GenderSci Lab

We hope these 3 Maxims for avoiding making or reproducing errors in sex difference claims will be useful for biological and social scientists to work toward more robust science & more equitable outcomes in biomedical & health research rdcu.be/eNcRM

Why care about these Maxims? It is a waste of time & resources to prioritize sex-essentialist research when social & structural factors play significant roles in creating disparities. Robust citation practices, examining denominators, & considering alt. hypotheses make better science. (11/12)

Limitations of athlete-exposures as a construct for comparisons of injury rates by gender/sex: a narrative review High rates of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in girls’ and women’s sports have garnered significant attention from researchers, sport organisations and the media. Gender/sex disparities in ...

Similarly, our ACL paper uses Maxims 2 and 3 to show that the construct of “athlete exposure” can embed gendered structural differences in sport, which may cause researchers to miss simple policy solutions that would address injury rates. (10/12)

Adverse Drug Events by Sex After Adjusting for Baseline Rates of Drug Use This cross-sectional study examines adverse drug events reported by sex in the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) database after adjusting for drug use by males and females.

Combining Maxims 2 and 3 in our ADE work, we’ve shown that underlying prescription rates (denominator) and a number of gendered social factors (alternate hypotheses) explain a significant portion of trends in apparent disparities in ADEs (9/12)

A chart depicting how gendered social factors led to the appearance of sex-correlated COVID mortality in four steps. In the diagram, “Gendered Norms and Occupations” leads to “More Women Tested” which leads to “More Asymptomatic and Mild Cases Detected” and finally “Lower Fatality Rate Relative To Men”.

Maxim 3: Use appropriate denominators. Gendered social processes shape data collection and behaviors. Ex. Findings of sex-linked disparities in COVID-19 case fatality rates do not account for women’s overall increased likelihood of being tested, i.e., having mild/asymptomatic cases captured. (8/12)

A Gender Hypothesis of sex disparities in adverse drug events Pharmacovigilance databases contain larger numbers of adverse drug events (ADEs) that occurred in women compared to men. The cause of this disparity i…

Our paper presenting a Gendered Hypothesis for sex differences in adverse drug events highlights the many ways in which gender interacts with the experience and reporting of ADEs (7/12)

Maxim 2: Generate and weigh alternative hypotheses for apparent sex differences. A finding of a difference between categories labeled men/women or male/female could come from many sources! Consider the possibilities, including how data are collected, social factors, & structural inequities. (6/12)

This citational tree traces the claim that women experience an ACL injury rate two to eight times that of men, using a recent “State of the Art” article as an anchor paper. Review papers are shaded in orange and original articles are shaded in blue. Gianakos et al. cite five papers for this claim. The first is an empirical article of collegiate athletes that found a sex disparity of 2.4 and 4.1 among soccer and basketball players, respectively. This 30 year old article is highly cited - as of February 2025, it has been cited 2,538 times. Moreover, three of the citations used by Gianakos et al. 47 are themselves review papers that refer back to Arendt and Dick. Sutton and Bullock cite only one paper, a review, which again refers back to Arendt and Dick, as well as two empirical articles. One of these reports the number of ACL injuries among male and female basketball players at a single college but does not provide the number of players on each team and therefore cannot calculate injury rates. The other also studies collegiate basketball players, and finds a six times higher prevalence and eight times higher frequency of ACL injury among women compared to men. The final reference in Gianakos et al. 47 is an empirical study that does not quantify sex differences - rather, this analysis of 24 women soccer players finds that anatomical features were not associated with knee injuries. The evidence base for women’s supposed two to eight times higher rate of ACL injury - as presented in this “State of the Art” review - therefore appears to rest entirely on analyses of two collegiate sports in the 1990s.

Tracing the claim that women are 2 to 8 times more likely to experience ACL tears than men, we found that the evidence base for the claim was small (based on 3 to 4 studies), observational, and included circular citations. (5/12)

This citational tree traces the claim that women experience ADEs at twice the rate of men, using Zucker and Prendergast, cited 547 times as of February 2025, as an anchor paper. Review papers are shaded in orange and original articles are shaded in blue. Zucker and Prendergat state the 2:1 statistic as fact in the Introduction, providing three references, none of which support the claim. Overall, the empirical evidence base underpinning the still-circulating 2:1 statistic is two to three decades old. See paper for full caption.

