Self and autobiographical memory are inextricably intertwined. From both cognitive and personality perspectives, theorists agree that who we are is very much defined by our remembered experiences (Conway, Singer, & Tagini, 2004; McAdams, 2001; McLean, Pasupathi, & Pals, 2007), and more and more studies examine autobiographical narratives as reflective as identity (see McLean & Syed, 2014, for a review). Moreover, there is growing awareness of the deeply socioculturally embedded subjectivity of both autobiographical memory and identity (see Bersten & Rubin, 2004, for a review). In this chapter, we take a feminist perspective on current theoretical models of autobiographical memory (Fivush, 2004; Grysman & Hudson, 2013; Nelson & Fivush, 2004) to argue that gender is dynamically expressed in autobiographical narratives in ways that simultaneously create fluid and more stable aspects of a gendered identity. We review the autobiographical memory literature both theoretically and empirically, focusing on how gender is conceptualized and assessed, and end with a speculative model for integrating sociocultural theories of autobiographical memory development with feminist models of gender identity (e.g., Fivush 2000, 2004).

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Fivush, Robyn, and Azriel Grysman. Gendered Autobiographical Memory: Feminist Approaches to Theory and Method. In Feminist Perspectives on Building a Better Psychological Science of Gender, edited by Tomi-Ann Roberts, Nicola Curtin, Lauren E. Duncan, and Lilia M. Cortina, 99-120. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2016.

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