Genes and Gender Collective.

On January 29, 1977, 350 women from scientific institutions and neighborhood organizations met at the American Museum of Natural History in New York to discuss the increasingly prevalent theories of genetic determinism and sociobiology. (These theories argued that human traits and behavior were determined solely by our genes, making efforts to change behavior or moral nature pointless.) At this meeting, it was determined that further discussions on this topic would be welcome and the Genes and Gender Collective was established, with the goal of challenging the theory of genetic determinism and to provide alternate theories and explanations. Members included faculty, students, and researchers in fields ranging from literature and women's studies to biology and physiology. The Collective held conferences and also organized symposiums at the meetings of other organizations, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Topics included pitfalls in researching sex and gender, children, health, changing technology in the workplace, attitudes towards peace and war, and racism. The conference proceedings were published, and the Collective disbanded after the publication of its seventh volume.

From the description of Records, 1974-1999 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 122471673

On January 29, 1977, 350 women from scientific institutions and neighborhood organizations met at the American Museum of Natural History in New York to discuss the increasingly prevalent theories of genetic determinism and sociobiology. (These theories argued that human traits and behavior were determined solely by our genes, making efforts to change behavior or moral nature pointless.) At this meeting, it was determined that further discussions on this topic would be welcome and the Genes and Gender Collective was established, with members including faculty, students, and researchers in fields ranging from literature and women's studies to biology and physiology. The Collective's goal was to challenge the theory of genetic determinism and to provide alternate theories and explanations.

The proceedings of the Collective's first meeting were published as Genes and Gender I . Members of the Collective then co-chaired a symposium on pitfalls in researching sex and gender at a 1978 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the papers from this symposium were published as Genes and Gender II: Pitfalls in Research on Sex and Gender . Between 1979 and 1986, the Collective organized four more conferences focusing in turn on children, health, changing technology in the workplace, and attitudes towards peace and war. The proceedings of these conferences were published as the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth volumes in the Genes and Gender series.

The Collective also organized symposiums at meetings of the Eastern Psychological Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. One such symposium was held in 1989 in honor of Eleanor Leacock, an anthropologist and founding member of the Collective, while two others were prompted by lectures given by proponents of genetic determinism. Thus, in 1984 the Collective organized a symposium challenging the presumptions of sociobiologists in regard to rape. (This topic was inspired by a 1983 lecture theorizing that rape was a reproductive strategy which was selected for in evolution.) An expanded version of the papers presented was published as a monograph entitled Violence against Women: A Critique of the Sociobiology of Rape . An additional symposium, held in 1990, was entitled "Evolutionary Biology and Human Behavior: Contributions to Race/Gender Concepts," and was a response to a paper arguing that genes determine differences among Asians, Africans, and Europeans in regard to their socioeconomic status, intelligence, brain size, genital size, and sexual behavior. Biologists, anthropologists, educators, science historians, and psychologists all addressed the topic from the perspective of their particular disciplines. These papers, along with other writings on the same topic, were published as Challenging Racism and Sexism: Alternatives to Genetic Explanations (Genes and Gender, Volume VII) . The Collective disbanded after this book was published.

From the guide to the Records, 1974-1999, (Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)