Field Of Gender Studies Research Articles

Examining the Role of Gender Studies in the Teaching of Talmudic Literature

This article examines the application of a recent interpretive trend in the field of gender studies to the study of Talmudic texts as well as its potential role in the teaching of Talmudic literature. It explores what kind of contribution we can make to our students' education in seminaries and Jewish Day schools when we open our texts up to theories of interpretation drawn from the academy. As a theory that views women as “literary devices” rather than as “real” women who convey something about the status of women in antiquity, this method raises the question of what our students stand to gain from this type of feminist inquiry.

Subjective Intersections in the Face of the Machine

This article is a call to feminist science and technology studies (STS) to engage with debates about the intersectionality of gender with race and class in analyses of women’s relationships with their computers - these debates are well established in the broader field of gender studies, but comparatively absent from studies of gender and technology. Furthermore, in order to understand women’s many and varied technological relationships, it is necessary to explore the diverse ways in which individual women experience their gender, race and class in their relationships with their PCs. The article draws on the stories told by 14 working-class women from ethnic minority communities about the introduction of networked computers in their homes, to argue that we need to account for women’s subjective experiences of the identity intersections that take place in the face of the machine.

Revistas científicas e a constituição do campo de estudos de gênero: um olhar desde as "margens"

Este artigo trata do papel das revistas científicas na construção do campo de estudos de gênero. A partir da sociologia da ciência, da história da ciência e da experiência das autoras na publicação dos CADERNOS PAGU, examina-se a interação desta com a agenda feminista. Busca-se discutir o efeito das tensões e "negociações" na publicação de revistas científicas, além da constituição do campo de estudos de gênero. As ações políticas, as tensões, as negociações, o processo de "peer-review", o "controle" do conhecimento científico e as normas editoriais são analisadas no quadro das publicações cientificas - a formação de um campo de pesquisa e a reprodução de centralidade/periferia no Brasil. Finalmente, aponta-se para questões relativas ao aumento da visibilidade da Revista, da diversificação do seu conteúdo e da cooperação com pesquisadores latino-americanos e de outras partes do mundo.

Evolution, Gender, and Rape

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Book ReviewsFull AccessEvolution, Gender, and RapeJoanna Bettmann, L.C.S.W.Joanna BettmannSearch for more papers by this author, L.C.S.W.Published Online:1 Mar 2004https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.55.3.324-aAboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail In this edited volume, Cheryl Brown Travis attempts to answer the questions, Are women and men bipolar opposites in perpetual discord over conflicting interests? Did we evolve to be this way? And do these differences form "an evolutionary, genetic basis for sexual aggression?" She states at the outset that she is compiling this volume to address issues raised in the book A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion, by Randy Thornhill and Craig Palmer (1).Evolution, Gender, and Rape attempts to disassemble the Darwinian argument made by Thornhill and Palmer that rape is an evolutionary inevitability. Brown Travis states that the contributors to her volume make their arguments from the perspectives of animal behavior, ecology, evolutionary biology, cultural anthropology, philosophy, primatology, psychology, and sociology, although she declines to identify her writers or herself by title, affiliation, or training. She asserts that, of the authors represented in her volume, "None find the evolutionary account of rape [in the Thornhill and Palmer text] to be in any way compelling."In each section of Evolution, Gender, and Rape, one finds well-written chapters, all of which challenge Thornhill and Palmer's arguments. Brown Travis and several of the book's authors raise a concern about using supposedly scientific evidence to make evolutionary assertions about gender; they note the dangerousness of this argument in cases in which it has historically been applied to both gender and race. They also challenge Thornhill and Palmer's notion that rape has evolved as a means of providing an advantage to males, who need to propagate their genes. Other authors in the book challenge the popular notion that to be a "feminist" is to be antiscience or to be only political.All the authors seem to effectively refute the argument that rape is an evolutionary imperative, an inevitable result of dynamics between women and men. Some make scientific arguments, critiquing Thornhill and Palmer for poor scientific grounding. Others, using sociological approaches, criticize Thornhill and Palmer for the policy implications of their book: "Given the speculative character of their Darwinizing and the elusiveness of their proposals, even their inability to recognize crucial issues, policies influenced by their text might well make matters worse."The collection of chapters in this volume is compelling, in part because such a variety of approaches is represented. All the chapters appear to be well conceived and include academic references. Several of the authors use humor effectively to make their points. One writes, "Evolutionary psychology satisfies our hunger for a comprehensive explanation of human existence, for a theory of inevitability that will remove the ambiguities and the uncertainties of emotional and moral life…. Blame your genes, not your mother."Evolution, Gender, and Rape clearly adds to the literature pertaining to sexual assault and to our understanding of gender issues. However, the book is limited in its scope in that it responds only to Thornhill and Palmer's book and not to broader issues in the field of gender studies. Overall, this book can be considered a valuable resource for anyone who is wrestling with concerns about gender dynamics, sexual aggression, or evolutionary psychology.Ms. Bettmann is assistant clinical director at Aspen Achievement Academy and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Utah College of Social Work in Salt Lake City.edited by Cheryl Brown Travis; Cambridge, Massachusetts, MIT Press, 2003, 454 pages, $24.95 softcoverReference1. Thornhill R, Palmer C: A Natural History of Rape: Biological Bases of Sexual Coercion. Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press, 2000Google Scholar FiguresReferencesCited byDetailsCited ByNone Volume 55Issue 3 March 2004Pages 324-a-325 Metrics PDF download History Published online 1 March 2004 Published in print 1 March 2004

