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A Malayali man with medium skin tone, of medium build, and with facial hair. A man is an adult male human. [a] [2] [3] Before adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the father.
The human brain. Differences in male and female brain size are relative to body size. [83] Early research into the differences between male and female brains showed that male brains are, on average, larger than female brains. This research was frequently cited to support the assertion that women are less intelligent than men.
Women have lighter skin than men of the same population; this has been explained by a higher need for vitamin D in females during pregnancy and lactation. [278] As there are chromosomal differences between females and males, some X and Y chromosome-related conditions and disorders only affect either men or women. [279]
Research on the physiologic differences between male and female brains are based on the idea that people have male or a female brain, and this mirrors the behavioral differences between the two sexes. Some researchers state that solid scientific support for this is lacking.
The authors differentiate between sex differences, caused by biological factors, and gender differences, which "reflect a complex interplay of psychological, environmental, cultural, and biological factors". [14] Gender identity is thus seen as a "psychological concept that refers to an individual's self-perception". [14]
Although a person's sex as male or female stands as a biological fact that is identical in any culture, what that specific sex means in reference to a person's gender role as a man or a woman in society varies cross-culturally according to what things are considered to be masculine or feminine. [63]
Human biology is an interdisciplinary area of academic study that examines humans through the influences and interplay of many diverse fields such as genetics, evolution, physiology, anatomy, epidemiology, anthropology, ecology, nutrition, population genetics, and sociocultural influences.
There are differences of opinion about the precise time when human personhood begins and the nature of that status. The issue arises in a number of fields, including science, religion, philosophy, and law, and is most acute in debates about abortion , stem cell research , reproductive rights , and fetal rights .