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Hi everyone, thanks so much for participating in our discussion last tuesday.  I think that Alex and Jenna have summarized the questions still remaining with respect to gender and sexuality studies really well, but just to re-iterate, and aside from the interesting discussions that have been going on on the board on the gender spectra, I think a few questions that might promp more discussion are:

Whether discoveries of areas of the brain that correspond to sexuality can be used as a means of explaining homosexuality as a natural variation, or whether we cannot glean any conclusive information from these studies about homosexuality and its origin because of the extremely complicated nature of the interaction between genetic makeup, biology and social environment; whether cognitive studies of how males and females differ could augment our educational programs, or whether these simply maintain previously held stereotypes about male and female capabilities; whether gender-specific treatments for mental disorders lend validity to gender studies of the brain.

Another topic that I thought would be interesting to hear people speak about is in relation to our discussions of broken brains and mental disorders earlier in the semester.  Clearly the history of female psychology demonstrates that females were treated not as equals but as a group with distinctly inferior mental capabilities to that of men.  Obviously today there is a vast difference in how we view intelligence and ability, with women being respected as intellectual and world leaders.  How does the history of women's treatment in the field of psychology relate to the way in which we treat, say, people with autism?  Is this a fair analogy to make or are there inherent differences between the way females differed from what was considered to be the norm and the way that autistics are now seen as being somewhat disabled?

Thanks again guys!