Journal article
The ‘Facts’ of Life?: How the notion of evolved brain differences between women and men naturalises biological accounts of Sex/Gender
Australian Feminist Studies, Vol.30(86), pp.359-365
2015
Abstract
Taken together, evolutionary psychology and neuroscience combine to provide a compelling heuristic account of sex/gender differences. In this article, I explore how the meta-theoretical framework provided by evolutionary psychology provides support for a reading of sex/gender effects in neuropsychological research that sees these as evidence of a ‘hardwired’ neurobiological basis for sex/gender. I discuss the resistance of these ‘hardwired’ accounts to arguments that—like other neuropsychological phenomena—sex/gender could be theorised in terms of experience-dependent neuroplasticity. I conclude that the evolutionary-neuropsychology heuristic obtains much of its appeal from the apparently ‘scientific’ evidence it provides for understanding sex/gender as a ‘natural’ rather than ‘sociocultural’ phenomenon—a view which is aligned with postfeminist ideologies of sex/gender in the contemporary west.
Details
- Title
- The ‘Facts’ of Life?: How the notion of evolved brain differences between women and men naturalises biological accounts of Sex/Gender
- Authors/Creators
- N. Donaghue (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Australian Feminist Studies, Vol.30(86), pp.359-365
- Publisher
- Taylor and Francis
- Identifiers
- 991005545101407891
- Copyright
- © 2016 Informa UK Limited
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Psychology and Exercise Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- Citation topics
- 6 Social Sciences
- 6.73 Social Psychology
- 6.73.1369 Evolutionary Psychology
- Web Of Science research areas
- Women's Studies
- ESI research areas
- Social Sciences, general