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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... turn . So we need to establish exactly what gender is and how such a thing would be related to sex , procreation , and the ordering of life . But even supposing that it lies in our power to abolish gender : May we ? Should we ? Can we ...
... turns at any given moment rather than an alterable arrangement in life . Gender critics dwell on the variability in gender systems as a proof that no particular form of gender is " natural , " meaning necessary . But the positive ...
... turn to Paul's other gender proposition , " In Christ there is neither male nor female , " we see that the notion of a separate spirit world or " resurrection " has opened a conceptual space in which gender might qualify no one . The ...
... turn , is that , as regards the qualities affected by gendering , completeness in the human indi- vidual means the same as human completeness realized in commu- nity - that any " division of responsibility for basic human concerns ...
... turn , must be seen as a reflex of their exclusion from - yet crucial linkages with - the world of male prestige . If it were simply a matter of there being two parallel value - equivalent domains - domestic and public , female and male ...
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 |