Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 1

Daniel Alejandro Arevalo-Rivers

Human Origins

ANTH 1020-005

Professor: Graham, M.S.

Salt lake Community College

Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 2

Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 2

Dichotomy is defined, as the difference between two things that are considered

entirely different, or been opposed. When it comes to human variation this can mean a lot of

things between us. In the human race there are a lot of characters that make us different.

Depending on our background, our gender, cultures, and even our genes. The way we define

Human variation, is as any measurable characteristic in our anatomy or in our culture, so you

can start to notice how Dichotomy and Human variation go hand to hand.

Humans can present different values depending on the societies and cultures. There

are many things that people in the world do not agree on, because of the different varieties,

almost all the differences in human have had some kind of social value for example: Skin

color, body structure, and specially race and sex. Different values have a lot to do also with

the society that people grow up in. The values that people learn in their environment have a

lot of influence, these can affect the reproductive opportunity, social standing and survival of

a person.
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 3

Because of these

factors people have

different type of

reactions. These

differences

that we see in each

other, but at the

same time they are

valued, since even

though some of the

values might be bad,

they are important

since they take part on the self identity of a certain

society. To be part of a society people normally get or have to have certain characteristics. It

is not unusual for people in a society to change their own characteristics. To be part of a

society and individual can change for example: The color of your hair, straighten your hair,

tanning, plastic surgery, orthodontia. In the united states these are all very common even

from the time you are born. Male circumcision and sex reassignment of intersex infants is a

very common cultural norm in the country.

Because of these same reasons it depends what characteristics are accepted. The

others that are not can also be determined or classified as genetic diseases. The term can be

really misleading of what really is a genetic disease. Depending on the society for example
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 4

the sickle cell anemia. It is a disease but because of the mutation that people in areas with

malaria have had it is a common thing. Since its seen as an advantage since they get

immunity to the malaria virus. So depending of the society that people live in genetic

characteristics can be seen as bad or good depending on their contribution to that certain

society.

These changes on our characteristics not only happen because of us altering ourselves.

There are several characteristics that have changed over millions of years in humans. These

characteristics can be presented as human variation or dichotomy. The importance of these

characteristics for these groups is a big part of these groups functionality. Throughout our

history you can see how it has affected us. In physical variations like our skin color. Skin

color is just determined by natural selection, this can be explain by the amount of melanin in

the body that is controlled by at least 6 genes. Both light and dark complexioned people

have melanin.

Two types of characteristics or adaptations happen depending on the area people live

at: photo protection, or the amount of vitamin D3 synthesis. In certain parts of the equator the

amount of UV ray radiation that you can get because of the weather can affect your skin, to a

point of damaging it. The body solved this by getting more photo protection against these

rays. By simply getting a higher amount of melanin pigmentation or darker in the body. Now

in the more northern parts UV rays are not a big factor, since the amount of radiation is

lower. Because of the weather, but at the same time because of this the body with a higher

photo protection was losing Vitamin D3, that is essential for the body for bone growth, and

body functions, this was solved by the body by going to a lighter pigmentation and allowing

the body to get more vitamin D3 synthesis. As they moved further north As Gary D. James
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 5

(2010) states, As a consequence, there was a strong selective pressure for depigmentation in

these populations (p. 162) so this a scientific explanation of this characteristic.

Then in cultural side of humanity this was seen as a big separation between cultures,

in something that they called race. At one point in history lighter skin humans, were seen or

portrayed as more advanced than humans with a darker skin color. But this is just something

that society portrayed to have darker skin as a disadvantage. Even Pseudoscience studies

were made that helped to the portrayal of this idea. Because of this idea up in colonial times,

humans with a darker color of skin were used as slaves, and were moved to several areas

away from the equator. Also because of the advantages from transportation and human

migration, we can see differences in color of skin everywhere in the world today. Variation can

not only happen on our skin but also in other areas of our body structure can be affected by

the area that we live at.

Body structure has also been affected by our environments like for example: when it

comes to heat as per Karl Bergmann(1847) Joel Asaph Allen(1877) animals with greater

mass have a lower ratio of surface area to volume than smaller animals and therefore, in the

cold, will radiate less body heat and stay warmer. Similar, in warmer climates body heat

generated by metabolism needs to be dissipated, hence animals with smaller mass and a

greater ratio between surface area and volume, will radiate more body heat and stay cooler
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 6

(chapter8. p154.) So this was also applied to humans depending on the temperature. You can

start to notice why body size on a person variates, depending on the area where they got race.

