Synopses & Reviews
Are men and women really from different planets? How are they different? And what do these differences mean? Why is it that every society distinguishes people on the basis of gender? Why is it that virtually every known society is also based on male domination? These are questions that have captivated social scientists for generations and these are the questions that
The Gendered Society Reader, 2/e, attempts to answer. This reader provides students with a sense of the various discourses on gender that have been produced by a wide range of disciplines including the biological sciences, anthropology, psychoanalysis, developmental psychology, and sociology. Designed as a companion volume to Kimmel's textbook,
The Gendered Society, this second edition features thirteen new readings, both classic and contemporary. It focuses on the two major issues in gender studies-gender difference and male domination.
Mirroring the overall structure of The Gendered Society, the first sections of the reader are organized by discipline, collecting classic statements of different theoretical perspectives and research inquiries. The final sections address various substantive issues such as work, education, the family, and love and sex. Contributors include Margaret Mead, Peggy Reeves Sanday, Joan Acker, Robert M. Sapolsky, Scott Coltrate, Judith Lorber, James Garbarino, and many more. In its focus on both empirical and theoretical issues as well as its broad interdisciplinary perspective, The Gendered Society Reader, 2/e, is informative and entertaining for scholars, students, and general readers.
Review
"Readers curious about what it means to say we live in a gendered society but confused by the trendy mixture of pop psychology, neo-Darwinism, and Mars-Venus theories will value this well-reasoned study."--
Booklist"Comprehensive, current, and accessible...This is a book that you will want on your own shelf as a ready reference, but, more important, one that you will want your students to read for its compassion...Michael Kimmel has written a book in which we can all take great pride and comfort." --Beth B. Hess, Gender and Society, December 2000
Review
"A strength of the Kimmel reader is the balanced examination of both genders and sexes. Many other readers focus predominantly on masculinities/males or femininities/females which make them inappropriate for a sociology of gender course. Another strength is the preface before each part of the reader. Kimmel provides a "map" to help students through each chapter."--Debbie Storrs, University of Idaho
Synopsis
In this second edition, The Gendered Society Reader has been revised to include many new readings. These selections, both classic and contemporary, focus on the two major issues in gender studies--gender difference and male domination. They examine such questions as: How are males and females different? What do these differences mean? Why does it mean different things in different cultures to be male or female?
Table of Contents
Introduction, Michael S. Kimmel
I. Anatomy and Destiny: Biological Arguments About Gender Difference
Psychological Sex Differences: Origins Through Sexual Selection, Davis M. Buss
Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology, Judith Lorber
The Trouble With Testosterone, Robert M. Sapolsky
II. Cultural Constructions of Gender
Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies, Margaret Mead
Coming of Age and Coming Out Ceremonies Across Cultures, Gilbert Herdt
Rape-Prone Versus Rape-Free Campus Cultures, Peggy Reeves Sanday
III. The Psychology of Sex Roles
A Social Psychological Model of Gender, Kay Deaux and Brenda Major
Exotic Becomes Erotic: A Developmental Theory of Sexual Orientation, Daryl J. Bem
A Boy's Code of Honor, James Garbarino
IV. The Social Construction of Gender Relations
Boundaries, Negotiation, Consciousness: Reconceptualizing Gender Relations, Judith Gerson and Kathy Peiss
Varieties of "Real Men", James Messerschmidt
Doing Gender, Candace West and Don H. Zimmerman
V. The Gendered Family
Modern Marriage: Revising the Cultural Script, David Popenoe
Household Labor and the Routine Production of Gender, Scott Coltrane
The Transformation of Family Life, Lillian Rubin
VI. The Gendered Classroom
The Issue of Gender in Elementary and Secondary Education, Myra Sadker, David Sadker, and Susan Klein
Warrior Narratives in the Kindergarten Classroom: Renegotiating the Social Contract?, Ellen Jordan and Angela Cowan
"What About the Boys?" What the Current Debates Tell Us - and Don't Tell Us - About Boys in School, Michael Kimmel
VII. The Gendered Workplace
Bringing the Men Back In: Sex Differentiation and the Devaluation of Women's Work, Barbara F. Reskin
Guarding the Gates: The Micropolitics of Gender, Judith Lorber
The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the "Female" Professions, Christine L. Williams
VIII. Gendered Intimacies
The Feminization of Love, Francesca M. Cancian
The Approach-Avoidance Dance: Men, Women, and Intimacy, Lillian B. Rubin
Covert Intimacy: Closeness in Men's Friendships, Scott Swain
The Life and Death of Gay Clones, Martin P. Levine
IX. The Gender of Violence
Wars, Wimps, and Women: Talking Gender and Thinking War, Carol Cohn
The Myth of Sexual Symmetry in Marital Violence, Russell P. Dobash, R. Emerson Dobash, Margo Wilson, and Martin Daly