For example, the often-repeated claim that women experience twice the rate of adverse drug events (ADEs) compared to men rests on decades-old, methodologically-limited studies, which we trace in our supplement for this paper. (4/12)

Maxim 1: Engage in responsible citation practices. Taking the time to thoroughly read and evaluate citations for claims and evidence (including tracing citational chain to original sources) is vital to avoid parroting claims based on weak, outdated, or irrelevant data. (3/12)

A List of 3 Maxims for Countering Sex Essentialism in Biomedical Research: 1. Engage in Responsible Citation Practices, 2. Generate and weigh alternative hypotheses for apparent sex differences, and 3. Use appropriate denominators.

Building on our prior research on COVID-19, ACL injuries, and adverse drug events we push back against the sex essentialism trap and present three maxims to help us avoid assuming biological sex is the main underlying cause of disparities we see between women and men. (2/12)

Hot off the press! See our new paper: “Three maxims for countering sex essentialism in scientific research” in the journal Biology of Sex Differences. We show how sex essentialism distorts research & propose 3 ways to avoid making these mistakes. (1/12) rdcu.be/eNcRM

Adverse Drug Events by Sex After Adjusting for Baseline Rates of Drug Use This cross-sectional study examines adverse drug events reported by sex in the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) database after adjusting for drug use by males and females.

Combining Maxims 2 and 3 in our ADE work, we’ve shown that underlying prescription rates (denominator) and a number of gendered social factors (alternate hypotheses) explain a significant portion of trends in apparent disparities in ADEs (9/12)

A chart depicting how gendered social factors led to the appearance of sex-correlated COVID-19 mortality in four steps. In the diagram, “Gendered Norms and Occupations” leads to “More Women Tested,” which leads to “More Asymptomatic and Mild Cases Detected,” and finally “Lower Fatality Rate Relative To Men.”

Maxim 3: Use appropriate denominators. Gendered social processes shape data collection and behaviors. Ex: Findings of sex-linked disparities in COVID-19 case fatality rates do not account for women’s overall increased likelihood of being tested–i.e., having mild/asymptomatic cases captured (8/12)

A Gender Hypothesis of sex disparities in adverse drug events Pharmacovigilance databases contain larger numbers of adverse drug events (ADEs) that occurred in women compared to men. The cause of this disparity i…

Our paper presenting a Gendered Hypothesis for sex differences in adverse drug events highlights the many ways in which gender interacts with the experience and reporting of ADEs (7/12)

Maxim 2: Generate and weigh alternative hypotheses for apparent sex differences. A finding of a difference between categories labeled men/women or male/female could come from many sources! Consider the possibilities, including how data are collected, social factors, & structural inequities! (6/12)

This citational tree traces the claim that women experience an ACL injury rate two to eight times that of men, using a recent “State of the Art” article as an anchor paper. Review papers are shaded in orange and original articles are shaded in blue. Gianakos et al. cite five papers for this claim. The first is an empirical article of collegiate athletes that found a sex disparity of 2.4 and 4.1 among soccer and basketball players, respectively. This 30 year old article is highly cited - as of February 2025, it has been cited 2,538 times. Moreover, three of the citations used by Gianakos et al. 47 are themselves review papers that refer back to Arendt and Dick. Sutton and Bullock cite only one paper, a review, which again refers back to Arendt and Dick, as well as two empirical articles. One of these reports the number of ACL injuries among male and female basketball players at a single college but does not provide the number of players on each team and therefore cannot calculate injury rates. The other also studies collegiate basketball players, and finds a six times higher prevalence and eight times higher frequency of ACL injury among women compared to men. The final reference in Gianakos et al. 47 is an empirical study that does not quantify sex differences - rather, this analysis of 24 women soccer players finds that anatomical features were not associated with knee injuries. The evidence base for women’s supposed two to eight times higher rate of ACL injury - as presented in this “State of the Art” review - therefore appears to rest entirely on analyses of two collegiate sports in the 1990s.

