winner of the distinguished publication award from the association for women in psychology

487 Pages·2010·2.68 MB·English

WINNER OF THE DISTINGUISHED PUBLICATION AWARD
FROM THE ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN IN PSYCHOLOGY
NATALIE ANGIER
SEXING THE BODY
GENDER POLITICS and the
CONSTRUCTION of SEXUALITY
ANNE FAUSTO-STERLING
Copyright C> 2000 by Anne Fausto-Sterling
Published by Basic Books,
A Member of the Perseus Books Group
All rights reserved_ Printed in the United StateS of A.merica, f'o pan of this book may be
_reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address Basic Books,
387 Park Avenue South, !'i"ew York, 1\1' 10016-8810.
Book design b_,' Vic/oriD Kukowski
All uncredited illustrations are from the author's collection and are used ,.;th her permission.
First Edition
A elP catalog record for this title is available from the Li brary of Congress.
ISBN 0-.65-077'.-5 (paper)
EBe 040515141312 1110987

CONTENTS
Preface I
1x
Acknowledomenrs I
XI
Dueling Dualisms I
I 1
"That Sexe Which Prevaileth" I 30
2
O f Gender and Genitals:
3
The Use and Abuse of the Modern Intersexual I 45
4 Should There Be Only Two Sexes? I 78
Sexing the Brain:
How Biologists Make a Difference I 1 • ~
6 Sex Glands, Hormones, and Gender Chemistry I 146
Do Sex Hormones Really Exist?
7
(Gender Becomes Chemical) I 70
1
s
8 The Rodent's Tale I 9
1
Gender Systems:
9
Toward a Theory of Human Sexuality I 233
'"' Conrenrs
Nous I lSJ
Biblioaraphy I 3 8
1
Index I HI
p r e fac e
x
y
Inmypreviousbook,MythsofGender:BiologicalTheoriesAboutWomenandMen

