Introducing Gender & Womens Studies Third Edition

by Richardson, Diane; Robinson, Victoria

• ISBN13: 9780230543003
• ISBN10: 0230543006
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-12-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This is a substantially revised and refocused third edition of a best-selling and highly regarded textbook. Carefully designed to reflect both classic and new developments in the popular and lively fields of gender and women's studies, its breadth and depth make it suitable for students taking courses for the first time at either undergraduate or postgraduate level. Its new design and structure both highlight the connections across different areas of debate and maximize the book's accessibility as an indispensable source book for study.

Author Biography

DIANE RICHARDSON is Director of the Centre for Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Newcastle as well as Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy. She is the author of many books including Rethinking Sexuality (Sage 2000), Theorising Heterosexuality (Open University Press 1996) and Women, Motherhood and Childrearing (Macmillan 1993).

Dr VICTORIA ROBINSON is Programme Director for the MA in Gender Studies at the University of Newcastle. She is also Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology, University of Manchester, and Associate Lecturer, Social Sciences, at the Open University.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures	p. xi
Acknowledgements	p. xii
Notes on Contributors	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xvii
Theory and Politics	p. 1
Conceptualizing Gender	p. 3
Introduction	p. 3
The sex/gender binary	p. 4
Sex as a construction?	p. 6
Feminist gender theory	p. 9
Gender and sexuality	p. 13
New imaginings: patterned fluidities	p. 16
Conclusion	p. 17
Feminist Theories	p. 20
Introduction	p. 20
Beyond the 'Big Three': developments in feminist theory	p. 21
Poststructuralist and postmodern theory	p. 23
Debating queer and feminism	p. 26
Transgender studies	p. 28
Conclusion	p. 32
Feminism, Social Movements and the Gendering of Politics	p. 35
Introduction	p. 35
Women and social movements	p. 36
Redefining politics	p. 40
Women's political participation	p. 42
Women making a difference	p. 48
Conclusion	p. 53
Men, Masculinities and Feminism	p. 55
Introduction	p. 55
The historical context	p. 55
The institutionalization of the study of men and masculinities	p. 57
Conceptual developments in the study of masculinity	p. 58
The 'crisis of masculinity'	p. 60
Hegemonic masculinity	p. 61
Case study: hegemonic masculinities and heterosexuality	p. 62
Case study: men and sport	p. 64
Critiques of theorizing on men and masculinities	p. 66
Future directions	p. 69
Conclusion	p. 70
Bodies-Identities	p. 73
Gendered Bodies: Gendered Lives	p. 75
Introduction	p. 75
Bodies	p. 76
Bodies in the contemporary world: targets of intervention	p. 77
Feminist critiques of the body	p. 78
Sex/Gender	p. 80
Embodied identities: body and self	p. 81
Phenomenology: embodiment and experience	p. 84
What's normal? Technoscience and the promise of cyborgs	p. 87
Conclusion	p. 88
Racing the Feminist Agenda: Exploring the Intersections Between Race, Ethnicity and Gender	p. 91
Introduction	p. 91
Feminism, race and the invisible black woman	p. 92
Black feminist challenges	p. 93
Black feminism, postmodernism and difference	p. 96
Race, ethnicity and gender - new agendas	p. 98
Race, ethnicity and identity	p. 99
Women and whiteness	p. 100
Masculinity, race and ethnicity	p. 101
Postcolonial feminism	p. 102
Conclusion	p. 103
Sexuality	p. 106
Introduction	p. 106
Not quite queer? Sexuality, gender and 'the rest'	p. 107
Feminist and/or queer?	p. 109
Sexuality, appearance and lifestyle	p. 110
Sexuality, femininity and class	p. 111
The 'transformation of intimacy'?	p. 112
Sexuality, the self and the space in between	p. 114
Left of centre? The politics of sexuality	p. 118
Conclusion	p. 121
Institutions	p. 123
Families, Domesticity and Intimacy: Changing Relationships in Changing Times	p. 125
Introduction	p. 125
Feminism and the family	p. 125
Bringing the family into question	p. 127
Beyond households	p. 132
Family finances and domestic work	p. 133
Emotional attachments	p. 138
Towards postmodern, individualized families?	p. 140
Conclusion	p. 142
Gender and Schooling: Contemporary Issues in Gender Equality and Educational Achievement	p. 144
Introduction	p. 144
Historical contexts of girls' inequality in schooling and the development of 'education feminism'	p. 145
Gendered inequalities in education on a global scale	p. 147
The panic over 'failing boys'	p. 148
Testing equality? Educational discourses of achievement and performance	p. 150
Reproducing gender binaries	p. 152
The proliferating discourse of girls' success	p. 154
Conclusion	p. 157
Gender and Work	p. 160
Introduction	p. 160
The gendering of work	p. 161
The experience of employment	p. 165
The sharing of work and employment	p. 168
Explaining gendered patterns of work	p. 178
Work: is the future female?	p. 180
Conclusion	p. 182
Cultures and Contexts	p. 185
Media and Popular Culture	p. 187
Gender and consumption	p. 187
Advertising - selling (to) women	p. 188
Gender and consumption - a brief history	p. 191
Men producing culture	p. 193
Negative representations?	p. 195
Feminine forms	p. 199
The pleasure of the text	p. 200
Conclusion	p. 203
Cyberspace, Feminism and Technology: Of Cyborgs and Women	p. 205
Introduction	p. 205
The Enlightenment body	p. 206
Cyberfeminism	p. 210
Bodies of thought	p. 214
Conclusion	p. 217
Methodologies	p. 219
Feminist Methodology Matters!	p. 221
Introduction: why feminist methodology matters	p. 221
Reading real-world feminist research	p. 223
Reading the research exemplars	p. 224
Conclusion	p. 237
Bibliography	p. 244
Author Index	p. 277
Subject Index	p. 284
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