protective role HRT plays towards mental well-being. (shrink)