Anne Fausto-Sterling

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Anne Fausto-Sterling
Anne Fausto-Sterling-IMG 9101.JPG
Fausto-Sterling speaking at the University of Geneva on 6 March 2019
Born
Anne Sterling

(1944-07-30) July 30, 1944 (age 77)
Queens, New York
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBrown University
University of Wisconsin
Spouse(s)
​
(m. 2004)​
Scientific career
FieldsBiology
Women's studies
InstitutionsBrown University

Anne Fausto-Sterling (née Sterling; born July 30, 1944) is the Professor of Biology and Gender Studies at Brown University.[1] She participates actively in the field of sexology and has written extensively on the biology of gender, sexual identity, gender identity, gender roles, and intersexuality.

Life and career[]

Fausto-Sterling received her Bachelor of Arts degree in zoology from University of Wisconsin in 1965 and her Ph.D. in developmental genetics from Brown University in 1970. She has taught at Brown since earning her Ph.D. and is the Nancy Duke Lewis Professor of Biology and Gender Studies in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry there.

Fausto-Sterling has written two books intended for the general audience. The second edition of the first of those books, Myths of Gender, was published in 1992.[2]

Her second book for the general public is Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality, published in 2000.[3] She stated that in it she sets out to "convince readers of the need for theories that allow for a good deal of human variation and that integrate the analytical powers of the biological and the social into the systematic analysis of human development."

In a paper titled "The Five Sexes,"[4] in which, according to her, "I had intended to be provocative, but I had also written with tongue firmly in cheek,"[5] Fausto-Sterling laid out a thought experiment considering an alternative model of gender containing five sexes: male, female, merm, ferm, and herm.

Fausto-Sterling serves on the editorial board of the journal Perspectives in Biology and Medicine and on the advisory board of the feminist academic journal Signs.[6][7]

Fausto-Sterling is married to Paula Vogel, a Yale professor and Pulitzer-winning playwright. Fausto-Sterling's mother, Dorothy Sterling, was a noted writer and historian while her father was also a published writer.[8]

In 2014 Anne Fausto-Sterling retired from Brown University after 44 years.[9]

Reception[]

Historian of science Evelynn M. Hammonds describes Fausto-Sterling as one of the most influential feminist scientists of her generation.[10] Reviewing Myths of Gender in the Los Angeles Times, Elaine Kendall writes that "Her most dramatic and valuable chapters concentrate upon the lingering educational misapprehensions operating to keep women away from the 'hard' sciences and out of such lucrative fields as engineering, sidetracking them instead into lower-paying careers in the humanities or in the 'nurturant' professions."[11] According to a review of Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality in Publishers Weekly, "Fausto-Sterling contends that the fear of gender confusion has pushed science and medicine to go to extreme lengths in constructing solid concepts of sex...and gender.... Her insightful work offers profound challenges to scientific research, the creation of social policy and the future of feminist and gender theory."[12]

According to some scholars, Fausto-Sterling’s sexual continuum argument has not gained the same prominence in the biological sciences as it has in gender studies.[13] French anthropologist Priscille Touraille called Fausto-Sterling an isolated case which has failed to create a consensus or controversy among biologists.[14] Psychologist Leonard Sax criticized Fausto-Sterling's theory of a sexual continuum. He also argued that her claim that around 1.7% of births are intersex is incorrect, because most of the conditions she considered intersex are not considered intersex from a clinical perspective.[15] Philosopher of science David N. Stamos argued that Anne Fausto-Sterling’s theory of a sexual continuum is problematic because sex is defined by gamete type.[16][17] The psychologist Suzanne Kessler, in her book Lessons from the Intersexed, criticized Fausto-Sterling's analysis in "The Five Sexes" because it "still gives genitals...primary signifying status and ignores the fact that in the everyday world gender attributions are made without access to genital inspection." Kessler further commented that "What has primacy in everyday life is the gender that is performed, regardless of the flesh's configuration under the clothes."[18] In a later paper titled "The Five Sexes, Revisited," Fausto-Sterling wrote that she now agreed with Kessler's objections to the five-sex theory.

Publications[]

Books

  • Fausto-Sterling, Anne (1992). Myths of gender: biological theories about women and men. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-04792-0.
  • Fausto-Sterling, Anne (2000). Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-07714-5.[19][20][21]
  • Fausto-Sterling, Anne (2012). Sex/Gender: Biology in a Social World. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415881456.

