Sir, – Prof William Reville (Science, April 4th) writes that gender cannot be a social construct, since it has “a strong biological basis”. But why on earth would he suppose that social constructs cannot have a biological basis? It is for entirely social reasons that I am currently wearing trousers rather than a skirt; but that does not make their contents any less biological. – Yours, etc,
Dr SHANE GLACKIN,
Department of Sociology,
Philosophy & Anthropology,
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University of Exeter,
Devon, England.