ABSTRACT
This chapter considers competing theories of gender identityand how it develops. A central controversy is whether gender is determinedprimarily by nature or nurture. Like the sex/gender dichotomy, thenature/nurture dichotomy provides a template of development that oversimplifiesand fails to identify and appreciate cross-pollination, reverse flows andmultiplicity in the interaction of biological and environmental/culturalprocesses. Some significant flaws and weaknesses are identified in thebody of research supporting and promoting brain organisation theory. Researchinvestigating human sex differences is often undermined by the inability tolook beyond stereotypes in research design, interpretation and dissemination.What emerges is a picture of research that echoes and reinforces sexiststereotypes because they are built into the research parameters and designitself. The research reproduces and reinforces harmful negative stereotypes inthe guise of scientific evidence, and because of the allure of neuroscience,that evidence has special salience in how it is defined and disseminated.
