Neuroscience and Feminist Theory

A New Directions Essay

Bibliographic Data

ID2224722
AuthorsDeboleena Roy (0000-0003-3571-169X, Emory University, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume41
Issue3
Pages531-552
Publication date2016-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSigns: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0097-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-6943
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/684266
OpenAlexW2299980876
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited32

As a neuroscientist and feminist studies scholar, I am excited by the wide range of scholarship coming together under what may loosely be referred to as “feminist neuroscience.” Feminists trained in the humanities, social sciences, biology, and neurosciences have accumulated a critical mass of expertise that actively interrogates and contributes to research in the neurosciences. Many of these scholars are also interested in using data and evidence in the neurosciences to broaden our political scopes. However, even while these varied approaches to the field appear to be thriving, I believe that a common challenge lies at the heart of this work. The question of how we think about difference in the neurosciences is crucial but has thus far been insufficiently interrogated in this quickly developing field. In this New Directions essay, I suggest that if we see the development of feminist neuroscience as a chance to go beyond critiques of empirical methods or existing gendered paradigms and as an opportunity to in fact develop new feminist analyses of the brain, neurons, hormones, and synaptic functions, we need to make a more explicit and concerted effort to think about questions of difference. Thinking about difference, and particularly the status of matter, materiality, and sexual difference in the brain, may in turn allow us to see current neuroscience research on sex and gender differences in a new light and encourage new lines of inquiry for feminist neuroscience

Cognition · Cognitive science · Epistemology · Feminism · Field (mathematics) · Neuroethics · Neurolaw · Political science · Scholarship · Social cognition · Social neuroscience · Social science · Sociology · Thriving · Cognitive Neuroscience · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Neuroscience · Psychology

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