White Slavery and Mothers Alive and Dead: The Troubled Meeting of Sex, Gender, Public Health, and Progress in Latin America

The essays in White Slavery and Mothers Alive and Dead are the collected works of historian Donna J. Guy, chronicling her ideas and her impact on the field of gender and women’s history in Latin America from the 1980s to the present. As she states in her introduction, these wide-ranging essays share a “gendered connection to work, family, and the rise of increasingly interventionist nation-states in Latin America.” While readers familiar with the obra guyense may also appreciate a single volume of her previously published articles, the collection seems primarily intended for relative newcomers to the field of gender studies in Latin America, and it should serve such an audience well.Particularly suited to younger scholars is the autobiographical tone of the introduction and the first chapter. Moving back and forth between the tantalizing insights provided by theories devised for other regions and the discoveries made during long hours in the archives, Guy has felt her way into uncharted intellectual territory and made pioneering contributions to our knowledge of Latin American women and to the theoretical structure of gender studies.The next group of essays examine international topics. Perhaps best known for her work on white slavery and legalized prostitution, Guy uses international comparisons here to highlight the links between these issues and medical imperialism on the one hand, and nationality and citizenship for women on the other. Other chapters explore the hemispheric cooperation that evolved around the child rights movement and the Pan-American Child Congresses of the twentieth century.The Argentine-oriented section of the book begins with essays on nineteenth-century women that explore the impact of class and region on women’s livelihoods. Guy charts the efforts of the Argentine government to control women’s labor through definitions of criminality and through the medical supervision that brought nineteenth-century doctors into the family itself. These essays further examine legal and legislative issues, and the positioning of political parties and the Catholic Church. By considering parenthood—and patriarchy in particular—as a site of contention between the government and the family, Guy illustrates the complexities not only of mothering but of fathering, and the ways these practices have changed over time.In addition to many shared themes, these essays are linked by a certain methodological approach. Guy rarely studies women in isolation from men and the family; rarely explores the ramifications of gender without consideration of class, race, and sexuality; never studies ideological pronouncements without historical evidence of people’s actions; and always sets her analyses in the context of larger social and political processes—particularly those associated with state formation.It is impossible to argue with the strength of her work or the importance of Guy’s contributions to the field, but the preparation of this volume involved a couple of questionable editorial decisions. The first was to eliminate the endnotes that appear in the original publications. When used as a classroom text, most students will probably not mourn the absent scholarly apparatus, and a bibliographical essay is included. But those considering a more serious study of women’s or gender history may miss the attributions of mentioned secondary authorities and quoted primary authors. With this same concern for the aspiring, Guy might have asked someone else to write her introduction. As mentioned, its autobiographical aspects are interesting, but its tone is necessarily modest. A different author might have been more forthcoming about how these essays were received and could have lionized the author more enthusiastically as a means of inviting new recruits into the fray. As it is, however, the work is fully able to speak for itself.