Book Chapters

  • Fausto-Sterling, Anne (2014). "Nature". In C. R. Stimpson & G. Herdt (Eds), Critical Terms for the Study of Gender. University of Chicago Press. pp. 294–315. ISBN 978-0226774817.[22]

References[]

  1. ^ "Anne Fausto-Sterling". Brown University. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  2. ^ Fausto-Sterling, Anne (1992). Myths of gender: biological theories about women and men. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-04792-0.
  3. ^ Fausto-Sterling, Anne (2000). Sexing the body: gender politics and the construction of sexuality. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-07714-5.
  4. ^ A. Fausto-Sterling (1993). "The Five Sexes: Why male and female are not enough" (PDF). The Sciences (March/April 1993): 20–24. doi:10.1002/j.2326-1951.1993.tb03081.x.
  5. ^ Fausto-Sterling A (2000). "The five sexes, revisited". The Sciences. 40 (4): 18–23. doi:10.1002/j.2326-1951.2000.tb03504.x. PMID 12569934. Archived from the original on November 21, 2007.
  6. ^ "Editorial Board | JHU Press". www.press.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  7. ^ "Masthead". Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. 2012-08-22. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
  8. ^ "Paula Vogel, Anne Fausto-Sterling". The New York Times. 2004-09-26. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
  9. ^ Davis, Riley (2014-04-23). "Fausto-Sterling retires, leaving legacy across disciplines". Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  10. ^ Hammonds, Evelynn M. (2016-07-15). "Anne Fausto-Sterling". In Marso, Lori J. (ed.). Fifty-One Key Feminist Thinkers. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-19275-6.
  11. ^ "Book Review: Biologist Trashes Some Gender Myths".
  12. ^ "Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality".
  13. ^ Borghini, Andrea; Casetta, Elena (2019-12-16). Brill's Companion to the Philosophy of Biology: Entities, Processes, Implications. BRILL. p. 181. ISBN 978-90-04-40016-0.
  14. ^ Touraille, Priscille (2011). "Déplacer les frontières conceptuelles du genre" (in French).
  15. ^ Sax, Leonard (August 2002). "How common is intersex? a response to Anne Fausto-Sterling". Journal of Sex Research. 39 (3): 174–178. doi:10.1080/00224490209552139. ISSN 0022-4499. PMID 12476264. S2CID 33795209. Archived from the original on 23 April 2021.
  16. ^ Morgan, Gregory J.; Singh, Tina; Donovan, Sean; Watson, David J.; Boos, Jonathan; Hu, John; DeSchryver, Cassidy L.; Crosby, Brittany K.; Vilkeliskis, Tadas; Worthmann, Brian; Sagona, Steven (2011-12-01). "Does Evolutionary Theory Offer Insight into Epistemology, Consciousness, Sex, Race, Religion, Ethics, and the Meaning of Life?". Evolution: Education and Outreach. 4 (4): 701–705. doi:10.1007/s12052-011-0378-6. ISSN 1936-6434.
  17. ^ Stamos, David N. (2011-09-23). Evolution and the Big Questions: Sex, Race, Religion, and Other Matters. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-4443-5900-8.
  18. ^ Kessler, Suzanne J. (1998). Lessons from the Intersexed. Rutgers University Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0813525297.
  19. ^ Tiefer, Leonore (April 1, 2000), "Hormone mistreatment (review of Sexing the Body)", The Women's Review of Books, doi:10.2307/4023398, JSTOR 4023398
  20. ^ Bronski, Michael (March 14, 2000), "In the realm of the sexes: biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling believes there are actually five distinct genders", The Advocate
  21. ^ Stanley, William B. (February 1, 2001), "Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality (Review)", The Journal of Sex Research, 38: 75, doi:10.1080/00224490109552072, S2CID 216090456
  22. ^ Fausto-Sterling, Anne (2014). "Nature". In Catherine R. Stimpson; Gilbert Herdt (eds.). Critical Terms for the Study of Gender. University of Chicago Press. pp. 294–315. doi:10.13140/2.1.3621.3129. Retrieved 2018-11-21.

Further reading[]

External links[]

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