Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide

Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide
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Women Don't Ask

Eye opening

Should be required reading for women before interviewing

Ladies, you'll love this book!

Interesting read supported by substantial data

Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide
Linda Babcock , and Sara Laschever
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 069108940X

Amazon.com

Men ask for what they want twice as often as women do and initiate negotiation four times more, report economist Linda Babcock and writer Sara Laschever in the footnoted but engaging Women Don't Ask. With vivid research examples drawn from cradle, classroom and playground, the authors detail culture as the culprit in discouraging women from negotiating on their own behalf.

Men, socialized in a "scrappier paradigm," learn to pursue and energize their goals at work and home. The two key elements are control and recognizing opportunity. For example, girls, rewarded for hard work, learn to see control as outside of themselves while boys are urged to take charge. Boys are schooled to recognize opportunity and girls to choose safe targets.

Several chapters are focused on prescription; how women can decrease anxiety, anticipate roadblocks, plan counter-moves and resist conceding too much or too soon. The authors shine in their examination of culture and gender--and their optimism about how women can counter the culture. They falter whenever they adopt the "sexes-from-a-different-planet" fallacy. Most notably, in a chapter that details a "female approach" to negotiating. Overall, the authors have created a smart summary of research and used it to affirm every woman's urgent right to ask. --Barbara Mackoff

Book Description

When Linda Babcock asked why so many male graduate students were teaching their own courses and most female students were assigned as assistants, her dean said: "More men ask. The women just don't ask." It turns out that whether they want higher salaries or more help at home, women often find it hard to ask. Sometimes they don't know that change is possible--they don't know that they can ask. Sometimes they fear that asking may damage a relationship. And sometimes they don't ask because they've learned that society can react badly to women asserting their own needs and desires.

By looking at the barriers holding women back and the social forces constraining them, Women Don't Ask shows women how to reframe their interactions and more accurately evaluate their opportunities. It teaches them how to ask for what they want in ways that feel comfortable and possible, taking into account the impact of asking on their relationships. And it teaches all of us how to recognize the ways in which our institutions, child-rearing practices, and unspoken assumptions perpetuate inequalities--inequalities that are not only fundamentally unfair but also inefficient and economically unsound.

With women's progress toward full economic and social equality stalled, women's lives becoming increasingly complex, and the structures of businesses changing, the ability to negotiate is no longer a luxury but a necessity. Drawing on research in psychology, sociology, economics, and organizational behavior as well as dozens of interviews with men and women from all walks of life, Women Don't Ask is the first book to identify the dramatic difference between men and women in their propensity to negotiate for what they want. It tells women how to ask, and why they should.

Customer Reviews:

Women Don't Ask.......2007-10-14

To say I was a little disappointed with this book is probably an understatement.
I was expecting a hybrid of the psychology behind why women don't ask and coaching or mentoring points (checklist if you like) of actions and strategies to improve.
This is not what I found.
The book was interesting to some degree but it was difficult to pinpoint actions or strategies for improvement, they weren't spelled out in easy to read format, nor were they easy to identify.

Eye opening.......2007-01-21

I am interviewing for a post-graduate job and I asked a successful woman in my field for some negotiating advice. She recommended this book. Ironically, I always considered myself a good negotiator. Yet, as I read this book, it mirrored so many situations where I made tactical negotiation mistakes with regards to my own personal gain. A must read for women, in any stage of their career.

Should be required reading for women before interviewing.......2007-01-10

This book is full of eye-opening thoughts that I found so crucial to my own sense of empowerment as I faced post-graduate school job negotiation opportunities. There are so many things I would never have thought of as options to set on the negotiating table, not to mention so many things about how I behave, what my expectations are for myself, and how they differ from those of a typical male perspective. Even though I am educated in a human social science field and consider myself a liberal woman, I had A LOT to learn from this book. I liked the mix of examples of diverse individual women's experiences along with data from the authors' and others' relevant studies.

Ladies, you'll love this book!.......2007-01-04

I love this book! A must read for any career woman. It was recommended by my mentor at work. I wish I had read it earlier in my career, but I'm thankful I've read it now.

Interesting read supported by substantial data.......2006-12-30

Women Don't Ask is a book that attempts to discover the reasons behind the documented inequity between women and men in the workplace. The book is especially interested in the reasons that women are paid less than men for the same work. The authors' basic conclusion is that women get paid less and get promoted less because not only do they not ask for more pay, pay raises, and promotions, but because they are conditioned to expect less.

