Today we welcome Dr. Anne Fausto-Sterling. She is the Nancy Duke Lewis Professor Emerita of Biology and Gender Studies in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry at Brown University. Her books and scholarly articles are referenced widely in feminist and scientific inquiry. She has received grants and fellowships in both the sciences and the humanities. In 2020, she re-released Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality with updated research.
In this episode, I talked to Anne Fausto-Sterling about gender/sex and the body. During the sixties, the term “gender” was introduced to make a distinction between a person’s biology and psychology. But Dr. Fausto-Sterling believes that these can never really be separate. Biology influences gender—and the opposite is also true. Culture and context can influence our hormones and body systems. We also touch on the topics of gender dysphoria, feminism, intersexuality, trans issues, and child development.
Website: annefaustosterling.com
Twitter: @Fausto_Sterling
Topics
- Dr. Fausto-Sterling’s background and expertise
- Sexual invert, eonist, & transvestite
- Gender identity disorder in the DSM
- Transgenderism and non-binaries
- The Five Sexes
- “Gender is always changing the biology”
- Redefining sex
- Intersex inclusivity
- Feminists labeled as TERFs
- Sex should be functional
- Moral panic about bathrooms, sports, jail
- Addressing issues in context
- Dynamic Systems Framework for Gender/Sex Development
- Dr. Fausto-Sterling’s call to end sex differences research