I was watching this episode of the simpsons the other day where Lisa thinks she’s going
to get dumber as she gets older because she has the Simpson’s gene.
Lisa: "It can't just be a bad day. I feel like I'm getting dumber by the minute."
Her brother and her father and her uncles have it, so she must have it, right?
Grandpa: "That's right, then the Simpson's gene kicks in!"
But she finds out, there’s a catch
"The defective Simpson's gene is on the Y chromosome, so only men are affected"
And it got me thinking, what do we actually really know about the Y chromsome. And how
did we get there?
"What does the "Y" stand for?"
There were a lot of fascinating TV shows about genetics in the 1950s
"We are about to unfold for you an adventure in the world of science"
They taught us that nearly every person has 23 pairs of Y chromosomes
"In every male human being, the 23rd pair of chromosomes is a mismatch"
"One type has a long X chromosome. The other type has a short Y chromosome"
Early on we learned that most girls have two x chromosomes and most boys have an X and a Y
And then this happened
A man with XYY was discovered
He was a normal guy living a normal life
A few years later some researchers started drawing lines between having an extra Y chromosome
and a life of violent crime.
"Some studies from the 70s said that a man with an extra Y chromosome meant a man was more aggressive"
It all started at a scottish mental institution where 315 men were genetically tested for
chromosomal abnormalities. 9 of these men were above average height, had severe mental
impairments, had criminal records, and had XYY chromosomes.
Although these 9 men had criminal backgrounds almost identical to men without XYY. Scientist
concluded that their history was directly related to their genetic disorder.
"So he has an extra Y chromosome, that's the criminal gene"
Then, Mary Telfer, a researcher in the U.S. began searching for the XYY chromosome in
developmentally disabled boys in institutions in Pennsylvania. They were tall and had moderate
acne on their face and in her mind these were clear signs of XYY.
"Kilhurst research center says he's an XYY man. Do you believe in that theory?"
Around that time a tall man in Chicago with visible acne scars on his face brutally raped
and murdered 8 nurses. His name was Richard Speck. It immediately made sense to Telfer
that he was XYY.
The New York Times latched onto this story and ran a series about the genetic disorder
stating that Speck’s criminal disposition was directly related to the fact that he was
a “supermale” with an extra Y chromosome.
Genetic testing however, concluded that he was XY. But the damage was done. The idea
of a genetic mutant supermale quickly became a cultural phenomenon.
"Well they've found I've got this, um, extra male chromosome"
Not surprisingly there was this huge bias in the research conducted on XYY men. Nearly
all genetic testing of these chromosomes were conducted in prisons and mental institutions.
"Wait, so the extra Y chromosome doesn't lead to violence"
The fact is, about 1 in 1000 men have XYY syndrome and a vast majority are completely
unaware of their condition. There’s just no proven correlation between aggressive criminal
behavior and having an extra Y chromosome.
"The extra Y means nothing at all"
Most people know that there’s not a murder gene in our bodies that make us criminals,
but we still use the Y chromosome as a huge cultural symbol for aggression and masculinity.
"Pick up a Y chromosome while you were there, you might be short one"
A lack of a Y chromosome means a guy is super feminine and an extra Y chromosome means he’s
a killer.
And then there’s Jenna Maroney.
"Jenna is an Ashkenazi Jew with an extra Y chromosome?"
"What's that now?"
When you’re watching your favorite TV show, it’s important to remember that masculinity
and femininity are as much defined by the world around us, as the genes inside us.