How the Clinic Made Gender: The Medical History of a Transformative Idea

<p style="text-align: left;">On November 9, 2022, Social Science Matrix hosted a panel discussion on “Authors Meet Critics” panel discussion on <a href= "https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/H/bo156724705.html"> <em>How the Clinic Made Gender: The Medical History of a Transformative Idea</em></a>, by Sandra Eder, Associate Professor of History at UC Berkeley. Eder was joined in conversation by <a href= "https://gws.berkeley.edu/about/department-faculty/laura-c-nelson/"> Laura Nelson</a>, Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at UC Berkeley, and <a href="https://danyalagos.com/">Danya Lagos</a>, Assistant Professor in the UC Berkeley Department of Sociology. The panel was moderated by <a href= "https://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/people/catherine-ceniza-choy/">Catherine Ceniza Choy</a>, Professor of Ethnic Studies and Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice, and Belonging in the UC Berkeley Division of Computing, Data Science, and Society. The panel was co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Department of History, the UC Berkeley Department of Gender and Women’s Studies, the Center for Race and Gender, and the Center for Science, Technology, Medicine and Society (CSTMS).</p> <p style="text-align: left;">In <em>How the Clinic Made Gender: The Medical History of a Transformative Idea</em>, Eder tells the story of the invention of gender in American medicine, detailing how it was shaped by mid-20th-century American notions of culture, personality, and social engineering. Eder shows how the concept of gender transformed from a pragmatic tool in the sex assignment of children with intersex traits in the 1950s to an essential category in clinics for transgender individuals in the 1960s.</p>