Canada 150 Research Chair in Social Neuroendocrinology, Sexuality, and Gender/Sex, and Professor of Psychology, Gender Studies, and Neuroscience at Queen's University
About
Dr. Sari van Anders has published over 65 peer-reviewed papers, including two major theory papers that have and continue to have major influences over their relevant fields. She sets out novel and innovative ways of conceptualizing, understanding, and measuring gender/sex and sexual diversity, and integrating socialization and bioscience perspectives for research on hormones and social behavioral contexts. Her work in feminist science is arguably unique, with a number of interviews about what the methods and practices of feminist science would involve. Her scholarship has been recognized with awards such as the 2016 Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology and the 2012 Ira and Harriet Reiss Theory Award from the Foundation for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. In addition, Dr. van Anders has been awarded the 2013 Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science, the Frank A. Beach Young Investigator Award from the Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology, and has been named a "Scientist to Watch" by The Scientist. She is also extensively involved in mentoring and leadership in the field, and this has been recognized by the 2016 Committee on Women in Psychology Leadership Award from the American Psychological Association (APA). She is editor of the Annual Review of Sex Research, and associate editor of two other journals. She sits on four editorial boards and has been involved in a number of program committees. She has been involved in service beyond the discipline as well, including with the Institute for Gender and Health at the Canadian Institute of Health Research and at the International Court of Arbitration of Sport as an expert witness.
Current Work:
Many of Dr. van Anders' current projects use "sexual configurations theory" (van Anders, 2015) to explore how sexual diversity and gender/sex might be meaningfully expressed in scholarship, including those with minority and/or marginalized sexual social locations. Others use "the steroid/peptide theory of social bonds (van Anders, Goldey, & Kuo, 2011) to understand how gendered and intimate social experiences affect testosterone and other hormones, asking hormonal questions that have both evolution and social constructions in their answers. In some current lines of research, Dr. van Anders is beginning to explore how holding power, including as a majority group member, affects testosterone.
Research Area Keyword(s):
gender, sex, hormones, feminist, neuroscience, sexuality, trans, sexual diversity
