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Chapter 3 - Gender and the End of Biological Determinism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2021

By
John Dupré
Edited by
Jude Browne
Jude Browne
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

My aim in this chapter is to look at the biological and ultimately ontological foundations of the sex/gender distinction. While public debate continues as to whether gender is ultimately an expression of deep sex, or rather, as many feminists have assumed, a politically mutable feature of the organisation of society, this should no longer be an issue in light of advances in biology over the last half-century. The biological determinism of the former perspective is no longer scientifically defensible. Or so I shall argue.

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Chapter
Information
Why Gender? , pp. 57 - 77
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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