An evolutionary biological-postmodern dialogue about sex and gender - A discussion (as imagined conversation) of articles by D. Kriegman (1999) and D. Schwartz (1999)

This article uses an imaginary, 3-way dialogue in which D. Kriegman and D. Schwartz respond to each other's views of sex and gender identity as repres entatives of their respective Darwinian and postmodern (Queer Theory) theor etical positions. Both positions radically challenge conventional psychoana lytic models of the role of early developmental experience, Yet their persp ectives clash sharply over which kinds of sex and gender expression are mos t violated by existing analytic theory, as well in terms of their views of the power of reproductive functions to influence the experience of sex and gender. A broader evolutionary model is presented in which human sex and ge nder identity are seen as shaped by multiple, contradictory, evolutionary s election pressures. This alternative evolutionary model stresses the negoti ation of identity within the family and the vital adaptive functions of gen der multiplicity.