I am a freelance science writer, living and working in the Netherlands, with an academic background in psychology and communication studies, and specialized in gender and sexuality. I mostly write feature articles, for both national daily newspapers, and weekly and monthly magazines. In the large Dutch newspaper Volkskrant, I have a two-weekly column on the op-ed page, where I analyze current affairs. I’ve been a guest on several talkshows, both on television and radio, mostly talking about gender, sexuality or feminist issues.

In June 2010 my first book (Het idee m/v / The idea m/f) came out. In this book I argue that scientific insights into developmental psychology, brain plasticity and epigenetics make it improbable that gender difference are completely hardwired into the brain even before we are born. It was very well received by the Dutch media and, amongst other things, nominated for the top 20 of the best Dutch non-fiction of 2010 by an influential weekly magazine (Vrij Nederland). In november 2012, my second book (Eet mij / Eat me) was released, in which I dig deeper into the psychology of eating, dieting and obesity, in order to figure out what really makes us fat: not lack of willpower, but the abundance of (junk)food in our environment.

I’m currently working on my third book, about the scientific quest to find the biological (and cultural) roots of hetero- and homosexuality.