Books by Subject
Women
Notable quote: James Watson, co-discoverer of DNA, when asked how we as a society are going to react to issues raised by genetics -- stem cells, bioengineering, and the like: "Just let all genetic decisions be made by women." Discover Magazine, July 2003, p. 19
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Editorial ReviewsEditorial Reviews
Book Description
Current theories of evolution portray men as active individuals
forging their way forward through a mix of testosterone fuelled competition,
rivalry, and aggression. But what role is left for women within such evolutionary
thinking? The role women get is that of the passive, weak, individual left to
ride on the coat tails of their male suitors. The default, no testosterone sex
interested in just selecting the best male to expand the gene pool . Is it any
wonder that feminists are dismissive of such evolutionary approaches? That many
have sought to ignore the contribution that evolutionary theory can make to
our understanding of women. But have women really just been bit part actors
in the whole story of evolution? Have they not played their own role in ensuring
their reproductive success? In this highly accessible and thought provoking
new book, Anne Campbell challenges this passive role of women in evolutionary
theory, and redresses the current bias within evolutionary writing. Guiding
us through the basics of evolutionary theory, she proposes that women have forged
their own strategic way forward, acting through their own competition, rivalry,
indirect aggression, and unfaithfulness, to shape their own destiny. Throwing
down a challenge to feminist theories, Campbell argues that evolutionary theory
can indeed teach us plenty about the development of the female mind - we just
need to get it right. This is an important book that will force others to re-evaluate
their own assumptions about the evolution of the female mind.
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Having
a Good Cry: Effeminate Feelings and Pop-Culture Forms
by Robyn R. Warhol, Ohio State Univ. Press, April 2003
First Sex : The Natural Talents of Women and How They
Will Change the World
by Helen E. Fisher
Hardcover
- 320 pages 1 edition (May 1999)
Random House; ISBN: 0679449094
; Dimensions (in inches): 1.34 x 9.55 x 6.46
Other Editions: Paperback
Reviews
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Rutgers University anthropologist Helen Fisher isn't afraid of immodest
proposals. The woman who demystified four million years' worth of romance in
Anatomy of Love now suggests in The First Sex that evolution
favors women. Citing recent research in biology, sociology, sociobiology,
and anthropology, Fisher makes a strong case for a near future in which the
natural talents of women as thinkers, communicators, and healers, adapted to
the age of information, create a new kind of global leadership in business,
medicine, and education, skewing the power dynamics of sex and relationships
towards the feminine. Women, she says, are contextual thinkers to a far greater
degree than men; this "web thinking," as Fisher dubs it, is an asset
in a global marketplace. Women are far more talented than men at achieving win-win
outcomes in negotiations. On an organizational level, women are less interested
in rank and more interested in relationships and networking, an essential attribute
in a world without borders. In the arena of education, women have a natural
talent for language and self-expression; as healers, they enjoy an emotional
empathy with their charges that can and will redefine doctor-patient relationships.
And, she predicts, in the next century women will reinvent love by asserting
feminine sexuality and creating peer marriages, true partnerships. While Fisher's
future may seem idealized, her science and her sociology make for a well-reasoned
case that the people Simone de Beauvior once defined as "the second sex"
are about to move to the head of the class. --Patrizia DiLucchio
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Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants, and Natural Selection
should be required reading for anyone who happens to be a human being. In it, Hrdy reveals
the motivations behind some of our most primal and hotly contested behavioral
patterns--those concerning gender roles, mate choice, sex, reproduction, and
parenting--and the ideas and institutions that have grown up around them. She unblinkingly
examines and illuminates such difficult subjects as control of reproductive rights,
infanticide, "mother love," and maternal ambition with its ever-contested
companions: child care and the limits of maternal responsibility. Without ever denying
personal accountability, she points out that many of the patterns of abuse and neglect
that we see in cultures around the world (including, of course, our own) are neither
unpredictable nor maladaptive in evolutionary terms. "Mother" Nature, as she
points out, is not particularly concerned with what we call "morality." The
philosophical and political implications of our own deeply-rooted behaviors are for us to
determine--which can be done all the better with the kind of understanding gleaned from
this exhaustive work.
