1、JANUARY 2017M A K I N G A M A N|T H E S C I E N C E O F G E N D E R|G I R L S A T R I S K The best thing about being a girl is,now I don t have to pretend to be a boy.GENDERREVOLU T IO NS P E C I A L I S S U EJANUARY 2017 VOL.231 NO.1 OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY48RETHINKING G
2、ENDERCan science help us navigate the shifting land-scape of gender identity?as?a third gender in Samoa.?I?CONTENTSTHE GENDER ISSUEKATIE COURIC PHOTO:GENARO MOLINA,?CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES On the Cover Youth interviewed for this issue on gender include Avery Jackson,a transgender girl living in Kans
3、as City,Missouri.?Go to?128|GIRLS AT RISKA by-the-numbers look at how girls and women around the world are faring,from education to equal opportunity.152|EQUALITYAuthor Anne-Marie Slaughter urges us to aim for a world where gender is neither an advantage nor an impediment.30|I AM NINE YEARS OLD?trav
4、eled to 80 homes on four continents to ask kids?answers from this diverse group of children were astute and revealing.?110|AMERICAN GIRLIn some ways its easier to be an Amer-ican girl these days:Although beauty still rules,people are more accepting of?Everything plays out on social media.?74|MAKING
5、A MANIn traditional cultures the path to man-hood is marked with ceremonial rites of passage.But in societies moving away from strict gender roles,boys have to?130|DANGEROUS LIVES OF GIRLSIn Sierra Leone,wracked by civil war and Ebola,nearly half of girls marry before 18,and many become mothers by 1
6、9.Yet even in this troubled land,some girls?104|DADS AT HOMEMore than in most nations,Swedens parental leave involves fathers.Photogra-pher Johan Bvman joined dads with their kids.ELSEWHERETELEVISIONGENDER REVOLUTION:A JOURNEY WITH KATIE COURICA look at how genetics,culture,and brain chemistry shape
7、 gender.February 6 at 8/7c on National Geographic.TELEVISIONJOIN THE SAFARIWatch live as guides track Africas iconic animals on?a series premiering January 1 at 10/9c on Nat Geo WILD.The guides also will take viewers questions via Twitter at#SafariLive.TELEVISIONEXPLORER IS BACKKnown for pioneering
8、pro-grams on science,nature,and culture,Explorer returns January 16 at 10/9c with new specials.BOOKSPICTURE PERFECTTravel to spectacular sites with?-?available at?or wherever books are sold.|?CONTENTSPHOTO:ROBIN HAMMOND All of us carry labels applied by others.The complimentary ones“generous,”“funny
9、,”“smart”are worn with pride.The harsh ones can be lifelong burdens,indictments we try desperately to outrun.The most enduring label,and argu-ably the most influential,is the first one most of us got:“Its a boy!”or“Its a girl!”Though Sigmund Freud used the word“anatomy”in his famous axiom,in es-senc
10、e he meant that gender is destiny.Today that and other beliefs about gender are shifting rapidly and radically.Thats why were devoting this months issue to an exploration of genderin science,in social systems,and in civi-lizations throughout history.As Robin Marantz Henig writes in our story on page
11、 48,we are surrounded by“evolving notions about what it means to be a woman or a man and the meanings of transgender,cisgender,gender non-conforming,genderqueer,agender,or any of the more than 50 terms Facebook offers users for their profiles.At the same time,scientists are uncovering new com-plexit
12、ies in the biological understanding of sex.Many of us learned in high school biology that sex chromosomes determine a babys sex,full stop:XX means its a girl;XY means its a boy.But on occasion,XX and XY dont tell the whole story.”For a future-facing perspective on gender,we talked to 80 young people
13、.From the Americas to the Middle East,from Africa to China,these keen and articulate observers bravely reflected our world back at us.Nasreen Sheikh,seen here,lives with her parents and two siblings in a Mumbai slum.Shed like to become a doctor,but already she believes that being female is holding h
14、er back.“If I were a boy,”she says,“I would have the chance to make money and to wear good clothes.”I expect Nasreen will learn that gender alone doesnt preclude a good life(or,for Susan Goldberg,Editor in Chief that matter,ensure it).But lets be clear:In many places girls are uniquely at risk.At ri
15、sk of being pulled out of school or doused with acid if they dare to attend.At risk of genital mutilation,child mar-riage,sexual assault.Yes,youngsters worldwide,irrespective of gender,face challenges that have only grown in the digital age.But in telling these stories,we are reminded again how dang
16、erous girls lives can beand how much work lies ahead to change that.Thank you for reading National Geographic.WHAT IF ALL COULD THRIVE?|?FROM THE EDITOR?|?THE GENDER ISSUEPICTURE YOURSELFHERE.TRAVEL WITH NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC 2016 National Geographic Partners.NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPEDITIONS and the Yellow Border Design are trademarks of the National Geographic Society,used under license.INCREDIBLE PLACES.ENGAGING EXPERTS.UNFORGETTABLE TRIPS.Call 1-888-966-8687 or visit Alaska to Tanzania,discover