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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... tion between ruler and ruled collapse , and with it the very notion of " rule " along with the possibility of allocating liberties and obliga- tions ? Democracy might mean , then , " the power of the people , " its spontaneous self ...
... tion of anyone's enduring nature . The same approach runs through the tradition of sex - reversal comedies . We notice by contrast , however , the more serious descriptive pretentions of the statements about a man's " feminine delicacy ...
... tion . ( And a woman who acts independently can be credited with a " masculine mind . " ) " Ethical gender prescription : Paul Ethical and legal language is more serious and univocal because it wants to prescribe specific behaviors for ...
... tion for these norms . Before nature is called in as our teacher - that is , before Paul appeals to a direct apprehension of gender qualities- a couple of tenuous theological arguments try to rationalize women's subordination . There is ...
... tion of M. de Charlus , and purely physical ferments may have set his chemistry " working " and made his body gradually change into the category of women's bodies , nevertheless the change that we record here was of spiritual origin ...
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 |