On height and body mass humans, in the northern cold areas were bigger than the ones in

southern warmer areas. Even with early humans for example: homo neanderthalensis they

discovered that they lived more in the northern parts, because their bodies were adapted to the

Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 5

cold. That is why you could not find these types of fossils in warmer areas. In warmer areas,

the homo sapiens sapiens or modern day humans, that were adapted to the warmer type of

climates. Nevertheless these are not the only factor that could affect these characteristics in

humans.

Another factor that you can find on the body structure of humans, is on islands like

the polynesian islands. It has been noted that people on those islands had a bigger body mass

than normal, even though their type of climate is warm. This is because of the adaptation that
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 7

the people on this islands have had, for the need to move from island to island. So they got

the characteristic for a bigger body mass unlike other islands, where there is no movement

between the islands like in the island of flores in indonesia. Where fossils have been found of

early humans homo floresiensis, that were smaller than the average human since they had

lack of resources. Natural selection favors smaller bodies and the effect of insular dwarfism

takes place due to this lack of food so that way they organisms can survive.

The body can adapt differently in order to survive, difference in temperatures played

such a huge factor in the evolution and adaptation in humans. Like the way we adapt to

warmer climates, also on the way we acostume to the oxygen due to the high altitudes. The

body for certain humans had to adapt to lo the lower amount of oxygen in the air, this is

called high altitude hypoxia. Some humans have had over the years been moving to higher

altitudes, they are a perfect example of human adaptation to higher altitudes. They adopted

larger longs to be able to breathe faster and to be able to take more air. Because of this they

are able to take more oxygen levels in their bodies (James, 2010, p. 160).these traits allows

them to reproduce and life without any complications for ages, other organs have undergone

change and made a difference not only on the way for survival but also for the place in

society.

Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 6

Sexual orientation or gender identity has several controversy, it has been raced

specially in countries like the United States or the United Kingdom, where different sexual

orientation or gender identity was an essential part of ones nature. Several studies have been

made, where body structure or gender is just determined by the chromosome that you are

born with. XX chromosomes are for females and XY chromosomes are for males, this can
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 8

lead to factors like: Sexual dimorphism, these can cause differences between the genders in

hormones, skeleton, muscle mass and sexual reproductive organs. This helps to determine our

role that we place in reproduction of our species, or to tell each other apart from one another,

or help us with the mutual attraction, and also other reproductive functions for example breast

to feed offspring.

But this is not always the case since XX and XY chromosomes dont always

determine the sex of a person. It is believed that the Y chromosome has something called the

SRY gene, that can suppress the female internal development and develops as male instead.

New studies have been made also on how the female fetal formation is also affected by other

factors, like DAX-1 and WTN4 (Crocetti 2013) As per Daniela Crocetti (2013)what is

meant is that the gendered development of these individuals deviates from a statistical norm,

not that they are sick or have life-threatening conditions. These divergences do not

necessarily indicate potential health problems or gender dysphoria.(Chapter 3. p25). This is

not the case of all people questioning their gender identity but several other studies are being

made regarding this. But even still this has created a lot of controversy and movement over

societies. Other studies have been made on how sexual orientation could affect the role or the

environment of a person or even in a their survival in certain societies.

In 2007 and 2008 several studies were made on adolescents regarding their sexual

orientation varieties. Over 1870 successful studies were made in after schools programs and

Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 7

school programs that were made over 45 states. It was revealed that was a sexual minority

youth over 6.8% of the youth population that were having same gender or both gender sexual

attraction. There was also a 4.2% of youth that reported having no sexual attraction, the
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 9

minority was compared with the majority. The majority made up of the non attracted and the

opposite sex attracted percentage reported that it was less likely to get bullied in schools. As

Coulter, Robert W. S. (Apr 2016), states Heterosexual and non attracted youths also had

higher average scores in competence, confidence, and connection, but these associations

between sexual orientation and positive youth development scores were partly attributable to

lack of bullying victimization (Vol. 106 Issue 4, p 691-697. 7p) So there is not only a

variation in reproductive organs but also in the sexual behavior in society.

