„Science has historically depicted female animals, including humans, as coy, passive, elusive, noncompetitive and sexually reserved, in line with societal ideologies about women.“ How do societal norms influence biological studies – and vice versa? In her book „The Female Turn“ Malin Ah-King confronts evolutionary biology with feminist science studies to discuss how the notion of the history of female animals and their sexuality in evolutionary science is influenced by norms, stereotypes and societal standards. Malin Ah-King will present the theses of the book and show how evolutionary science shifted from perceiving females as coy and passive to being active. How did this new knowledge production come to a start and what took it so long?
Drawing on the concept of situated knowledges and the works of feminist science scholars, the book presentation wants to ask why a shift of perception of female animals sexuality took place, how it was influenced and how the perception of animals influences how gender roles appear in society.
Dr. Malin Ah-King is an evolutionary biologist working on gender research in biology at Stockholm University. She has a PhD in zoology, researches mainly on understanding biological sex, and works interdisciplinary between biology and gender studies. Her book „The Female Turn. How Evolutionary Science Shifted Perceptions About Females“ came out in 2022 and provides a global overview of shifting perceptions about females in sexual selection research on a wide range of animals, from invertebrates to primates.
The book presentation will be moderated by Dr. Anna Jabloner, a cultural anthropologist and feminist science studies scholar. Jabloner holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of Chicago and is working on a book titled Future Pending: Genomics, California, and the American Technological Imagination. She has taught widely across STS, gender studies, and anthropology, and recently joined Goethe University as a postdoctoral fellow in the RTG Fixing Futures.