The book is not judgmental nor does it make sweeping generalizations, but rather cites many case studies as well as research experiments that prove that women are less likely to negotiate than men. The book explores the many cultural factors that condition women to avoid negotiation while encouraging men to negotiate. The authors do not blame or complain--they merely explore the reasons that women, of all ages, are less likely to negotiate in the workplace. For example, the authors note that young girls are usually given indoor chores around the house, such as doing dishes and vacuuming. Young boys, on the other hand, are more likely to be assigned chores such as mowing the lawn, washing cars, and shoveling the driveway. The authors point out that the types of jobs that boys are given are ones that can be used to make money--boys will be able to offer to mow lawns for neighbors for a fee, a fee that usually is negotiated. The types of household chores that girls are given, however, are not usually done for neighbors for a fee. Therefore, boys often learn to negotiate for pay from a young age.

The authors also look at some of the real and perceived negative consequences when women do negotiate that make women's negotiation ineffective and unsuccessful.

This book can help women to understand their fear of negotiation, help men to understand why they sometimes feel taken aback by a woman who negotiates, and help women to find ways to be more comfortable and confident in their negotiation skills.

I found this book extremely beneficial in that it helps me to understand why others around me act as they do, and I can see how these behaviors are shaped by so many aspects of our culture rather than by one gender being "right" or "wrong," "good" or "bad." Kudos to these authors for shedding light on such a neglected topic.

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Excellent survey of an important debate
clash of values
Multiculturalism, Feminism and Liberalism

Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?
Susan Moller Okin
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Multiculturalism: Examining the politics of recognition
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The Claims of Culture: Equality and Diversity in the Global Era
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ASIN: 0691004323

Book Description

Polygamy, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, punishing women for being raped, differential access for men and women to health care and education, unequal rights of ownership, assembly, and political participation, unequal vulnerability to violence. These practices and conditions are standard in some parts of the world. Do demands for multiculturalism--and certain minority group rights in particular--make them more likely to continue and to spread to liberal democracies? Are there fundamental conflicts between our commitment to gender equity and our increasing desire to respect the customs of minority cultures or religions? In this book, the eminent feminist Susan Moller Okin and fifteen of the world's leading thinkers about feminism and multiculturalism explore these unsettling questions in a provocative, passionate, and illuminating debate.

Okin opens by arguing that some group rights can, in fact, endanger women. She points, for example, to the French government's giving thousands of male immigrants special permission to bring multiple wives into the country, despite French laws against polygamy and the wives' own bitter opposition to the practice. Okin argues that if we agree that women should not be disadvantaged because of their sex, we should not accept group rights that permit oppressive practices on the grounds that they are fundamental to minority cultures whose existence may otherwise be threatened.

In reply, some respondents reject Okin's position outright, contending that her views are rooted in a moral universalism that is blind to cultural difference. Others quarrel with Okin's focus on gender, or argue that we should be careful about which group rights we permit, but not reject the category of group rights altogether. Okin concludes with a rebuttal, clarifying, adjusting, and extending her original position. These incisive and accessible essays--expanded from their original publication in Boston Review and including four new contributions--are indispensable reading for anyone interested in one of the most contentious social and political issues today.

The diverse contributors, in addition to Okin, are Azizah al-Hibri, Abdullahi An-Na'im, Homi Bhabha, Sander Gilman, Janet Halley, Bonnie Honig, Will Kymlicka, Martha Nussbaum, Bhikhu Parekh, Katha Pollitt, Robert Post, Joseph Raz, Saskia Sassen, Cass Sunstein, and Yael Tamir.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent survey of an important debate.......2006-05-08

"Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?" consists of Okin's initial essay addressing that question, followed by a collection of essays commenting on her thoughts, followed by another essay by Okin in defense of her thesis. I admittedly was slightly disappointed the first time I read Okin's initial essay. Although her thesis is clear enough (that the liberal values of feminism and multiculturalism must necessarily come into conflict considering that a large number of cultures encourage the oppression of women), she fails to rigorously define her terms or to support her thesis with more than a few anecdotes. She also tends to conflate culture with religion at times when it is not appropriate, a tendency on which a number of respondents comment.

Although I was initially disappointed by Okin's essay, I came to appreciate it more as I continued reading the book. Although her refusal to define her argument rigorously or to specify at what point multiculturalism should give way to feminism leads some authors to talk past one another, it also allows a number of bright minds to express a variety of viewpoints on different aspects of Okin's essay. The comments range from absurd to brilliant, from obvious to unique and insightful. Fortunately, more of the essays fall into the brilliant and insightful categories than in the obvious or absurd categories. The contributing authors' comments address a number of issues, including: support for specific cultural practices; the empirical validity of some of Okin's claims; the importance of group rights versus individual rights; the practical political and legal problems involved in placing women's rights above certain group rights; and many others.