Several studies have been made over hormones and sexuality. In the twentieth

century, it was determined that hormones were accepted as a chemical substance that passed

through the body and that determined the reproduction and sexual behavior of a certain

individual. But hormones can be tricky since they can variate in the 1920 as per As per

Daniela Crocetti (2013) states The first striking discovery was that large quantities of

estrogenic hormone (estrogen) were found not only in pregnant mares (but not in

nonpregnant females) but also in stallions. (Chapter 3.2. p28) so there is a variation in

estrogen not only in females but also in males. Even though at the time it was thought that it

was only linked to female reproductive process.

This helped to determine that hormones have several and different effects on the body

and how the gender of a person does not only depend on the way their reproductive genitalia

looks this would determine that sex and gender were not determined by hormones the

constant debate contine and several myth have been raised regarding this subject, and

several people have been place under surgery or a hormone treatment for these types of traits.

Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 8

In my own experience with the different body adaptations, I learned this in a very
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 10

early age, I was born in El Salvador but my mother is from the United States. My father in

the other hand is from El salvador, my father's skin is darker than my mothers and I also

started to notice the difference more when I was younger, and I started to go to school. When

I started school the first thing I notice is that: I was different than my classmates, since my

eyes and my skin were clearer than theirs, I was a taller then most of my classmates so it was

easy to stand out. After my 14th birthday my family decided to move to the United States and

that is where things got even a little more interesting. I started the 8th grade and I met people

of all sizes, and with different skin colors, from all over the world, and my size was normal I

was no longer the tallest kid in my class. I went back several times to El salvador and I notice

that my body developed bigger then my friends from my youth. I had a bigger body mass

than most of my childhood friends, even on my family you could notice that family members

on my mother's side were way bigger and with a lighter skin color than my fathers. So you

could say that I taken after my mother's side on my size since they are from a northern more

colder place than my family from El Salvador.

Now as per different sexual orientation and gender I can not say I have had any

experience with it. As I growed up I liked girls and have had a normal life, but as I grew up I

started to notice not all boy liked girls, and not all girls like boys. Also as got older I started

to notice that not all boys were really boys, and all girls were not really girls. I found that out

with my aunt she was a surgeon in the University of Utah hospital, and she had treated a man

that was born with both man and female genitalia she told us about this and in my young

mind I did not really think that could be possible. It just seems that as you get older you start

Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 9

to notice the different traits that people have, and how different the world is depending on
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 11

how you are born or the place you growed up.

In the end there are several variation on humans or dichotomies that makes us

different. These can affect us physically in areas like: the type of skin that we have, our

gender, our body size. If we are tall or short and how our organs function in the type of

environments we live at. It does not really matter where we are from, or who we are, there

have been several variation and genetic changes, that our bodies have made over millions of

years to adapt to our environments. To help us live a healthy life and to survive that have

affected not only on the way we look, but also on the way we interact with each other.
Signature assignment Dichotomy and Human Variation 12

.Branisa, B., Klasen, S., & Ziegler, M. (2013). Gender inequality in social

institutions and gendered development outcomes. World Development, 45, 252-268.

Crocetti, D. (2013). Genes and Hormones: What Make Up an Individuals Sex. In M.

Ah King (Ed.), Challenging Popular Myths of Sex, Gender and Biology (pp. 23 32 ).

"Human Biological Adaptability: Skin Color as an Adaptation." Human Biological

Adaptability: Skin Color as an Adaptation. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2016 retrieved from

http://anthro.palomar.edu/adapt/adapt_4.htm

N.p.,n.d.Web retrived from :

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=6&sid=0d804347-eaf9-

4bc1-8cc1-3f82d22a6006%40sessionmgr4007&hid=4212&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl

2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=113642842&db=bmh

N.p., n.d. Web retrieved from:

http://www.livescience.com/33513-men-vs-women-our-physical-differences-explained.html

N.p., n.d. Web retrieved from:

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3177638?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Switzerland: Springer International. James, G. D. (2010). Climate Related

Morphological Variation and Physiological Adaptations in Homo sapiens. In C.S. Larsen

(Ed.), A Companion to Biological Anthropology (pp. 153 166). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

"Scientific Racism." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2016.retrieved

from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_racism