IAS-Research Talk by Mihaela Pavlicev: “Can knowledge help overcome the biases in societal perception of female biology?”

Date and time: December 5, Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14.

Speaker: Mihaela PavlicevUniversity of Cincinnati, Department of Pediatrics

Abstract: 

Societal perception, and even the perception of textbook biology and medicine, often reduces female biology to its reproductive function. This has many consequences for the attitude towards female traits, including the attitude of the women themselves, and particularly towards the female traits that have no direct function in reproduction. It is also reflected in medical vocabulary and treatment.  Intriguingly, much of this perception is not based on scientific facts, but likely originates from the way the research questions have been asked in the past, and how the results have been interpreted. I will present some of the recent research on the origin of female orgasm, as well as the physiological basis of the menstruation- examples of female traits often considered “obsolete”. I hope to elicit a discussion on how we can use research insights to re-interpret the female traits in a more accurate, and less damaging, way.