Knowing women - CROWLEY

"Knowing Women" is an introductory text written by the Open University for their new "Issues in Women's Studies" course. The book provides a thorough and accessible exploration of the way feminists and others have conceptualized women, gender, and differences between women and men, and among women. The contributors approach these issues from a number of different perspectives: that of biology, sociology and psychoanalysis.;Drawing on modern (and postmodern) writings, the book considers in detail how changes in women's lives over the past 20 years have affected the women's movement focusing on how women have come to know, both collectively and individually, about themselves. The book also looks at the ways in which language and discourse about nature, reproduction and sexuality have been used to locate and define women.;The text concludes with an overview of current debates in feminist theory. The contributors examine the issue of whether a single theory can be developed to explain gender differences and women's subordination, or whether the search for such a theory is doomed to failure.