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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... relation between humanity or personhood , on the one hand , and gender qualities , on the other , is contingent and alterable . Perhaps close examination reveals impurity in most specimens of the critical and positive approaches ; would ...
... relation to sex . The charm of this pursuit is that it cultivates our self - acquaintance ; we will be able to declare ourselves ; we will bring forth an anthropology . The hitch in it is that we will be unable finally to determine what ...
... relation to what , if anything , we believe to be the form of humanity - what molecular structures are formed when the atoms of what we mean join with the atoms of what we think we are . As endowment We encounter our nature as an ...
... relation with our past when we regarded human nature as the already - given ; we took up a relation especially with the present when we regarded it as a definite , accessible reference point for our calculations ; we also use the notion ...
... relation with our planning and evaluation of life without caring whether it is put to some intelligent use . Other things being equal , and admitting that many other features of the per- son are worth caring about more , we will be ...
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 |