Feminism in Twentieth Century Science, Technology, and Medicine

by Creager, Angela N. H.

• ISBN13: 9780226120249
• ISBN10: 0226120244
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

What useful changes has feminism brought to science? Feminists have enjoyed success in their efforts to open many fields to women as participants. But the effects of feminism have not been restricted to altering employment and professional opportunities for women. The essays in this volume explore how feminist theory has had a direct impact on research in the biological and social sciences, in medicine, and in technology, often providing the impetus for fundamentally changing the theoretical underpinnings and practices of such research. In archaeology, evidence of women's hunting activities suggested by spears found in women's graves is no longer dismissed; computer scientists have used feminist epistemologies for rethinking the human-interface problems of our growing reliance on computers. Attention to women's movements often tends to reinforce a presumption that feminism changes institutions through critique-from-without. This volume reveals the potent but not always visible transformations feminism has brought to science, technology, and medicine from within.Contributors:Ruth Schwartz CowanLinda Marie FediganScott GilbertEvelynn M. HammondsEvelyn Fox KellerPamela E. MackMichael S. MahoneyEmily MartinRuth OldenzielNelly OudshoornCarroll PursellKaren RaderAlison Wylie

Author Biography

Angela H. N. Creager is an associate professor in the Department of History and the Program in History of Science at Princeton University.

Elizabeth Lunbeck is associate professor of history at Princeton University.
Londa Schiebinger is the Edwin E. Sparks Professor of History of Science at Pennsylvania State University.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Catharine R. Stimpson
Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction	1	(22)
Angela N. H. Creager
Elizabeth Lunbeck
Londa Schiebinger
SCIENCE
Doing Social Science as a Feminist: The Engendering of Archeology	23	(23)
Alison Wylie
The Paradox of Feminist Primatology: The Goddess's Discipline?	46	(27)
Linda Marie Fedigan
Revisiting Women, Gender, and Feminism in Developmental Biology	73	(25)
Scott F. Gilbert
Karen A. Rader
Making a Difference: Feminist Movement and Feminist Critiques of Science	98	(15)
Evelyn Fox Keller
TECHNOLOGY
Feminism and the Rethinking of the History of Technology	113	(15)
Carroll Pursell
Man the Maker, Woman the Consumer: The Consumption Junction Revisited	128	(21)
Ruth Oldenziel
What Difference Has Feminism Made to Engineering in the Twentieth Century?	149	(20)
Pamela E. Mack
Boys' Toys and Women's Work: Feminism Engages Software	169	(17)
Michael S. Mahoney
Medicine, Technology, and Gender in the History of Prenatal Diagnosis	186	(13)
Ruth Schwartz Cowan
MEDICINE
On Bodies, Technologies, and Feminisms	199	(15)
Nelly Oudshoorn
Rationality, Feminism, and Mind	214	(16)
Emily Martin
Gendering the Epidemic: Feminism and the Epidemic of HIV/AIDS in the United States, 1981-1999	230	(15)
Evelynn M. Hammonds
Contributors	245	(4)
Index	249