Sex and Gender in Biomedical Research: a Reading of the Production of Knowledge in Anglophone Feminist Publications
Feminist analysis has paid particular attention to the study of sexuality and human behavior in biomedical sciences. This article examines feminist biomedical scientific productions from the perspective of two objectives that underpin the feminist epistemological project : first, identification of sexism and androcentrism in scientific practice ; second, proposal and support of feminist scientific practice committed to the liberation of women in a perspective of social and political equality, namely through explaining how morally and politically engaged proposals enable the production of a new mode of knowledge (Anderson, 1995). After reviewing the origins and nature of “reformist” feminist criticism, this text focuses on “revolutionary” criticism by mobilizing social epistemologies, notably that of Longino. How do “feminist epistemologies” participate in a transformation of scientific practice (in social as well biomedical sciences) and thus in production of a new form of knowledge ?