IFLScience The Big Questions: Is Evolutionary Biology Sexist?

Scientists aren't immune to having biases.

Katy Evans

Deputy Editor-In-Chief

Katy has a BA in Humanities and Philosophy, with over 20 years of experience in online and print publishing. She was named the Association of British Science Writers' Editor of the Year in 2023.View full profile

Katy has a BA in Humanities and Philosophy, with over 20 years of experience in online and print publishing. She was named the Association of British Science Writers' Editor of the Year in 2023.

View full profile

Have outside influences had an impact on what we know about animal biology?
Image credit: Reinhold Leitner/Shutterstock.com; modified by IFLScience

Science can’t be sexist, we hear you cry, it’s methodical, rational. And yet science is carried out by humans who are often a product of the time and place they operate in, struggling to overcome intrinsic biases and outside influence.

Host Katy Evans is joined by zoologist and presenter Lucy Cooke, author of Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal, to discuss how these biases have affected – and sometimes prevented – what we know about animal biology in some truly eye-opening ways, and hopefully debunk some myths along the way.

You can listen to this episode and subscribe to the podcast on all your favorite podcast apps: Apple Podcast, Spotify, Podbean, Amazon Music, and more. A transcript of the conversation is available here.