Mae Martin explores the science of gender and sexual fluidity in a new episode of The Nature of Things | CBC Documentaries - Action News
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Mae Martin explores the science of gender and sexual fluidity in a new episode of The Nature of Things

In Fluid: Life Beyond the Binary, the non-binary Canadian comedian explores the latest discoveries in humans, other animals and plants
Mae Martin poses on the laboratory set built for Fluid: Life Beyond the Binary.
Martin's lab scene was built by an all-queer team that borrowed and scrounged to create a set that was 'kooky and gorgeous,' says Mama. (Nigel Tang/Kensington Communications)

Canadian comedian Mae Martin is a self-proclaimed "nerd for science," so it's no surprise they're hosting an episode of The Nature of Things television's longest-running science program.

In Fluid: Life Beyond the Binary, Martin introduces some of the scientists responsible for recent discoveries about gender and sexual fluidity in both the human and non-human world.

Guided by eminent biologists Joan Roughgarden and Justin Rhodes, and famed primatologist Frans de Waal, Martin discovers a hermaphroditic ginger plant, sex-changing clownfish, and mammals lions, hyenas and chimpanzees that display surprisingly non-normative sex traits.

Martin and trans historian Jules Gill-Peterson look back on milestones in the flawed (but still influential) history of gender science, touching on conversion therapy, the shaming of kids whose behaviour strayed from gender norms, and an inspiring act of social justice.

100 years of the 'worst scientific research' about gender and sex

7 months ago
Duration 4:29
Mae Martin and historian Jules Gill-Peterson look back on milestones in the flawed (but still influential) history of gender science. Learn more in the documentary Fluid: Life Beyond the Binary, now streaming on CBC Gem.

Neuroscientist Gillian Einstein explains how variations in genes and hormones inform where each of us are on the gender spectrum, and neuroscientist Lise Eliot studies a scan of Martin's brain and explains why there's no such thing as a male or female brain. Eliot says research into a supposed gay or trans brain is harmful because it pathologizes those who don't conform to gender norms when there's really only one kind of human brain.

A person with short blond hair, wearing a lab coat, holds a white model of a human brain.
Non-binary comedian Mae Martin has an MRI of their brain analyzed by neuroscientist Lise Eliot to find out what, if anything, their brain reveals about their gender. Learn more in the documentary Fluid: Life Beyond the Binary, now streaming on CBC Gem. (Kensington Communications)

Martin meets with three trans and non-binary scientists who take a gender-diverse approach to their work. NeuroendocrinologistSimn(e) Sun, neuroscientistDaniel Pfau andstatistician-epidemiologistElle Letthold a roundtable about their research and their experience studying gender research from diverse points of view.They all agree science as a whole needs more perspectives.

Scientists Daniel Pfau,  Simn(e) Sun, and Elle Lett are pictured walking outside.
Scientists Daniel Pfau, Simn(e) Sun and Elle Lett take on the challenges of gender research from a gender-nonconforming perspective. (Kensington Communications)

"What I would love to see, especially in biology itself, is this acceptance of the need to have different ways of approaching the same question," Sun says.

For a look at the next generation, Martin introduces psychologist Kristina Olson, who has studied how a supportive environment can help trans and gender-diverse children. Olson's research has shown that when parents supported their gender-nonconforming children, the kids' mental health was very similar to the cisgender control group.

Martin also meets a group of trans youth who share their difficult life experiences and hopes for a future that is more inclusive and accepting. They hope the new generation of health-care professionals have a more informed and empathetic view on sex and gender.

Fluid: Life Beyond the Binary debunks dangerous pseudoscience and highlights fascinating examples of gender and sex fluidity in the living world. These discoveries reveal how, in a very real and measurable sense, we all experience gender fluidity.

Watch the documentary on CBC Gem.

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