Sexuality: A Focus on its Scholarly and Popular Media Sides - Research Paper Example

? Sexuality: A Focus on its Scholarly and Popular Media Sides Sexuality: A Focus on its Scholarly and Popular Media Sides A person’s choice and sexual preferences has been a long debate, and although various ways of finding factors such as environment and upbringing that may have such effects, there has been a small trickle of clear evidences as to how genetics may play a role in the chosen sexual identities of people. However, as of date there are some scholarly articles as well as short ones which are written for the general public that tackles human sexuality in scientific terms. An article which tackles the genetic and molecular basis of homosexuality for males was authored by Dean Hammer, Stella Hu, Victoria Magnuson, Nan Hu and Angela Pattatucci. It was published in the journal Science on July 16, 1993 and has the title “A Linkage Between DNA Markers on the X Chromosome and Male Sexual Orientation” (Hammer, Hu, Magnuson, Hu, & Pattatucci, 1993). The research focused on the molecular basis of male homosexuality, its pattern of inheritance as well as the heritability of the trait. Around 100 families with identified homosexual members were studied and compared with families of straight men. Aside from identifying the proband or the representative of each family, their maternal uncles as well as cousins that were also acknowledged as homosexuals were also traced and placed in the pedigree analyses. After performing sibling studies including the heritability and the presence of genetic markers as well as familial studies which use pedigree analyses, the researchers were able to show that such a trait is maternally inherited. Also, they were able to identify a group of genes as well as its locus, and this is most likely the culprit for homosexual preferences. This gene locus is situated in the long arm of the X-chromosome making it transmissible to several generations through the maternal line. The researchers were able to conclude that the gene locus Xq28 was a good candidate for the region in the X-chromosome’s larger arm that holds the genes which dictate a male’s sexual orientation. Another article, one that is written for the general public, was published in an electronic periodical and also tackles the genetic basis for homosexuality in men. The author based the text on an actual peer-reviewed journal and had it condensed in a few paragraphs. The article’s style was made in a format that would make it easier for people without a very strong scientific background to understand, and highly-technical terms were almost avoided altogether. It implies that previous notions with regards to the inheritance of homosexuality by being passed down through the mother were found out to have effects on the mothers in a different way than previously reported (Hsu, 2012). According to the peer-reviewed article’s authors, the gene for homosexuality was passed on from mothers to their children, and such gene exists due to the increase in the number of children the mother has during her lifetime. More children are equal to more opportunities to transmit the “gay genes” to their offspring, who may turn out to be homosexuals in the future (Hsu, 2012). While at first glance the article may seem rather reliable since it was originally-published in a peer-reviewed journal, the whole thing may actually be misleading since there may be other facts that were not included in the whole report, like for example if there were some other family members in different generations in both sides of the family that were identified and acknowledged as homosexuals. Also, it is not noted within the webpage if the author of the condensed article has an actual medical or scientific background to be able to synthesize the journal article enough to include important details that would make the research as well as the shortened version a bit more credible, especially to those who are actually sensitive to the subject of homosexuality, which can either be gay people or straight. The short article is also seen as a rather short one since it occupies only half or less than half of the whole webpage, which may make skeptics doubt the validity of the claims due to additional information that is lacking. The two articles had several similarities. The main similarity is that the topic of homosexuality in males being transmitted via maternal means. Another similarity is that there were genetic and familiar bases as to why such a trait is being transmitted successfully through the mother and her children. For this end, people who would be willing to read either one of the articles would still get enlightened since there were reasons and logic available for the readers to understand and take into account. While both articles may seem to have so much in common, there are also numerous ways that they are different from each other. One is the format of both articles. The peer-reviewed journal by Hammer et al. was written with full descriptions of each of the steps that they made during the course of the study. Also, the peer-reviewed journal was written more than 10 years ago, making it seem rather old as compared to the condensed article, which was written just this year. Another is that the style the shorter article was written with seems to be a bit livelier as compared to the journal article. The short article was written without much technical jargon, and that with the choice of words they were able to convey the author’s ideas and understanding of the original article. The journal article however was written in such a way that only people with a strong genetic background such as those who are in the lines of biological or medical science would be able to understand. However, due to the objective nature of such field of work, it is vital for the authors to be able to write most of their research in a short but complete style for other researchers to refer to. Also, most of the language used in the peer-reviewed article consisted of words and phrases that are rather hard to simplify without losing the meanings, so there is a slimmer chance that a publication such as journal articles would be written in a much simpler syntax. Technical jargons are essential for these kinds of articles. For these two articles, the audience or readers are every different. As an example, the journal article may be read by other researchers who also deal with the subject of genetics and/or homosexuality transmission among generations. By methodologically arranging the sequence of steps that the scientists made which lead up to their conclusions, other researchers may be able to replicate or dismiss the validity of such conclusions. The use of the scientific method in this case would be able to prove whether such works are legitimately done or not. On the other hand, for the popularized format of information, whose audiences are the general public, it is very important that it is written in a simpler way as compared to journal formats. Since the readers have a wider range of careers, beliefs and experiences, in order to convey scientific information the writer made the short article simpler for most people. Such formats would make the general public much more open with scientific findings and be able to accept them much easily as compared to journal article, which may not be easily comprehended by most. Both the journal format and the popular media format of delivering scientific information are important to inform most of the general population about recent breakthroughs in science. However, in terms of the point of view of the different readers, either way can be the best way of disseminating information. For the peer-related journal, it is a good way of handing over enough information to people who would be interested in proving or dispelling its validity through repetitive experiments. Since the methods were roughly stated, other researchers would have enough ideas to assess the claims of the paper. On the other hand, for popular media formats of scientific information, with regards to the audiences it is also s good way of informing people about new scientific information. Since the general public would be much more concerned with the results rather that how the experiments worked out, such formats can be read much easily without pondering over the technical aspects of the study. In any case, peer-reviewed journals are a better source of solid information over popularized ones. This is due to the fact that the actual information that the authors wish to convey are clearly written in these journal formats. Also, even though there is too much technicalities in these articles, there are abstracts where readers may be able to extract the gist of the whole paper, and so they need not to read the whole paper unless they have a need for additional information. Especially with regards to the subject of sexuality in general, people should be informed with actual scientific-based information, not just the opinion of most writers. By teaching students about sex in an objective manner, they can have the opportunity of seeing sex and sexuality in a different light, and be able to think much clearly for themselves rather than just going with whatever is available in mainstream information. Upon comparison of two different kinds of formats that deal with a common but sensitive topic such as homosexuality, additional insights can be gained from looking at a topic through the eyes of various authors. Peer-reviewed journals are very much objective since before these get to be published, other researchers would be editing the original paper before being released. Also, the information contained were the results of experiments that have steps which can be replicated by other researchers. For popular media formats, although they are seen as subjective since these are written based on the understanding of the author, it is also a good thing since most of the public would be much more interested with the synthesis as well as the outcome instead of the steps involved in the process. While the reliability of information based on either format may be in question, the fact that scientific breakthroughs are being able to reach the public is something positive, especially when the bulk of information being released in mainstream mass media are rarely categorized as products of scientific research. References Hammer, D., Hu, S., Magnuson, V., Hu, N., & Pattatucci, A. (1993). A linkage between DNA markers on the X chromosome and male sexual orientation. Science, 261: 321-327. Hsu, C. (2012, June 13). "Gay Gene" Survived Evolution As It Is Carried By Mothers Who Have More Children, Study. Retrieved July 14, 2012, from Medical Daily Web site: http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20120613/10287/homosexuality-gene-mother-reproduction-evolution.htm Read More