Anne Fausto-Sterling ( Sterling; born July 30, 1944) is an American
sexologist
Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behaviors, and functions. The term ''sexology'' does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sexuality, such as social criticism.
Sexologists a ...
who has written extensively on the
biology of gender,
sexual identity,
gender identity
Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent, and consistent with the ...
,
gender role
A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cent ...
s, and
intersexuality
Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical ...
. She is the Nancy Duke Lewis Professor Emerita of Biology and Gender Studies at
Brown University.
Life and career
Fausto-Sterling's mother,
Dorothy Sterling
Dorothy Sterling (née Dannenberg; November 23, 1913 – December 1, 2008) was an American writer and historian. After college, she worked as a journalist and writer in New York for several years, including work for the Federal Writers’ Pr ...
, was a noted writer and historian while her father was also a published writer.
Fausto-Sterling received her
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree in
zoology
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and ...
from
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
in 1965 and her Ph.D. in
developmental genetics
Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and differentiation of stem c ...
from
Brown University in 1970. After earning her Ph.D. she joined the faculty of Brown, where she was appointed Nancy Duke Lewis Professor of Biology and Gender Studies.
In a 1993 paper titled "," Fausto-Sterling laid out a thought experiment considering an alternative model of
gender
Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...
containing five sexes:
male
Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization.
A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...
,
female
Female ( symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...
, merm, ferm, and
herm.
She later said that the paper "had intended to be provocative, but I had also written with tongue firmly in cheek".
[ ]
Fausto-Sterling has written two books intended for a general audience. The first of those books, ''Myths of Gender'', was first published in 1985.
Her second book for the general public is ''
Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality'', published in 2000.
In the book 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."
Fausto-Sterling married
Paula Vogel
Paula Vogel (born November 16, 1951) is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play ''How I Learned to Drive.'' A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Bro ...
, a Yale professor and
Pulitzer-winning playwright, in 2004.
She has served on the editorial board of the journal ''
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
''Perspectives in Biology and Medicine'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1957. It publishes essays that explore biology and medicine in relation to their place in society. Authors write informally, presenting their "perspectives" ...
'' and on the advisory board of the feminist academic journal ''
Signs''.
She retired from Brown University in 2014, after 44 years on the faculty.
Reception
Historian of science
Evelynn M. Hammonds
Evelynn Maxine Hammonds (born 1953) is an American feminist and scholar. She is the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of Science and Professor of African and African-American Studies at Harvard University, and former Dean of Har ...
describes Fausto-Sterling as one of the most influential
feminist scientists of her generation. Reviewing ''Myths of Gender'' in the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', 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."
''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' describes Fausto-Sterling's work as "insightful", stating that ''Sexing the Body'' "offers profound challenges to scientific research, the creation of social policy and the future of feminist and gender theory."
Fausto-Sterling’s sexual continuum argument has not gained the same prominence in the biological sciences as it has in
gender studies
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...
. French anthropologist Priscille Touraille called Fausto-Sterling an isolated case which has failed to create a consensus or controversy among biologists. Physician and psychologist
Leonard Sax
Leonard Sax is an American psychologist and a practicing family physician. He is best known as the author of three books for parents: ''Boys Adrift'', ''Girls on the Edge'', and ''Why Gender Matters''. According to his web site, he is currently ...
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.
Philosopher of science
David N. Stamos
David N. Stamos (born 1957) is a Canadian philosopher of science and professor in the Philosophy Department at York University. He studied in York University, where he received his Ph.D. in Philosophy. He emphasizes an interdisciplinary approac ...
argued that Fausto-Sterling’s theory of a sexual continuum is problematic because
sex
Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones ( ova, of ...
, for Stamos, is defined by gamete type. 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."
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
*
*
*
Book chapters
*
See also
*
Feminist sexology
References
Further reading
*
*
*
* (Review of ''Myths of Gender''.)
*
* (Review of ''Sexing the Body''.)
External links
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Brown University research profileBrown University faculty profileAnne Fausto-Sterling Papers- Pembroke Center Archives, Brown University
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fausto-Sterling, Anne
1944 births
20th-century American biologists
20th-century American women scientists
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century American biologists
21st-century American women scientists
21st-century LGBT people
Activists from New York City
American feminist writers
American geneticists
American sexologists
American women activists
Brown University faculty
Feminist theorists
Gender studies academics
Intersex and medicine
LGBT academics
LGBT people from New York (state)
LGBT rights activists from the United States
LGBT scientists from the United States
Living people
Scientists from New York City
Transgender studies academics
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
Women sexologists