Introduction to “Reproduction: The Female Perspective from an Integrative and Comparative Framework”

Abstract

Synopsis This compendium is from a symposium about reproductive biology from the female perspective, but what do we mean by the female perspective? Most obviously, since all of our speakers, and most of our contributors, are female, one meaning is that the female perspective is the view of female scientists. Our diverse contributors are from a spectrum of academic ranks (post-docs to chaired professors) and study a range of animal taxa from insects to mammals. More importantly, we want to examine reproductive biology from the perspective of female organisms themselves. What happens when we examine social behavior, physiology, or ecology strictly from the viewpoint of females? In many cases, the female-centric perspective will alter our prior interpretations. For example, with deoxyribonucleic acid fingerprinting, differences between genetic and behavioral mating-systems became obvious. The scientific community came to realize that assessing parentage is the definitive way to categorize mating systems since using male-mating strategies resulted in flawed conclusions; in fact, the female selection of which sperm is involved in conception is more important in determining parentage than mating events per se. Perhaps parentage systems rather than mating systems would be more appropriate. This difference in interpretation relative to methodology exemplifies how behavioral ecology might change if we examine systems from the female perspective; similar changes may occur for other fields. Another example comes from studies of whole-organism performance. Here, jumping, running, and swimming have been measured in males, usually with the deliberate removal of females and the major facet of female physiology, that is, reproduction. However, female biology may actually set the limits of performance given the need to carry extra weight and the extensive changes in body shape required for reproduction. Female performance is a valuable area for research. In fact, novel insights into metabolic ceilings arose from examining energetics, including metabolic rates, during lactation. In the symposium and the associated papers, our contributors explored the various ways in which a female-focused framework shifts our research conclusions and programs. As a way forward, we also include a table of sex-neutral terminology to replace terms that are currently androcentric or value-laden.