Hrdy's passion for this material is evident, and she is deeply aware of the
personal stake she has here as a woman, a mother, and a professional. This highly
accomplished author relies on her own extensive research background as well as the works
of others in multiple disciplines (anthropology, primatology, sociobiology, psychology,
and even literature). Despite the exhaustive documentation given to her conclusions (as
witness the 140-plus-page notes and bibliography sections), the book unfolds in an
exceptionally lucid, readable, and often humorous manner. It is a truly compelling read,
highly recommended. --Katherine Ferguson
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Woman: An Intimate Geography
The mysteries of evolution are not a new subject for Angier, a Pulitzer
Prize-winning biology writer for the New York Times whose previous books include The
Beauty of the Beastly and Natural Obsessions. The strengths of Woman
begin with Angier's witty and evocative prose style, but its real contribution is the way
it expands the definition of female "geography" beyond womb, breasts, and
estrogen, down as far as the bimolecular substructure of DNA and up as high as the
transcendent infrastructure of the human brain. --Patrizia DiLucchio
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The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science
That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry
by Bryan Sykes
Hardcover - 320 pages (July
9, 2001)
W.W. Norton & Company;
ISBN: 0393020185
Book
Description
A momentous scientific discovery that reveals how we are descended
from seven prehistoric women. As provocative as Stephen Jay Gould's The Mismeasure
of Man and as controversial as E. O. Wilson's Sociobiology, The Seven
Daughters of Eve offers a fascinating history of the world as revealed through
genetics. After years of research that resulted in headlines across the world,
Bryan Sykes, an Oxford University geneticist, now lays the foundation for an
entirely new branch of the study of DNA. After being summoned in 1997 to an
archaeological site in Italy to examine the remains of a five-thousand-year-old
man, Sykes ultimately was able to prove not only that the man was a European
but also that he has relatives living in England today. Sykes found a particular
strand of DNA that passes unbroken through the maternal line, allowing us to
trace our genetic makeup back to prehistoric times to seven primeval women,
or the "seven daughters of Eve." This book is popular science at its
best, and its scientific and cultural reverberations will be discussed for years
to come. 6 b/w line drawings.
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In his clinical practice, Klawans thought about the evolution of the brain to try to understand his patients' problems, and vice versa. His theme throughout is that brain development is about windows of opportunity: many things can only be learned in certain periods, and after puberty in particular the brain has been largely "pruned to shape," so that skills like language and music may never be properly acquired.
The cavewoman of the title is the one who stayed home taking care of the babies while Man the Hunter was off spearheading the Ascent of Man (in what Stephen Jay Gould, one of Klawans's favorite writers, calls an "evolutionary just-so story"). Not so, says Klawans: because the window of opportunity for learning language is in childhood, especially early childhood, language must have arisen between mothers and children: "though few defend the Cavewoman, we all speak our mother's tongue." --Mary Ellen Curtin
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Gender Gap in Science and Engineering
: Illuminating the Differences in Career Outcomes of Ph.D.S
by J. Scott Long (Editor),Linda Skidmore-Roth (Editor)
Hardcover - 450 pages (March
2000)
National Academy Press; ISBN:
0309055806
This item will be published in
March 2000. You may order it now and we will ship it to you when it arrives.
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Reviews
This "equal but different" stance is crucial to modern gender
studies--heretofore, Hales says, most if not all medical and psychological research was
done on men, and the conclusions recklessly applied to women. Now, science is finding out
that females have their own unique strengths that equip them both for the biological roles
they may choose to embrace as well as the societal roles they have often been denied.
Hales explodes stereotypical notions of physiology and psychology in this well-researched
and liberating book. --Therese Littleton
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Titles that pose rhetorical questions are generally attached to books
that answer them affirmatively; Has Feminism Changed Science? is no exception.
In the professional culture of science, Londa Schiebinger argues, the feminist
perspective has profoundly affected both the types of questions being asked
and the substance of new theories proposed as answers. Schiebinger, who has
explored this territory in previous books (including Nature's
Body), focuses on deconstructing the types of science women have been
drawn to for careers and the obstacles they've faced inside and outside the
laboratory. Balancing the roles of wife, mother, or domestic partner with the
demands of a rigorous professional discipline can be career threatening; finding
acceptance within the traditionally male culture of science and changing
it to reflect new paradigms challenges even the most gifted researchers and
teachers. Schiebinger breathes new life into a much-discussed subject, buttressing
her arguments with a wealth of statistical analysis that makes her conclusions
difficult to refute. Ultimately, she writes, the role of gender in scientific
thinking has been forever altered by feminism, just as the role of women in
the sciences has. From fetal development and drug testing to the way that archeologists
look at primitive tools, the elimination of masculine bias has profoundly reshaped
just how science views the world. --Patrizia DiLucchio
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Smart Girls : A New Psychology of
Girls, Women, and Giftedness
by Barbara A. Kerr
Paperback - 270 pages
Revised edition (July 1997)
Gifted Psychology Press; ISBN:
091070726X ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.63 x 8.96 x 6.04
Gifted Psychology Press; ISBN:
091070726X ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.63 x 8.96 x 6.04
Book
Description
Why do talented, gifted girls so often fail to realize
their potential as they reach adolescence and adulthood? This outstanding book
summarizes research on gifted girls, presents biographies of eminent women and
examines the current educational and family milieu. From this, Dr. Kerr gives
practical advice to parents, teachers and policy makers about ways to help gifted
girls reach their potential. Bright women who read this book will see themselves
and their issues and will find it very helpful.
