Shades of Gray: Teaching Embryology Beyond the Sex Binary

Abstract

There have been many changes in understanding sex and gender that have driven concurrent change in how we teach reproductive development. Human sex differentiation, like all biological variation, exists on a spectrum, with traits of individuals existing on a continuum beyond static and narrow definitions of “typical male” and “typical female”. Further, these sex‐defining traits are determined at genetic, anatomical and phenotypic levels during development, and may even change postnatally. Importantly, these levels can be discordant within a single level and with one another. As our awareness of biological sex diversity evolves, anatomical science educators should strive to introduce and define basic terms related to sex and gender, present biological sex as a spectrum or continuum of variable characteristics and include discussion of how sex‐defining traits may change over the life of an individual, biologically or through medical interventions. How we teach sex diversity in the anatomical sciences contributes to inclusive education and acknowledges gender‐diverse and intersex persons, who are often marginalized in a binary system. Ultimately, the way in which students learn about sex diversity affects how they conceptualize patients, with a subsequent impact on health care delivery. In this master class, we will discuss teaching the embryology of the reproductive system, including the concept of “differences in sexual development”.