The Man Question Visions of Subjectivity in Feminist Theory [Paperback]

Turning on its head that familiar woman question, this innovative work poses masculinity as a problem that requires explanation. Ferguson rebukes the sense of coherence contained in patriarchal theory in the name of a voice that both calls upon and challenges the categorywoman. Stepping back from the opposition of male and female, she artfully loosens the hold of gender on life and meaning, creating and at the same time deconstructing a women's point of view. Posing the man question provides a way not only to view male power and female subordination but also to valorize and problematize women's experiences, thus destabilizing conventional notions ofmanandwoman.

Kathy E. Fergusonis Associate Professor of Political Science and Women's Studies at the University of Hawai'i, and author ofThe Feminist Case Against BureaucracyandSelf, Society and Womankind: The Dialectic of Liberation.

This book helps feminists understand more about why certain stalemates occur within feminist discourses and provides an argument for doing theory in a certain way. Ferguson's voice is direct and engaging. Jane Flax, author ofThinking Fragments

With characteristic lucidity, wit, and erudition, Kathy Ferguson productively transposes the often acrimonious debates surrounding 'poststructuralist' feminist theory onto differently worded, defamiliarizing, terrain.The Man Questionbreaks open rich new theoretical and political spaces for feminist argument and agitation. Wendy Brown, author ofManhood and Politics