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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... seem irrele- vantly or dangerously abstract . But more than one kind of abstractness threatens gender thinking . It is dangerous to set aside issues of charac- ter and value while theorizing political structure , because we thereby veil ...
... seem , Patroclus , winking out your glimmering tears . " 3 The insult is artfully elaborate . Even the most rudimentary woman taunt is artful in the sense that it feigns a judgment to make a point analogically ; one doesn't believe that ...
... seems thoroughly twisted . Whereas in real life it is women who give birth , we say that in the beginning man gave birth to woman ; woman , made from man , is " man's glory , " and man , made from dust , is " God's glory , " hence woman ...
... by liking men ? If so , does " men " refer to " physical " men , or more properly to " spiritual " men ? It would seem more consistent to say " spiritual " men Copyrighted Material 12 The Two Sides of Gender Thinking.
Stephen Smith. would seem more consistent to say " spiritual " men , yet Charlus's erotic attention is captivated entirely by male bodies . The entanglement of gender with what we nowadays call sexual orientation is easy to see , though ...
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 |