The final essay in the book, Okin's last word on the topic, is well-reasoned and spelled out. She adequately addresses most of the criticisms provided by the contributing authors, and, perhaps more importantly, she clarifies her position and provides more concrete guidance regarding when she would advocate the rights of women and when she would defer to cultural practices.

The whole book is an excellent (and quick) read, beneficial not for the answers that it provides but for the debate it encourages. In a world that is growing smaller and more connected by the day, and especially in a country to which many oppressed women from around the globe look for a better life, few debates could be of more importance.

clash of values.......2001-11-08

In this slim volume of essays collected from the pages of the Boston Review, a cross-section of contemporary intellectual life is represented in debate over Okin's central thesis that the values of multiculturalism and feminism are at odds (at some level). The hinge of Okin's argument is that feminism is universalist in intent, arguing that all women, by virtue of their being women (or being human), are entitled to certain rights and freedoms; multiculturalism, on the other hand, is often used to support cultural difference, and is local in scope. Conflict emerges when we encounter cultures in which women are regarded as lower in social standing than men, and thus denied rights and freedoms that feminists have (traditionally) held in esteem -- the right to vote, assemble peacefully, earn income, etc. (see Martha Nussbaum's work in "Sex and Social Justice" and "Women and Human Development" for a fuller exposition of a feminist conception of rights). In Okin's estimation, multiculturalists back off from criticism, arguing instead that different cultures must be respected, and indeed cannot be judged because they do not share the same cultural foundation as we (i.e., Westerners) do. Hence, for Okin, a committed feminist, multiculturalism is often bad for women.

This is a contentious and controversial argument, but essential (I believe) in that it forces Western liberal intellectuals to confront the simple fact that certain ways of thinking and being cannot easily coexist. The papers included in this book reflect the divisiveness of Okin's argument, with some coming down squarely on her side, and others arguing that this represents only another attempt at Western intellectual imperialism. Enough diversity in opinions is presented to give readers much to think about and debate.

Multiculturalism, Feminism and Liberalism.......2000-05-20

This book is designed around the first essay, "Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women?" The premise of the essay is that liberalism has long advocated both multiculturalism and feminism as philosophies not in conflict with one another. However, what is the obligation of a liberal democracy to cultural minorities that oppress women within their culture? Can the needs of women and minorities be met or are their respective agendas mutually exclusive to one another? Does the sovereignty of a larger state supercede that of a smaller state and to which group does the majority owe its protection- minority cultures or individuals (women)?

These are some of the questions addressed by this book. The first essay asserts that the goals of multiculturalism and feminism are not compatible and that by protecting one, the other is sacrificed. It is a provocative idea and one not addressed enough by political theorists, feminists, or policy specialists. From it, one discovers that there is an inherent tension to these two schools of liberal philosophy (although there are some very good critics of Okin's ideas). See writers like Kymlicka, Nussbaum, or Habermas (to name a few).

Book Description

How can liberal democracy best be realized in a world fraught with conflicting new forms of identity politics and intensifying conflicts over culture? This book brings unparalleled clarity to the contemporary debate over this question. Maintaining that cultures are themselves torn by conflicts about their own boundaries, Seyla Benhabib challenges the assumption shared by many theorists and activists that cultures are clearly defined wholes. She argues that much debate--including that of "strong" multiculturalism, which sees cultures as distinct pieces of a mosaic--is dominated by this faulty belief, one with grave consequences for how we think injustices among groups should be redressed and human diversity achieved. Benhabib masterfully presents an alternative approach, developing an understanding of cultures as continually creating, re-creating, and renegotiating the imagined boundaries between "us" and "them."

Drawing on contemporary cultural politics from Western Europe, Canada, and the United States, Benhabib develops a double-track model of deliberative democracy that permits maximum cultural contestation within the official public sphere as well as in and through social movements and the institutions of civil society. Agreeing with political liberals that constitutional and legal universalism should be preserved at the level of polity, she nonetheless contends that such a model is necessary to resolve multicultural conflicts.

Analyzing in detail the transformation of citizenship practices in European Union countries, Benhabib concludes that flexible citizenship, certain kinds of legal pluralism and models of institutional powersharing are quite compatible with deliberative democracy, as long as they are in accord with egalitarian reciprocity, voluntary self-ascription, and freedom of exit and association. The Claims of Culture offers invaluable insight to all those, whether students or scholars, lawyers or policymakers, who strive to bridge the gap between the theory and practice of cultural politics in the twenty-first century.