Features:
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Divided Labours : An Evolutionary View of Women at Work
A new myth of human origins has taken hold, and even if you're not familiar with its specifics you're likely to know its contours and to have seen its detritus: T-shirts that proclaim "I Survived 5,000 Years of Patriarchal Hierarchies," goddess earrings dangling from a friend's ears, Venus of Willendorf reproductions, advertisements for goddess travel tours.
According to this matriarchal myth, whose proponents include archaeologist Marija Gimbutas and cultural historian Riane Eisler, men and women lived together peacefully before written records. Society was centered around women, who were honored as incarnations of the Great Goddess. Then a great transformation occurred, and men thereafter dominated society.
Given the universality of patriarchy in recorded history, this vision is understandably appealing for many women. After all, Eller notes, the myth posits a peaceful social structure in which women make important decisions for their communities as powerful, even revered, leaders. But does it have any basis in fact? And as a myth, does it benefit women?
In this lucid and fascinating volume, Eller traces the
emergence of feminist matriarchal myth, explicates its functions, and examines
the evidence for and against a matriarchal prehistory. Finally, she explains
why this vision of peaceful, women-centered prehistory is something feminists
should be wary of.
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Failing at Fairness: How our Schools Cheat Girls
By Myra & David Sadker
Paperback
Touchstone Books, March 1995
ISBN: 068480073X
Book
Description
Failing at Fairness, the result of two decades of research,
shows how gender bias makes it impossible for girls to receive an education
equal to that given to boys.
Hard-hitting and eye-opening, Failing at Fairness should be read by every parent, especially those with daughters.
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Book
Description
A comprehensive overview of feminist debates surrounding sexuality
identifying the main theoretical positions and trends. Contributors include
Judith Butler, bell hooks, Luce Irigaray, Catherine MacKinnon, Adrienne Rich,
Gayle Rubin, Judith Walkowitz and Monique Wittig.
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Illness and Power: Women's Mental Disorders and the Battle Between the Sexes
By Brant Wenegrat
Paperback
New York University Press, Mar. 1995
ISBN: 081479310X
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The Woman that Never Evolved
By Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
Paperback
Harvard University Press, 1983
ISBN: 0674955412
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A Natural History of Rape : Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion
The authors base their argument partly on statistics showing that in the United States, most rape victims are of childbearing age. But disturbingly large numbers of rapes of children, elderly women, and other men are never adequately explained. And the actual reproductive success of rape is not clear. Thornhill and Palmer's biological interpretation is just that--an interpretation, one that won't withstand tough scientific scrutiny. They further claim that the mental trauma of rape is greater for women of childbearing age (especially married women) than it is for elderly women or children. The data supporting these assertions come from a single psychological study, done by Thornhill in the 1970s, that mixes first-person interviews with caretaker's interpretations of children's reactions.
While Thornhill and Palmer claim that they are trying to look objectively at the root causes of rape, they focus almost entirely on data that support their thesis, forcing them to write an evolutionary "just-so" story. The central problem is evident in this quote, from the chapter "The Pain and Anguish of Rape":
We feel that the woman's perspective on rape can be best understood by considering the negative influences of rape on female reproductive success.... It is also highly possible that selection favored the outward manifestations of psychological pain because it communicated the female's strong negative attitude about the rapist to her husband and/or her relatives.
Women are disturbed by rape mostly because they are worried about what their husbands might think? In statements like this, the authors repeatedly discount the psychological aspects of rape, such as fear, humiliation, loss of autonomy, and powerlessness, and focus solely on personal shame.
A Natural History of Rape will no doubt have people talking about
rape and its causes, and perhaps thinking about real ways of preventing it.
In fact, the authors suggest that all young men be educated frankly about their
(theoretical) genetic desire to rape. And it reopens the debate about the role
of sex in rape. But without more and better data supporting their conclusions,
Thornhill and Palmer are doing the very thing they criticize feminists and social
scientists of doing: just talking. --Therese Littleton
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The Underside of History: A View of
Women Through Time
by Elise Boulding, Sage Publications, Revised edition, Sept. 1992
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The Mothers: The Matriarchal Theory of
Social Origins
by Robert Briffault,
Howard Fertig Pub. Reprint edition, Nove 1993
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Against Our will: Men, Women, and
Rape
by Susan Browmiller
Ballintine Books, Reprint Edition, June 1993
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The Subordinate Sex: A History of
Attitudes Toward Women
by Vern L. Bullogh
University of Illinois Press (trd), July 1972
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The American Woman: Her Changing
Social, Economic & Political Roles
by William H. Chafe
Oxford University Press, 1974
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The Church and the Second Sex
by Mary Daly
Deacon Press, Reissue Edition, Jan. 1986
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The First Sex
by Elizabeth Gould Davis
Viking Press, Sept. 1972
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The Women's Movement: Political, Socioeconomic
& Psychological Issues
by Barbara Sinclair Deckard
Harpercollins College div. 3rd Edition, Feb 1983
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Sex & Power in History
by Amaury de Riencourt
David Mckay Co. December 1974
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