Sex, science and engineering
Dr Petra Boynton is a lecturer in International Health Services Research at a London university. She is a prolific communicator, and keeps a high profile blog where she describes herself as 'sex educator, agony aunt, academic'. You can also follow her on Twitter: @DrPetra.
I started out wanting to be a nun - and I’ve ended up working on sex and sexual health.
As a child I was inspired by the Jungle Doctor books. I saw myself as a missionary medic. But I wasn’t good at maths and science - I sat in physics classes reading the problem pages in teenage magazines. When the teachers asked, I said I wanted to work in family planning. They told me to leave school at 16 because they didn’t consider me capable of further academic study. After working in a care home for a while, I went to Basingstoke College of Technology, then on to Sussex University to study Social Psychology, and then the University of Aston, where I did a PhD in Applied Human Psychology.
My job has three main parts. I am an academic lecturing in international health care research at University College London with post graduates from all over the world, including many from developing countries. The course is primarily online and at its core it is about getting evidence into practice, applying critical thinking and implementing community research.
Then I am an adviser on sexual, reproductive and relationships health. We look at issues such as how people make sense of advice, how to get fathers more involved in reproductive and maternal health (in some cultures the men want this and the women don’t) and issues around psycho sexual health and well-being.
And I am a communicator on sex. There is a lot of bad science in the media and in healthcare, especially with regard to stigmatised groups such as transgendered people, sex workers and young women – young women get blamed for a lot of things all over the world! I run a blog, I write advice columns for magazines and websites, and I broadcast.
Sex research is a huge area of science. It includes medicine, health, physiology, neurology - and pharmacology, which has boomed in the last 20 years as many psycho-sexual issues have been re-invented as medical problems needing a cure. Though a lot of people are involved, many do not describe themselves as sex researchers. It’s a mix of embarrassment, and changes in funding and policy.
Brain scanning is popular with the media, but needs critical attention. The samples are often very small – perhaps just eight women scanned for one experiment (interestingly, more women are scanned in this kind of research than men). Often the data can be interpreted in different ways, and may also be questionable. For instance, in some experiments on how orgasm manifests in the brain, you can query whether women having to perform in lab conditions are in a normal setting.
Engineering is also involved. There is some amazing innovative work around enabling people with disabilities to enjoy sex. And sex toys are another important area. Phillips, for example, has invested heavily in product development and consumer attitudes and increasingly the gadgets are being made aesthetically pleasing.
It’s a very stigmatised area of work, and a very lucrative one for the private sector, so it’s hard to network with the professionals in these fields or to learn from their research.
The web and Skype have opened up this area. It is easier to communicate across countries, to link up with others, to ask questions. It’s an exciting time to be in my line of work.
Comments
Ruth Wilson:
Hi Petra,
Thank you for joining us on the UKRC blog, and for shining a light on an area of science and engineering that is often hidden or distorted.
Who are the greatest scientists with regard to sex, in your view? What have been the great scientific discoveries and developments, and have any women scientists been involved?
Melissa:
This is very inspiring, Petra. I welcome the fact that society is more open now about issues of sex, though it sounds like it is still an uphill struggle to communicate facts and get rid of bias.
If you could be at school again, would you take science more seriously, and what science do you think would be most useful to you now in your work?
Judy:
We are going back a few years now, before the days of the internet and mobile phones, but in my early days of university and work, in a very male dominated environment of engineering, I found myself 'clicking' with some of my colleagues and friends. Naturally so, as you spend a lot of time together, go on business trips, do projects together etc. The hard part was the balance between being friendly, sisterly, and occasionally needing a hug, but at the risk that some chaps getting the wrong message. I guess everyone has to find their own levels but the hardest thing is not really having anyone to share the concerns with.
I am sure there is a lot of pshycology behind it. At least now people have the freedom to talk and share issues more anonymously if more comfortable. Thanks.
Petra Boynton:
Hello everyone, thanks for the welcome and sorry for the delay in replying. My son's had chicken pox and I'm a little behind as a result.
