Opposing the traditional notion of development as the linear unfolding of predictable stages, Adrienne Harris argues that children become gendered in multiply configured contexts. And she proffers new developmental models - especially models based o

Adrienne Harris, Ph.D., is Clinical Associate Professor at the New York University Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, and an Associate Editor of Psychoanalytic Dialogues and Studies in Gender and Sexuality.

Introduction. Part I: Relational Developmental Theory. Multiple Selves, Multiple Codes. Timelines and Temporalities. Chaos Theory as a Theory of Development. Part II: Gender as a Soft Assembly. Gender Narratives in Psychoanalysis. Tomboys' Stories. Gender as a Strange Attractor: Gender's Multidimensionality. Genders Emerge in Contexts. Clinical and Theoretical Approaches to Gender As a Soft Assembly. Part III: Developmental Theory and Research. Developmental Applications of Nonlinear Dynamic Systems Theory: Learning How to Mean. Dynamic Skills Theory: Relational Mourning as Shared Labor.