Dr. Carole Hooven, author of T: the Story of Testosterone, will speak on the science of sex on Tuesday, April 29, at 5:30 p.m. in Room 398, Statler Hall. Her talk, “How Denying the Science of Sex Harms Social Progress: The case against the new sexual ‘blank‑slatism’” is sponsored by the Program on Freedom and Free Societies (F&FS) and is free and open to the general public. It will also be livestreamed; to participate online register at:

https://cornell.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lrrhFp2PTde1u08wNZTyZA

“We are thrilled to host Dr. Hooven,” said Michael Fontaine, interim director of F&FS. “She has been a model of thoughtful, respectful, and fair-minded inquiry on a contentious subject and paid a heavy price for it.” Fontaine, professor of classics in the College of Arts and Sciences, will introduce Hooven and moderate the Q&A.

The talk will explore the emergence of a rigid form of “sexual blank-slatism”—the idea that sex differences in behavior, psychology, and preferences are entirely (or nearly entirely) the product of culture and socialization—and how it has contributed to the rise of phenomena like “MAGA masculinity” and has fueled growing distrust in science, academia and the political left.

“The notion of a ‘sexual blank slate’ remains deeply entrenched in parts of academia and the broader culture,” said Hooven. “Within academia and especially on the political left, to contradict or even question this view is often seen not just as wrong, but immoral. Over the past decade, this ideology has become even less scientifically defensible and, at the same time, more hostile to dissent. In its current form, sexual blank-slatism often explicitly excludes the foundational biological reality that there are two, and only two sexes, and that sex in humans is immutable.” Hooven will argue that social progress depends on our ability to engage with biological truths in good faith, and that distorting science to serve ideological ends ultimately harms everyone.

Hooven is a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, an associate in Harvard’s department of psychology, and an active member of Harvard’s Council on Academic Freedom. She retired recently from over 20 years as an award-winning educator (and co-director of undergraduate studies) in the Department of Evolutionary Biology at Harvard, where she also received her Ph.D.

In addition to her 2021 book on testosterone, her popular writing has appeared widely, in outlets including the New York Times, the Boston Globe, and Quillette; she recently delivered a TED talk on testosterone and sex differences in play. She is at work on a new book on how biology denial harms boys and men.

“How Denying the Science of Sex Harms Social Progress: The case against the new sexual ‘blank‑slatism’” is being presented thanks to the generous support of Michael J. Millette ’87 and the Millette family as well as that of the Triad Foundation and other donors.