How can we accept the gender system in view of its ills? Yet, are we really at liberty to abolish gender differences, when the gender system gives us benchmarks of personal identity and worth along with primary channels in which to pursue the rewards of love? With this double question, Steven G. Smith introduces his inquiry into the idea of gender and how it is implicated in love, respect, equality, and personal character.Gender Thinkingis the first comprehensive philosophical exploration of the concept of gender Asking the question, what is gender?that is, what sort of thing do we take femininity and masculinity to be?Smith considers how gender thinking is interwoven with ideas about human nature. He suggests ways in which ideas about race, class, culture age, temperament, and sexual orientation can be understood from clues found in gender thinking. And he calls for a renegotiated procreative partnership between women and men as the key to the redemption of gender.
"This is quite an extraordinary piece of sustained 'thoughtwork,' laying out its own weave of analysis, synthesis, and proposal in conversation with a wonderful array of other works and positions. The depth and care of engagement with the problem and promise of rethinking humankind with respect for gender marks is as an accomplishment that makes a crucial point: that thinking about the human without thinking as gendered creatures about gender is both impossible and, as we might say, in bad faith. Thus, the book helps us take a step toward rectifying what we think about, who and what we think as, when we engage in the curious reflexivity of thinking about our own humanity."
—Elizabeth Minnich, Union Institute, author ofTransforming Knowledge
Steven G. Smithis Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Millsaps College and author ofThe Concept of the Spiritual: An Essay in First Philosophy(Temple).
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![Gender Thinking [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/6/2/5/2_5193225.jpg "Gender Thinking [Hardcover]")