Gender and History in Western Europe (review)

For those who teach the history of the world, the advent of women's history has brought a whole new critical perspective on the meaning of the past. Assumptions about the universality of men's experiences, the ways in which we think of epochs and their significance, and the primacy of the mind over the body have all been debated. As a teacher seeking to introduce this critical perspective to students, many of whom have read little about issues of gender, I eagerly seized Gender and History in Western Europe, edited by Robert Shoemaker and Mary Vincent. Here in a single volume are some key texts. The book begins with a thoughtful introduction reviewing the development of women's history and the more recent field of gender studies. The readings are organized into six sections: theory and method, the body and sexuality, separate spheres, religion, politics, and work. The editors have provided useful introductory comment for each section, and an index assists with cross-referencing.

A Shared Experience: Men, Women, and the History of Gender

For decades, women's history has been one of the most dynamic fields in all of American history. More recently, the study of manhood has drawn the attention of scholars, students, and general readers. Despite the obvious intersections of female and male gender roles, the nineteenth-century doctrine of separate spheres has dominated historical inquiry. The shared experiences and complementary lives of men and women have rarely been considered. This important new anthology, reflecting recent trends in the history of men and women, calls for the reintegration of the study of gender. Only by focusing on the similarities, as well as the differences, in the lives of men and women can we achieve a fully representative portrait. The essays in this exciting collection, most commissioned exclusively for this book, cover American history from colonial times to the present, representing multicultural and interdisciplinary scholarship at its most persuasive. Combining compelling subjects and thorough research, the contributors represent an appealing mix of established authors and new scholars. A lively blend of experience and innovation, A Shared Experience marks an important step in the development of American history and the burgeoning field of gender studies.

Paradoxes of Gender: Writing History in Post‐Communist Russia 1987–1998

The paper analyses the main trends in Russian historiography concerning women's history and gender studies between 1987 and 1998. These developments are evaluated in the context of social, political and cultural changes in Russia in the period of transition from socialist to market economy. The paper argues that, despite the liberalisation of political and intellectual life in Russia following Gorbachev's reforms, the research on gender in the past years and present‐day Russia is impeded, on the one hand, by the economic strains on Russia's academic community, which faces a Darwinian struggle for survival, and, on the other, by the persistence of dominant paradigms of history writing inherent in the Soviet ideology. However, the positive developments in the field of gender studies, which should be seen in the context of general regeneration of historical discipline from the ideological constraints, must not be neglected. The paper also draws attention to the field of gender studies and religion, focusing on the outcomes of recent research on Old Believer communities in nineteenth‐century Russia.

Debatten om begreppen - "genus" i Kvinnovetenskaplig tidskrift 1980-1998

This article concerns a lively conceptual debate that took place in Kvinnovetenskaplig tidskrift during 1980-1998. When Yvonne Hirdman, a Swedish historian, in 1988 introduced the concepts of gender and gendersystem in KVT (in Swedish: genus och genussystem), this sparked off intense discussions and caused theoretical divisions within Swedish feminism. Opinions were divided on the direction that one believed the theori/.ation should take. Should one strive for something like a new Grand Theory on women's subordination or should the aspirations be somewhat smaller? In this article the author illustrates the shifting emphases in the journal on such theoretical problems as essentialism versus social constructivism and "agents versus structures". The article also lakes into account the new challenges that different theories of a more or less postmodern nature put forward. The ongoing feminist theoretical development has included an expansion, both in terms of a broadening of the investigatory horizon and research delving deeper into various fields. Nowadays Women's Studies is only one part of the larger field of Gender Studies. Genus, today, signifies the growing amount of knowledge about sex and gender, femininity and masculinity, and is often conceptualized, not as a system, but as an ongoing process of historically changing ideas.

