How Social Norms Impact "Objective" Scientific Research
May 6, 2014 4:12 PM Subscribe
Slate asks how a study about similarity in male/female genes got spun as a story about sex differences, and what that means about how framing affects scientific evidence.
"The New York Times reported that scientists had discovered 12 genes on the Y chromosome that play “high-level roles in controlling the state of the genome and the activation of other genes.” They “may represent a fundamental difference in how the cells in men’s and women’s bodies read off the information in their genomes.” The Huffington Post quoted one of the studies’ authors as saying that these “special” genes “may play a large role in differences between males and females.”
Yet what the Nature articles actually show is the exact opposite. The 12 genes residing on the Y chromosome exist to ensure sexual similarity. The genes are “dosage-sensitive,” meaning that two copies are needed for them to function properly. We’ve long known that those 12 genes exist on X chromosomes. Females have the 12 genes active on both of their X chromosomes. If males, who have just one X, didn’t have them on the Y, they would not have a sufficient dosage of those genes. Now we know they do. Just like women."
...
"How did a study of gene dosage equalization between males and females get framed as a major new finding of sex difference?
A little literary forensics reveals the story. In the very last lines of one of the Nature papers—the part of a paper where researchers typically engage in a bit of speculation—the scientists wonder if the X-derived and Y-derived versions of the proteins encoded by the 12 genes might “exhibit subtle functional differences.” They venture that if this is the case, the possibility of a role in sex differences in disease might be explored in the future.
And with that, the study’s most speculative moment became the headline."
...
"A 2007 paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association reanalyzed 188 claims of genetic sex differences in recent peer-reviewed scientific articles and found that 55.9 percent were not statistically significant. Additionally, almost none of the findings of sex differences had been replicated by other studies—a critical measure of the validity of genomic findings. The authors concluded that in genetic sex difference research, “investigators very often seem to fall into classic traps.”
"Last month’s Y chromosome studies show the continuing, stubborn influence of what I call the “sex difference paradigm.” The studies presented the unsexy claim that certain genes on the Y chromosome work to ensure sexual similarity. Filtered through our gender scripts and scientific hype generator, it became a revolutionary finding said to have groundbreaking implications for our understanding of the genetic basis of sex differences".
"The New York Times reported that scientists had discovered 12 genes on the Y chromosome that play “high-level roles in controlling the state of the genome and the activation of other genes.” They “may represent a fundamental difference in how the cells in men’s and women’s bodies read off the information in their genomes.” The Huffington Post quoted one of the studies’ authors as saying that these “special” genes “may play a large role in differences between males and females.”
Yet what the Nature articles actually show is the exact opposite. The 12 genes residing on the Y chromosome exist to ensure sexual similarity. The genes are “dosage-sensitive,” meaning that two copies are needed for them to function properly. We’ve long known that those 12 genes exist on X chromosomes. Females have the 12 genes active on both of their X chromosomes. If males, who have just one X, didn’t have them on the Y, they would not have a sufficient dosage of those genes. Now we know they do. Just like women."
...
"How did a study of gene dosage equalization between males and females get framed as a major new finding of sex difference?
A little literary forensics reveals the story. In the very last lines of one of the Nature papers—the part of a paper where researchers typically engage in a bit of speculation—the scientists wonder if the X-derived and Y-derived versions of the proteins encoded by the 12 genes might “exhibit subtle functional differences.” They venture that if this is the case, the possibility of a role in sex differences in disease might be explored in the future.
And with that, the study’s most speculative moment became the headline."
...
"A 2007 paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association reanalyzed 188 claims of genetic sex differences in recent peer-reviewed scientific articles and found that 55.9 percent were not statistically significant. Additionally, almost none of the findings of sex differences had been replicated by other studies—a critical measure of the validity of genomic findings. The authors concluded that in genetic sex difference research, “investigators very often seem to fall into classic traps.”
"Last month’s Y chromosome studies show the continuing, stubborn influence of what I call the “sex difference paradigm.” The studies presented the unsexy claim that certain genes on the Y chromosome work to ensure sexual similarity. Filtered through our gender scripts and scientific hype generator, it became a revolutionary finding said to have groundbreaking implications for our understanding of the genetic basis of sex differences".
This post was deleted for the following reason: Heya, you've quoted 6 of the only 13 paragraphs in the linked piece; this feels a little too much like just reposting the content locally at this scale. -- cortex
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posted by Dashy at 4:26 PM on May 6, 2014