(BasicBooks, ),Iexhortedscholarstoexaminethepersonalandpolitical
componentsoftheirscholarlyviewpoints.Individualscientistsareinclinedto
believeoneoranotherclaimaboutbiologybasedinpartonscientificevidence
andinpartonwhethertheclaimconfirmssomeaspectoflifethatseemsper-
sonally familiar. As someone who has lived part of her life as an unabashed
heterosexual,partasanunabashedlesbian,andpartintransition,Iamcer-
tainlyopentotheoriesofsexualitythatallowforflexibilityandthedevelop-
mentofnewbehaviorpatterns,eveninadulthood.Idonotfinditsurprising,
however,thatsomeonewhohasalwaysfelteitherheterosexualorhomosexual
mightbemoreopentotheoriesthatpositabiologicallydeterminedsexuality
thatunfoldsasonegrowsintoadulthood.
Regardlessofone’spersonalleanings,anyonewhowantstomakeageneral
argumentbeyondhisorherlimitedknowledgemustgatherevidenceandput
ittogetherinawaythatmakessensetoothers.IhopeIhavedonethatwell
enoughtoconvincereadersoftheneedfortheoriesthatallowforagooddeal
ofhumanvariationandthatintegratetheanalyticalpowersofthebiological
andthesocialintothesystematicanalysisofhumandevelopment.
For a book written for a general audience, this volume has an unusually
largenotesandbibliographysection.Thatisbecause,inessence,Ihavewrit-
tentwobooksinone:anarrativeaccessibletoageneralaudienceandaschol-
arlyworkintendedtoadvancediscussionandargumentswithinacademiccir-
cles.Attimesthescholarlydiscussioncanbecomearcaneordevolveintoside
issuesthatdeflectattentionfromthemainnarrative.Furthermore,academics
oftendemanddetailedevidenceintheformofquotesfromoriginalsources
ordetailedaccountsofaparticularexperiment.OneofthewaysIhaveused
thenotesistocarryonthescholarlydiscussionswithoutdistractingthegen-
eral reader. Although one need not do so to follow my general argument, I
x Preface
neverthelessurgeeveryonetoreadthenotes,astheyaddbothdepthanddi-
versitytothetext.
Furthermore, Sexing the Body is a highly synthetic work, and thus most
readers,betheyacademiciansormembersofageneralaudience,willbeunfa-
miliar with—and quitepossibly skeptical of—at least some ofthe areas on
whichItouch.Forthisreasonaswell,Ichosetofootnoteheavily,indicating
that claims I make even in passing have substantial backing in the academic
literature. Then, too, readers intrigued with particular topics can use the
notesandbibliographyasaresourceforfurtherreadingoftheirown.This,I
fear,istheteacherinme.Mybiggestdesireinwritingthisbookistostimulate
discussionandreadingonthepartofmyreaders,sotherichandup-to-date
bibliography draws on significant literatures in fields ranging from science
studies to feminism to sexuality studies to human development to systems
theoryandbiology.
Ihavealsoincludedafairamountofartwork,andagainthisisunusualfor
abookofthistype.Someoftheillustrationsconsistofcartoonsorhumorous
drawings describing events discussedin the text. I was inspiredto take this
routebyotherswhohaveconveyedscientificideasusingcartoons.Manypeo-
ple think of science as a humorless profession, and feminists are always ac-
cused of lacking a sense of humor. But this feminist scientist finds humor
everywhere.Ihopethatsomeoftheillustrationsencouragereaderssuspicious
oftheculturesofscienceandoffeminismtoseethatitispossibletobedeeply
seriousaboutone’sprofessionwhilemaintainingasenseofhumor.
Biologyitselfisaveryvisualfield,asaglanceatcurrentbiologytextbooks
reveals. Some ofmy illustrations, then, are intendedto convey information
visually,ratherthanverbally.InthisIammerelybeingtruetomyownaca-
demictradition.Atanyrate,Iencouragethereadertolaughifsomoved,to
studydiagramsifheorshewishes,ortoskipovertheillustrationsandfocus
onthetext,ifthatisthereader’spreferredmode.
ac k now l e d g m e n t s
x
y
Thisbooktookmorethansixyearstowrite.DuringthattimeIhavehadthe
consistent support of family and friends who put up with my obsession and
mywithdrawalfrompolitecompanywheneverIfocusedonanewdeadline.I
thankallofthemandeachofthem.Eachofyou(andyouknowwhoyouare)
providethebedrockonwhichIstand.
WhenIneededtoreviewandsynthesizematerialfromfieldsoutsidemy
own,Idependedonthegenerosityofacademicsandindependentscholarsto
readdraftsandletmeknowwhenIhadsomebasicconceptwrongorhadleft
outsomeessentialwork.Eachofthepeopleinthelonglistthatfollowshasa
busy schedule and writing projects of his or her own, yet took the time to
readandcommentonearlyversionsofoneormorechaptersofthisbookor
tohelpmeformulatesomeofitsideas.Therearethosewhosharedwithme
early versions of their own work, bringing me quickly up to date. If I have
omitted anyone, I apologize in advance. Of course, these scholars bear no
responsibilityforthefinalversion.
ElizabethAdkins-Regan,PepeAmoryVasquez,MaryArnold,EvanBala-
ban, MarcBreedlove, LauraBriggs, Bill Byne,Cheryl Chase,Adele Clarke,
DonaldDewesbury,MiltonDiamond,AliceDreger,JosephDumit,JuliaEp-

stein,LeslieFeinberg,ThaliaField,CynthiaGarc´ıa-Coll,GISP ,Elizabeth
Grosz,PhilipGruppuso,EvelynnHammonds,SandraHarding,AnnHarring-
ton,BerniceL.Hausman,MorganHolmes,GailHornstein,RuthHubbard,
LilyKay,SuzanneKessler,UrsulaKlein,HannahLandecker,JamesMcIlwain,
Cindy Meyers-Seifer, Diana Miller, John Modell, Susan Oyama, Katherine
Park, Mary Poovey, Karen Romer, Hilary Rose, Steven Rose, Londa Schie-
binger,ChandakSengoopta,RogerSmith,LynnSmitley,LindaSnelling,Peter
Taylor,DouglasWahlsten,KimWallen.
The participants in the listserve ‘‘Loveweb’’ have shared references and
reprints,havebeenwillingtoargueanddisagreewithme,andintheprocess