Customer Reviews:

A Must-Read.......2003-11-18

Seyla Benhabib's important new book "The Claims of Culture" addresses a constellation of issues with which our contemporary liberal democratic society must deal in an age of cultural diversity both within the political boundaries the nation-state and at the global level. As Benhabib makes very clear, in this context we face a dual imperative of remaining sensitive to the plurality of the ways people both near and far choose how to live, while simultaneously seeking out a mode of reflexive ethical universalism that can provide foundations for normatively addressing crises with world-reach. We must also look askance at approaches to cultural diversity, which reify boundaries and in turn fail to take account of the fluid process of renegotiation and recreation constitutive of the contemporary practices of social and political self-definition.
The book is gracefully and limpidly written. Benhabib's has a masterful grasp of the multiple literatures involved in her undertaking and is a virtuoso of conveying their multiform ideas both incisively and reliably. This work is a must read for anyone interested cultural studies or political theory or their often-ignored yet undoubtedly intimate relationship.

Unreadable and Laborious.......2003-10-16

Quite simply, this is one of the most poorly written books I've ever seen. Benhabib's basic points are lost in a jungle of jargon that appears to be written only for herself or for a very tight circle of over-specialized academics who share the same unintelligible language. Tragically, Benhabib's points about the evolutionary nature of culture and its fit within democratic societies are valid, interesting, and worthy of contemplation, but her writing prevents most people from ever grasping them. Simply put, don't buy this book. If it is required for a course, as it was for me, tell your professor to pick something else.

Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism

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Great at pointing out Foucault's porblematic political turn
radical Islamism versus compassionate conservatives
Fetishism and cultural imperialism, Foucault's mission
An Important Contribution to Critical Theory
A deeply mistaken account of Foucault's interpretation of Iran

Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism
Janet Afary , and Kevin B. Anderson
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0226007863

Book Description

In 1978, as the protests against the Shah of Iran reached their zenith, philosopher Michel Foucault was working as a special correspondent for Corriere della Sera and le Nouvel Observateur. During his little-known stint as a journalist, Foucault traveled to Iran, met with leaders like Ayatollah Khomeini, and wrote a series of articles on the revolution. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution is the first book-length analysis of these essays on Iran, the majority of which have never before appeared in English. Accompanying the analysis are annotated translations of the Iran writings in their entirety and the at times blistering responses from such contemporaneous critics as Middle East scholar Maxime Rodinson as well as comments on the revolution by feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir.

In this important and controversial account, Janet Afary and Kevin B. Anderson illuminate Foucault's support of the Islamist movement. They also show how Foucault's experiences in Iran contributed to a turning point in his thought, influencing his ideas on the Enlightenment, homosexuality, and his search for political spirituality. Foucault and the Iranian Revolution informs current discussion on the divisions that have reemerged among Western intellectuals over the response to radical Islamism after September 11. Foucault's provocative writings are thus essential for understanding the history and the future of the West's relationship with Iran and, more generally, to political Islam. In their examination of these journalistic pieces, Afary and Anderson offer a surprising glimpse into the mind of a celebrated thinker.

Customer Reviews:

Great at pointing out Foucault's porblematic political turn.......2007-01-10

It is an absolute introduction to understanding the events that shaped the Iranian Revolution (as a revolution from the Right) and the relationship that Foucault's arguments have to international political sphere.

radical Islamism versus compassionate conservatives.......2005-07-21

This is a timely publication and an excellent contribution to Foucault studies. If you are interested in anything related to Foucault this is a must read. Also, if Islamic Fundamentalism and it's constant clash with Western Imperialism is your cup of tea then pick this book now.

The Authors, Janet Afary and Kevin Anderson, provide a detail overview of Foucault's writings and interviews on Iran. The authors also recount the historical Iranian revolution. And to connect this two, they offer some analysis and arguments in the context of Foucault's larger work.

Foucault's concern largely dealt with power, knowledge and discourse. I haven't read all of Foucault yet and nor have I read much on Iranian revolution. However, I didn't have any problem following the arguments in the book. What I found fascinating about Foucault is his emphasis on human irrationality. I think _Madness and Civilization_ talks about this in details. That is why the authors found it interesting to talk about Foucault's fascinations with martyrdom. They provide some detail background about Shiite (a sect in Islam) rituals and its connection with the revolution. Some of this practices are regarded as controversial in mainstream Islam.

