Sari van Anders
Defining New Fields: Social Neuroendocrinology
Sari Michelle van Anders is a leader in feminist bioscience and sex research. Her award-winning research spans across natural, social and health sciences, to the arts, and humanities. The research contributes to our understandings of sexual phenomena like orgasm, fantasy, desire, and pornography – as well as larger related constructs like gender and sexual diversity.
Having led and established the new field of “social neuroendocrinology,” van Anders is asking new groundbreaking questions. For example, van Anders is researching how gendered experiences modulate testosterone, how testosterone responds when a person marginalizes others, and why certain sexual phenomena change a person’s hormones and immunity.
With the creation of sexual configurations theory, van Anders’ work will next explore how the experiences of those from sexual and gender minorities and majorities can better be thought about and understood – in science, and in our lives.