Tracing the claim that women are 2-8 times more likely to experience ACL tears than men, we found that the evidence base for the claim was small (based on 3-4 studies), observational, and included circular citations. (5/12)

This citational tree traces the claim that women experience ADEs at twice the rate of men, using Zucker and Prendergast, cited 547 times as of February 2025, as an anchor paper. Review papers are shaded in orange and original articles are shaded in blue. Zucker and Prendergat state the 2:1 statistic as fact in the Introduction, providing three references, none of which support the claim. Overall, the empirical evidence base underpinning the still-circulating 2:1 statistic is two to three decades old. See paper for full caption.

For example, the often-repeated claim that women experience twice the rate of adverse drug events (ADEs) compared to men rests on decades-old, methodologically-limited studies, which we trace in our supplement for this paper. (4/12)

Maxim 1: Engage in responsible citation practices. Taking the time to thoroughly read and evaluate citations for claims and evidence (including tracing citational chain to original sources) is vital to avoid parroting claims based on weak, outdated, or irrelevant data. (3/12)

A List of 3 Maxims for Countering Sex Essentialism in Biomedical Research: 1. Engage in Responsible Citation Practices, 2. Generate and weigh alternative hypotheses for apparent sex differences, and 3. Use appropriate denominators

Building on our prior research on COVID-19, ACL injuries, and adverse drug events we push back against the sex essentialism trap and present three maxims to help us avoid assuming biological sex is the main underlying cause of disparities we see between women and men. (2/12)

Rewriting women's health: a content analysis of the Trump administration's revisions to womenshealth.gov In 2025, the Trump administration instituted rapid changes to the data and information available on US government websites. We conducted a content ana…

New publication with @susanshort.bsky.social in @lancetrh-americ.bsky.social. We analyzed 2025 revisions to womenshealth[dot]gov under the Trump administration -documenting how credible health content was replaced with ideology: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Gender/Sex Entanglement, Structural Sexism, and Injury: The Case of Australian Rules Football This article considers how to approach sporting injury from the perspective of gender/sex entanglement. Taking the case of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, I explore how the gender differen...

Celebrating lab member Madeleine Pape's new article about gender/sex entanglement, structural sexism, and injury through the case of Australian rules football!

Check it out here 🏉 : doi.org/10.1002/ajhb...

The Double Historicity of Sex and Gender - Archives of Sexual Behavior Archives of Sexual Behavior -

Find out what researchers in biomedicine, life-science, and further disciplines can learn from understanding the double historicity of concepts and phenomena of sex and gender 💡⚡

Check out lab member Alex Thinius's new paper:
doi.org/10.1007/s105...

Combat disinformation about gender research US executive order 14168 of 20 January 2025 terminated federal funding for research that examines gender as a scientific and social construct beyond the so-called “immutable biological classification ...

US executive order 14168 terminated federal funding for much gender-related research. How can scientists speak out against gender-related disinformation efforts?

Learn more in "Combat disinformation about gender research" by Restar, Gamarel, and Operario here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Call for Commentaries: How Many Sexes Are There? How Many Genders Are There? - Archives of Sexual Behavior Archives of Sexual Behavior -

Call for Commentaries: How Many Sexes Are There? How Many Genders Are There? Deadline September 1st!

🔗 You can access the article at this link: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Gametic Politics Workshop Call for papers for social science and humanities scholars studying eggs, sperm, and gender/sex in the 21st century

You can find the details and application form here: www.renealmeling.com/gametic-poli...

Gametic Politics Workshop Call for papers for social science and humanities scholars studying eggs, sperm, and gender/sex in the 21st century

Call for Papers! 🚨

Gametic Politics: Eggs, Sperm, and Gender/Sex in the 21st Century

A Workshop for Early-Career Researchers organized by Rene Almeling (@ralmeling.bsky.social) and Sarah Richardson (@profrichardson.bsky.social)

April 16-17, 2026; Yale University, New Haven, CT

Richardson discusses Agustín Fuentes'(anthrofuentes.bsky.social) book Sex is a Spectrum in the essay.

🔗 See her interview with Fuentes here on C-Span: c-span.org/program/book...

Gender under attack The Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health lucidly highlighted how attacks on the concept of gender, and on gender equality and women's rights more broadly, are not new. As Sarah Hawkes and her...

🔗 Access the new article here: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

"Defending research and clinical practice in gender-related areas must be a priority in the face of perilous new attacks on science and academic freedom" - "Gender Under Attack," by GenderSci Lab director Sarah Richardson (@profrichardson.bsky.social) , in today's Lancet.