Gender ThinkingTemple University Press, 2010 M04 30 - 384 pages How can we accept the gender system in view of its ills? Yet, are we really at liberty to abolish gender differences, "when the gender system gives us benchmarks of personal identity and worth along with primary channels in which to pursue the rewards of love?" With this double question, Steven G. Smith introduces his inquiry into the idea of gender and how it is implicated in love, respect, equality, and personal character. Gender Thinking is the first comprehensive philosophical exploration of the concept of gender Asking the question, what is gender?—that is, what sort of thing do we take femininity and masculinity to be?—Smith considers how gender thinking is interwoven with ideas about human nature. He suggests ways in which ideas about race, class, culture age, temperament, and sexual orientation can be understood from clues found in gender thinking. And he calls for a renegotiated procreative partnership between women and men as the key to the redemption of gender. |
From inside the book
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... is not , in any case , the means , be it “ rule " or acculturation , but the aim of building the richest possible life in com- mon . In a democratic society , both communing and Copyrighted Material A Prologue on Democracy.
... possible way with everything about everyone . ( In our era , having the vote is posited as the chief instrument and symbol of this power - cum - responsibility , while education is posited as its great enabler . ) No limit on universal ...
... possible gender worlds . The thesis takes on greater consequence , of course , if we are unhappy with gender , be- cause it opens the way to amelioration . If this gate were not open we would be pressed only into despair , not into ...
... possible to strip away the undesirable aspects of masculinity and femininity and thus arrive at attractive cores which , while partial , are morally and politically symmetri- cal . But femininity and masculinity are not so easily ...
... possible to determine whether feminine value is as humanly important and fulfill- ing as masculine value or instead is just what women generally have to settle for , faute de mieux , under male domination ? Is asymmetry only a biased ...
Contents
1 | |
5 | |
23 | |
41 | |
4 The Sex Basis of Gender | 85 |
5 Gender Valuation and Selfhood | 139 |
6 Gender and Duality | 205 |
7 Gender and Procreation | 254 |
Realizing Sex | 303 |
Notes | 321 |
Index | 375 |