Anne Fausto-Sterling, Thursday, October 22, 2015

Gender Is a Process, Not a Trait: The Dynamics of the Origins of Difference in Infancy

Anne Fausto-Sterling is the Nancy Duke Lewis Professor Emerita of Biology and Gender Studies in the department of molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemistry and former director of the Science & Technology Studies Program at Brown University. She participates actively in the field of sexology and has written extensively about the biology of gender, sexual identity, gender identity, and gender roles. Fausto-Sterling is the author of several acclaimed books, including Sex/Gender: Biology in a Social World and Sexing the Body, that are referenced widely in feminist and scientific inquiry, as well as scientific publications in developmental genetics and developmental biology.

Dr. Fausto-Sterling's current research is currently focused on applying dynamic systems theory to the study of gender differentiation in early childhood. Using her empirical work on mother-infant interactions to develop a dynamic account of gender formation, she will talk about her view that gender is a dynamic process, not a singular trait, and contrast dynamic systems theory with standard gene-environment accounts of development.

Professor Fausto-Sterling's Athenaeum presentation is co-sponsored by the Center for Public Writing and Discourse and by the Berger Institute for Work, Family, and Children.