Monday, March 31, 2025

Psychology Diversity Week: Gender/Sex/ual Diversity in Bioscience and Beyond

2:00 PM to 3:30 PM

East Hall - 4448

Featuring Dr. Sari M. van Anders, Canada 150 Research Chair in Social Neuroendocrinology, Sexuality, & Gender/Sex; Professor of Psychology, Gender Studies, & Neuroscience at Queen's University, Ontario.

How can we define, measure, and make sense of gender/sex and sexuality in ways that take lived experience and bioscience seriously? In this talk, Dr. van Anders discusses methods, theories, and results from her interdisciplinary, feminist and queer science research program, focusing on gender/sex and sexual diversity, as well as hormones and bioscience. Dr. van Anders highlights how these approaches can contribute to research in bioscience and beyond for understandings of gender/sex and sexual diversity that are dynamic and multifaceted, as well as more accurate, empirical, and just.

About the speaker: After a decade at the University of Michigan in Psychology and Women’s Studies, Dr. Sari van Anders joined Queen’s University as the Canada 150 Research Chair in Social Neuroendocrinology, Sexuality, and Gender/Sex, and Professor of Psychology, Gender Studies, and Neuroscience. Her work and lab have been recognized with over 80 awards, including the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award from the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation & Gender Diversity, the APS Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, as well as election to the Royal Society of Canada. Dr. van Anders is committed to progressive transformation efforts for academic spaces and beyond.

Sari van Anders

Canada 150 Research Chair in Social Neuroendocrinology, Sexuality, & Gender
Sex Professor of Psychology, Gender Studies, & Neuroscience
Department of Psychology
Queen's University

Our research program focuses on gender/sex and sexual diversity, sexuality, feminist/queer science, and social neuroendocrinology. Within gender/sex and sexual diversity, we explore measurement and understandings of these phenomena, including with models we've developed (like sexual configurations theory), and with relevance to trans, nonbinary, queer, and/or other minoritized gender/sex/ual experiences/identities/existences, as well as "majority-situating" approaches with gender/sex/ual majorities.

With sexuality, we explore desire, orgasm, pleasure, porn, and other topics, including with theory we've developed (like the heteronormativity theory of low sexual desire in women partnered with men). With social neuroendocrinology, we explore the impact of social behavioural contexts related to intimacy, gender, sexuality, and power/oppression on hormones like testosterone, using theory we have developed (like our steroid/peptide theory of social bonds). And, with feminist/queer science, we do work on articulating principles for this approach and how it imbues all our other research.