Knowing women : feminism and knowledge
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Knowing women : feminism and knowledge
（The Open University U207 issues in women's studies）
Polity Press in Association with the Open University, 1992
- :
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
- Volume
-
: ISBN 9780745609751
Description
"Knowing Women" is an introductory text written by the Open University for their new "Issues in Women's Studies" course. The book provides a thorough and accessible exploration of the way feminists and others have conceptualized women, gender, and differences between women and men, and among women. The contributors approach these issues from a number of different perspectives: that of biology, sociology and psychoanalysis. Drawing on modern (and postmodern) writings, the book considers in detail how changes in women's lives over the past 20 years have affected the women's movement focusing on how women have come to know, both collectively and individually, about themselves. The book also looks at the ways in which language and discourse about nature, reproduction and sexuality have been used to locate and define women. The text concludes with an overview of current debates in feminist theory. The contributors examine the issue of whether a single theory can be developed to explain gender differences and women's subordination, or whether the search for such a theory is doomed to failure.
Table of Contents
Section I: Difference, dependency and domination Contributors: Adrienne Rich, Lynne Segal, Linda Gordon, Audre Lorde, Elizabeth Spelman, Jean Baker Miller, Simone de Beauvoir Section II: Biology and its effects Contributors: Shulamith Firestone, Sherry Ortner, Harriet Whitehead, Edward Wilson, Alison Jagger, Lynda Birke, Gail Vines Section III: The Cultural construction/production of gendered subjectivity Contributors: Pat Caplan, Carol Vance, Ros Coward, Gail Lewis Section IV: Psychoanalytic theories of sexuality and patriarchy Contributors: Juliet Mitchell, Nancy Chodorow, Jessica Benjamin, Elizabeth Spelman Section V: Language, the symbolic and the other Contributors: Ros Minsky, Teresa Brennan, Lata Mani, R. Frankenberg Section VI: Subjectivity, identity, difference Contributors: Chris Weedon, Judith Williamson, Wendy Holloway Section VII: Experience, agency, positionality Contributors: Linda Alcott, Lata Mani, Biddy Martin, Chandra Jalpade Mohanty Section VIII: Theorizing about Women Contributors: Joan Scott, Jane Flax, Sandra Harding.
- Volume
-
: pbk ISBN 9780745609768
Description
Knowing Women explores some of the most exciting and new developments in feminist theory, engaging the reader as an active participant in critical debates concerning the status of women as both objects and subjects of knowledge. The book introduces and reappraises key feminist questions concerning sex and gender, biology and the body, sexuality and motherhood. Various psychoanalytical perspectives are critically examined for the light they throw on the social and symbolic constructions of femininity. Later chapters explore theories of the subject and subjectivity, the place of language in the construction of social identities and the relation between discourse, power and knowledge. A concluding chapter focuses on the debate between feminism and post-modernism, stressing the political nature of the feminist project.
The debates are presented in a way that will make them accessible to students. Introductions to each chapter lay out the main issues and introduce readings chosen for their clarity and accessibility. Ideal as an introductory textbook in feminism and women's studies, Knowing Women will also appeal to a wide readership interested in current debates in feminist theory.
Table of Contents
Introduction. 1. Discrimination, Subordination and Difference: Feminist Perspectives.
2. Biology, Society and the Female Body.
3. Sexuality.
4. Gender and Mothering.
5. Language and Difference.
6. Subjectivity and Identity.
7. Experience and the Politics of Identity.
8. The Aims and Achievements of Feminist Theory.
References.
Source list of articles.
Acknowledgements.
Index.
by "Nielsen BookData"