Autonomy, Gender, Politics

by Friedman, Marilyn

• ISBN13: 9780195138504
• ISBN10: 0195138503
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-09
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Women have historically been prevented from living autonomously by systematic injustice, subordination, and oppression. The lingering effects of these practices have prompted many feminists to view autonomy with suspicion. Here, Marilyn Friedman defends the ideal of feminist autonomy. In her eyes, behavior is autonomous if it accords with the wants, cares, values, or commitments that the actor has reaffirmed and is able to sustain in the face of opposition. By her account, autonomy is socially grounded yet also individualizing and sometimes socially disruptive, qualities that can be ultimately advantageous for women. Friedman applies the concept of autonomy to domains of special interest to women. She defends the importance of autonomy in romantic love, considers how social institutions should respond to women who choose to remain in abusive relationships, and argues that liberal societies should tolerate minority cultural practices that violate women's rights so long as the women in question have chosen autonomously to live according to those practices.

Table of Contents

I. THE BASIC ACCOUNT
A Conception of Autonomy	3	(27)
Autonomy and Its Discontents	30	(26)
Values of Autonomy	56	(25)
II. THE SOCIAL CONTEXT
Autonomy and Social Relationships: Rethinking the Feminist Critique	81	(17)
Autonomy, Social Disruption, and Women	98	(17)
III. INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS
Romantic Love and Personal Autonomy	115	(25)
Domestic Violence against Women and Autonomy	140	(23)
IV. THE LARGER POLITICAL SYSTEM
John Rawls and the Political Coercion of Unreasonable People	163	(16)
Cultural Minorities and Women's Rights	179	(26)
Notes	205	(26)
References	231	(12)
Index	243