June 26, Anne Fausto-Sterling, will give the opening lecture: “Acquiring Gender: From Baby in a Yellow Hat to Gender Identity and Expression.”
Abstract: At b
irth infants do not “have” an articulated gender or gender identity, but during the first 3-5 years after birth they acquire these traits. This talk offers a tool kit for thinking about the emergence of gender differences, gender identity, and human sexuality in a culture which envelops the infant in concepts of gender even before birth.
Dr. Anne Fausto-Sterling is Brown University Professor Emerita and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She is a leading expert in biology and gender development. Using a groundbreaking new approach to understanding gender differences, Dr. Fausto-Sterling is shifting old assumptions about how humans develop particular traits. Dynamic systems theory permits one to understand how cultural difference becomes bodily difference. By applying a dynamic systems approach to the study of human development, her work exposes the flawed premise of the nature versus nurture debate.