Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • CORRESPONDENCE

To explain biological sex, look to evolution

  1. Paul E. Griffiths

    1. University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Hamish G. Spencer

    1. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Nature’s recent Editorial and collection of opinion articles on sex and gender in research would have benefited from greater attention to evolutionary biology and the definition of sex by anisogamy, or differing gamete size. In the words of evolutionary biologist Joan Roughgarden in her book Evolution’s Rainbow (Univ. California Press, 2013): “To a biologist, “male” means making small gametes, and “female” means making large gametes. Period!”

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 631, 275 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02248-1

Competing Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Stadtman Investigator Search 2024-2025

    Stadtman Investigator Search 2024-2025 Deadline: September 30, 2024 The National Institutes of Health, the U.S. government’s premier biomedical and...

    Bethesda, Maryland

    National Institute of Health- Office of Intramural Research

  • Research Manager, Open Access

    The Research Manager is a great opportunity for someone with experience of policy and open access to join Springer Nature.

    London, Berlin or New York (Hybrid Working)

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Postdoctoral Research Scientist

    Computational Postdoctoral Research Scientist in Neurodegenerative Disease

    New York City, New York (US)

    Columbia University Department of Pathology

  • Associate or Senior Editor (Chemical Engineering), Nature Sustainability

    Associate or Senior Editor (Chemical engineering), Nature Sustainability Locations: New York, Philadelphia, Berlin, or Heidelberg Closing date: Aug...

    New York City, New York (US)

    Springer Nature Ltd

  • Postdoctoral Research Scientist - Mouse Model

    The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Precision Psychiatry & Mental Health is seeking a Postdoctoral Research Scientist for the Mouse Model.

    New York City, New York (US)

    Columbia University Irving Medical Center / Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links