Response: Flat Laager?

In his stimulating paper, Dr Houston has quite properly identified a wide range of areas and issues requiring further investigation. He is absolutely right to point to glaring gaps in Scottish historiography, as, for example, in the field of gender studies in the eighteenth century. Some mild doubts might be expressed about his confidence in the depth of our knowledge about the 'cities' in comparison to what we know of rural society. While Edinburgh and Aberdeen are certainly relatively well-researched, how much do we really know about, say, social structure and relations, and class, in eighteenth-century Glasgow?1 As for Dundee, it is virtually virgin territory in the 1700s, compared to both the medieval period and the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, I would agree whole-heartedly that we do require a vast research effort on the smaller towns as well; this appears to be one of the areas in which Scottish history is not so different from England, where there is a similar shortfall.2 In many respects, certainly, the paper proposes an eminently sensible agenda for the future of eighteenth-century Scottish studies. I feel, however, that some aspects of its observations ought not to pass without comment. On occasions it seems as if Dr Houston were still carrying on battles that, in my opinion at least, have already been fought and won ? perhaps against an older generation of Scottish historians? Thus my reading of the subject is that several of his prescriptions are currently well in hand. I also feel that some of his fellow historians deserve more positive treatment, and that his judgement on certain topics could be rather more sympathetic, given his declared commitment to Scottish history. And, finally, there are a

Afterthoughts ... A dossier on masculinities

Our comments do not respond to all the essays printed here. They merely record ideas we had upon hearing earlier versions of some of these articles at a conference on "Unraveling Masculinities," held at the University of California, Davis, in the spring of 1991. We subsequently reformulated such "afterthoughts" to begin to engage more generally with the present issue's project of articulating and analyzing masculinities. Our observations mean to problematize certain recent developments in the field of gender studies in which we are all working. They suggest the extent to which some disciplines, especially gay studies and art theory, have distrusted the very category of "masculinity" on which many of the essays here build. Yet we do not wish to outline a counter-agenda, or even to homogenize our related though individual approaches to the topic. Instead we offer merely some other ideas coming at the topic from a variety of directions, in imitation of the stylistic diversity and structural discontinuity of the ground-breaking "dossier" on race assembled by Kobena Mercer and Isaac Julien.1

Strange Fates. Sex, Gender, and Sexuality in Torikaebaya Monogatari

T NHE field of gender studies has developed out of the relatively recent insight among Western scholars that sex and gender form autonomous analytical categories.1 Sex is a biological condition, grounded in a fundamental dimorphism of the human anatomy.2 Gender, on the other hand, signifies a culturally and historically constructed set of behaviors and expectations, which, unlike sex, is highly plastic and not necessarily dichotomous.3 Far from being predestined by anatomy, gender may be incongruous with biological sex, so that the same individual can embody the masculine gender but a female physiology, or vice versa. For the sake of clarity, I will use 'male' and 'female' in this article to denote sex, and 'man' and 'woman' (or, in the case of children, 'boy' and 'girl') to designate gender. The adjectives 'masculine' and 'feminine' will refer to gender rather than sex. A third analytical category that intersects at many points with sex and gender is sexuality. Just as 'common sense' in Western societies presumes the identity of sex and gender, sexual behavior, including sexual object-choice, has conventionally been perceived as a function of biological sex, and, indeed, as a primary component of gender identity. Recent scholarship, however, stresses the socially and historically constructed nature of human sexuality, suggesting