7 Sexes

What makes us male or female? A geneticist explains the history of scientific research into human sexuality and reproduction.

In this book, geneticist and science historian Elof Carlson tells the incredible story of the difficult quest to understand how the body forms girls and boys. Carlson’s history takes us from antiquity to the present day to detail how each component of human reproduction and sexuality was identified and studied, how this knowledge enlarged our understanding of sex determination, and how it was employed to interpret such little understood aspects of human biology as the origin of intersex births.

“Reveals the various scientific advances, in both methods and understanding, that allowed researchers to identify anatomical structures, gametes, sex hormones, sex chromosomes, and ultimately, a firm comprehension of the genetics of sex. . . . This scientific story of discovery is quite fascinating.” —Barbara Baumgartner, Washington University, St. Louis