Imaging the Super-Female: Women, Gender and Handbooks in the History of a Genetic Term

Abstract

The concept ‘super-female’ initially appeared in genetic studies of the common fruit fly, Drosophila, during the 1920s, and in early medical cytogenetic research in 1959. In this paper I present a genealogy of this gendered term and analyse the influence of the genetic concepts formulated by drosophilists on the construction of what would come to be known as medical – human – cytogenetics. While retrieving the participation of woman geneticists, the historical trajectory of this word and its meaning will be traced through the early cytogenetics of sex determination.