Talk with Malin Ah-King on "The Female Turn - How Evolutionary Science Shifted Perceptions About Females"

28. April 2025

This talk traces the history of how evolutionary biology transformed its understanding of females from being coy, reserved and sexually passive, to having active sexual strategies and often mating with multiple males. Why did it take so long to discover female active sexual strategies? What prevented some researchers from engaging in sexually active females, and what prompted others to develop this new knowledge?
Based on the scientific literature on sexual selection and in-depth interviews with leading researchers, pioneers and feminist scientists in the field, Malin Ah-King analyses how conclusions drawn about sex were formed by the researchers’ scientific interests, theoretical frameworks, specific study animals, technological innovations, methodologies and sometimes feminist insights. Thereby, Malin Ah-King's analysis shows how and why certain researchers gained knowledge about active females, and also how ignorance was and continues to be produced.

Malin Ah-King is a Senior Lecturer in Gender studies and evolutionary biologist (PhD) at School of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden. Her research focuses on gender/queer perspectives on biology and feminist science studies of contemporary sexual selection research.

The talk will take place on May 19, 2025, 6:15-7:45 pm, at Lecture Hall K at the UHH Main Building (ESA 1, Albrecht-Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Lecture Hall).

The event is hosted by Dr. Britta Lübke and Dörthe Ohlhoff (Faculty of Education) in cooperation with Zentrum Gender & Diversity (ZGD). It will be held in English.