Knowing Women: Feminism and Knowledge (Open Uiversity's Issues in Women's Studies) - Hardcover

Crowley, Helen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0745609759 ISBN 13: 9780745609751

Publisher: Polity Pr, 1992

Synopsis

"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.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

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.

About the Author:

Helen Crowley is Lecturer in Sociology at The Open University.

Susan Himmelweit is Senior Lecturer in Economics at The Open University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Polity Pr
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0745609759
• ISBN 13: 9780745609751
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 396
• Editor: Himmelweit Susan