@RuthWilson
There are many well known sex scientists people probably will have heard of. Alfred Kinsey for example is very well known (more info here: http://www.kinseyinstitute.org) and there's also Magnus Hirschfeld whose memory is kept alive with these wonderful open access resources for modern day sex researchers http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/Entrance_Page/Free_Online_Courses/free_online_courses.html
There is a list of 'sexology pioneers' here http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/PIONEE.HTM though you will note an absence of women.
One of the myths in this area is that women didn't study sex and that women have not been studied much in sexology. Neither are true, but what is an issue is how we tend to profile research about women - and research by women.
That's meant women like Clelia Duel Mosher have been overlooked even though they carried out groundbreaking research documenting women's sexual lives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clelia_Duel_Mosher
People like Shere Hite and Virginia Johnson may have been heard of although often people aren't so sure what they've researched.
Thinking of contemporary role models I'm a big fan of women like Lynne Segal who've reframed many of the debates around sex, gender and sexuality; as well as Leonore Tiefer who's an amazing campaigner on the medicalisation of sex (her campaign info can be found here: http://www.newviewcampaign.org). Meika Loe http://www.colgate.edu/academics/FacultyDirectory/mloe.html, Meg Barker
http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/people-profile.php?name=Meg_Barker
and Ginny Braun
http://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/virginia-braun are all peers of mine I admire a lot.
I'm sure I've forgotten loads of people I shouldn't so I'll update as I can remember them/get told off by them!
It's worth noting I also learn from women working in areas allied to research, so people like Susie Bright, Kate Bornstein and Annie Sprinkle help me think critically about sex and gender (their links may not be SFW so let me know if I can share them!)
Petra Boynton:
@Melissa
Thanks for your kind words. If I were able to go back to school again I hope I would take science more seriously, but more importantly I hope I would be taught it better ;-)
While it's certainly true I didn't pay much attention within physics, that's not to say I wasn't interested in science. Biology I did well in, chemistry I was interested in but found difficult to follow. Maths and physics were both beyond me.
Unfortunately a lot of the science teaching I experienced was not as engaging as it might have been. Because I did well in some subjects (English particularly) teachers assumed I wasn't trying when it came to the science/maths areas. They moved from that to assuming I was either lazy or (in one teachers words) 'thick'.
It was only years later I discovered I really do have problems with numbers (Dyscalculia) which probably accounts for why I did so poorly at school. Sadly there was no effort made at the time to try and help with this issue, despite the school knowing I wanted to continue to study and particularly to do medicine.
My experience with school (which was not good) is part of the reason I work with young people and adults now to encourage them into education.
In terms of my work biology is undoubtedly the most useful science, and one I ought to study more in future! However I do still find science fascinating and have been privileged to meet some great science communicators who, even though I still can't 'get' a lot of what they're talking about, make what they're saying entertaining and accessible. For example folk like Steve Mould http://www.stevemould.com/science and the team at Guerilla Science http://guerillascience.co.uk
Petra Boynton:
@Judy
Interesting point. I have to say intimate/romantic relationships at work is not an area my research has really focused on, but I'm sure anecdotally many of us can share experiences of connecting with people within our workplace.
I recall seeing a research presentation a few years ago on couples who work together, but I can't remember who it was by. Undoubtedly this does happen - either people meeting through work or even having collaborative partnerships. We tend to hear more of heterosexual couples in this area though, although of course there are plenty of lesbian and gay researchers/scientists.
In sexology there are famous pairings of Alfred Kinsey and his wife Clara (who played more of a role in his work than is often credited), and William Masters and Virginia Johnson who researched human sexual behaviour (theories that are subject to critical scrutiny nowadays but still had a major impact at the time). Along with Eberhardt and Phyllis Kronhausen.
One area which has also attracted attention in research is the impact on intimate relationships when people are more connected to their workplace or workmates. As many relationships are put under pressure by this. It doesn't necessarily signify the end of a relationship but can be an issue therapy can help with.
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