Debating Sex and Gender

by Warnke, Georgia

• ISBN13: 9780195308853
• ISBN10: 0195308859
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-01
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The fifth volume in the Fundamentals of Philosophy Series, Debating Sex and Gender by Georgia Warnke is a concise yet in-depth introduction to contemporary feminist thought on sex and gender. Featuring a lucid and accessible writing style, the book focuses on four historical debates: the relation and possible distinction between sex (biologically based) and gender (culturally based); questioning the binary (male-female) character of sex and gender; the idea of gender as a performance and as a performative; and the intersection of gender with race, class, and other features of identity. These discussions serve as guides for the first four chapters of the book. The fifth chapter strives to resolve the four issues by situating sex and gender within a broader theory of identity, arguing that sex and gender are ways of understanding who people are and do not define us any more than other characteristics do. Unique in its exploration of several different debates--and their relationship to each other-- Debating Sex and Gender is ideal for use in a variety of feminist philosophy, women's studies, and gender studies courses.

Author Biography

Georgia Warnke is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities at the University of California, Riverside. She is the author of After Identity: Rethinking Race, Sex, and Gender (2008) and Legitimate Differences: Interpretation in the Abortion Controversy and Other Public Debates (1999).

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Sex and Gender	p. 4
Different Sexes; Different Genders	p. 29
From Performance to Performatives	p. 52
Gender Intersections and Gender Disintegration	p. 75
Sex and Gender in Context	p. 100
Conclusion	p. 118
Notes	p. 121
Index	p. 139
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