The NeuroGenderings Network is an international group of researchers in

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...

and

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 n ...

. Members of the network study how the complexities of

social norm A social norm is a shared standard of acceptance, acceptable behavior by a group. Social norms can both be informal understandings that govern the behavior of members of a society, as well as be codified into wikt:rule, rules and laws. Social norma ...

s, varied life experiences, details of laboratory conditions and biology interact to affect the results of neuroscientific research. Working under the label of "neurofeminism", they aim to critically analyze how the field of neuroscience operates, and to build an understanding of brain and gender that goes beyond gender essentialism while still treating the brain as fundamentally material. Its founding was part of a period of increased interest and activity in

interdisciplinary research Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

connecting neuroscience and the social sciences.

History

The group, comprising scholars who specialized in feminism, queer theory and gender studies, formed to tackle "neurosexism" as defined by Cordelia Fine in her 2010 book '' Delusions of Gender'': "uncritical biases in euroscientificresearch and public perception, and their societal impacts on an individual, structural, and symbolic level." Research can suffer from neurosexism by failing to include the social factors and expectations that shape sex differences, which possibly leads to making inferences based on flawed data. By contrast, the network members advocate "neurofeminism", aiming to critically evaluate

heteronormative Heteronormativity is the definition of heterosexuality as the normative human sexuality. It assumes the gender binary (i.e., that there are only two distinct, opposite genders) and that sexual and marital relations are most fitting between peo ...

assumptions of contemporary brain research and examine the impact and cultural significance of neuroscientific research on society's views about gender. This includes placing greater emphasis on

neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or just plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through neurogenesis, growth and reorganization. Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to reorganize and rewir ...

rather than

biological determinism Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, wheth ...

Conferences

In March 2010, the first conference – NeuroGenderings: Critical Studies of the Sexed Brain – was held in

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

.Kraus, Cynthia (2016),
What is the feminist critique of neuroscience? A call for dissensus studies ''(notes to page 100)''
, in Organisers Anelis Kaiser and Isabelle Dussauge described its long terms goals "to elaborate a new conceptual approach of the relation between gender and the brain, one that could help to head gender theorists and neuroscientists to an innovative interdisciplinary place, far away from social and biological determinisms but still engaging with the materiality of the brain." The NeuroGenderings Network was established at this event, with the group's first results published in a special issue of the journal '' Neuroethics''. Further conferences have since been held on a biennial basis: NeuroCultures — NeuroGenderings II, September 2012 at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

's physics department; NeuroGenderings III – The First International Dissensus Conference on Brain and Gender, May 2014 in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland; and NeuroGenderings IV in March 2016, at

Barnard College Barnard College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Members

The members of the NeuroGenderings Network are: *

Robyn Bluhm Robyn Bluhm (born 1969), is associate professor at the Department of Philosophy and Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, as well as a member of The NeuroGenderings Network – a group which promotes "neurofeminism". She is the curren ...

* Tabea Cornel * Isabelle Dussauge * Gillian Einstein * Cordelia Fine * Hannah Fitsch * Giordana Grossi * Christel Gumy * Nur Zeynep Gungor * Daphna Joel * Rebecca Jordan-Young * Anelis Kaiser * Emily Ngubia Kessé * Cynthia Kraus * Victoria Pitts-Taylor * Gina Rippon * Deboleena Roy * Raffaella Rumiati * Sigrid Schmitz * Catherine Vidal * Katherine Bryant

Bibliography

;Books * * Also available to view by chapte
online
* * ;Book chapters * * * * Kraus, Cynthia (2016),
What is the feminist critique of neuroscience? A call for dissensus studies
, in ;Journal articles * *
Pdf.
* * ;Opposing publications Below is a list of works which cause the network concern due to their "neurodeterminist notions of a ‘sexed brain’

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

are being transported into public discourse .without reflecting the biases in empirical work." * * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:NeuroGenderings Network, The Gender studies Cognitive neuroscience Neural circuitry Neuroplasticity Neuropsychology Science and culture