The authors point out that the Iranian leftist and feminist sects were a major part of the movement. However, as we have seen with past revolutions it didn't turn out as we have expected. Radical Islamism got rid of the secular element pretty easily. The book goes into detail how Foucault "got it wrong" and some other interesting issues related with it.

Political analyst are saying that Ahmadinejad's recent 'landslide' victory can be summed up as a revival of the spirit of the Iranian revolution. I am curious how Foucault would have responded to this. Maybe positively? In a way, Foucault was 'anit-modernist'. He talks about 'political spirituality' to be a alternative to modern democratic institution. It is possible, that Ahmadinejad banked on some anti-American / anit-Western sentiment. What does that mean for radical Islamism which have to deal with compassionate conservatives?

Fetishism and cultural imperialism, Foucault's mission.......2005-07-12

This book is excellent! It is about time someone wrote the real account of how western intellectuals who knew too little about the culture and history of Iran, implicated themselves in a process that had nothing to do with them and helped set into motion a chain of events that has brought terrorism to the world via hardcore Khomeini radicalism that hides itself behind the guise of Islam.

An Important Contribution to Critical Theory.......2005-07-01

"Foucault and the Iranian Revolution" is by far the most important contribution to critical theory, and to Foucault studies, in years. Coming at a time of a deepening crisis in world politics as well as political philosophy, when the secular liberal ideal is dying and religious fundamentalisms of various stripes--Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Hindu--feed like bacteria on its still moving, breathing corpse, Afary and Anderson's book offers a refreshingly sober and expansive view of the contradictions and aporias of contemporary critical theory. Concentrating on a neglected moment in Foucault's career as a journalist and political commentator, the authors amass a wealth of fascinating details, old and new, to show how Foucault's credulity toward (and even sympathies with) the most reactionary and illiberal elements of the Iranian Revolution, far from being an anomaly or sudden lapse of judgment, was instead the logical outgrowth of his own idiosyncratic theories about modernity, social movements, history, and knowledge. As the authors write: "Foucault's Orientalist impressions of the Muslim world, his selective reading and representation of Greco-Roman texts, and his hostility to modernity and its technologies of the body, led him to prefer the more traditional Islamic/Mediterranean culture to the modern culture of the West."

In short, Foucault was drawn to the radical Islamism of the Ayatollah Khomeini--rather than to the feminist and socialist forces who had helped overthrow the despised Shah--precisely because of his aversion to all modern political institutions and norms, whether liberal or radical. Islamism, which had the appearance of pure, romantic fusion or unity in the will of the people (in essence, an Iranian version of Rousseau's general will), seemed to link the Shi'ite past with a present revolutionary Now. Ironically, just as an unreflexive, orthodox Marxism had blinded an earlier generation of "fellow travelers" to Stalinism, Foucault's own anti-Marxism and anti-feminism--his refusal to identify either with the socialist tradition or with women's liberation--made him blind to the authoritarian strain within Islamism. Although Foucault's defenders, and there are many today, will deny that the great French theorist had any flaws as a social critic, what comes through in Afary and Anderson's narrative is the portrait of an intellectual whose own political isolation and personal arrogance made him susceptible to the worst kind of idealism.

The poststructuralist revolution in theoretical thought, which Foucault more than any other thinker helped lead, has done serious damage to our ability both to comprehend the meaning of historical events and to render sound moral and political judgments concerning their meaning. This, to me, is the implicit lesson of Afary and Anderson's important and indispensable book. This, and the authors' own exemplary conduct as theorists and historians: by scrupulously avoiding polemic, complicating our view of Islam, and maintaining a moral center in their narrative, the authors remind us that, by reaffirming its socialist feminist roots, critical or radical theory can yet serve as an antidote both to Western imperialism on one side and Islamism (or apologia for Islamism) on the other. "Foucault and the Iranian Revolution" is therefore must reading for anyone interested in the state of theory, or the state of the world.

A deeply mistaken account of Foucault's interpretation of Iran.......2005-06-23

This book has three elements. A full third is a compilation of Foucault's writings and interviews on Iran. It is a valuable addition to the Foucault literature. Second, there is a historical recounting of Islamism as it pertains to the Iranian revolution. I do not have the expertise to comment on this. The third element, which frames the book, is an extended argument that in Foucault's reading of the Iranian revolution his own larger philosophical perspective is revealed. This element, which I do have expertise in, is comically bad.

The authors claim that Foucault values traditional forms of life over modern ones, and thus embraces (like the radical Islamists) a return to the past. In order to make their case, the authors resort to three strategies. First, they neglect Foucault's own statements about his writings. For instance, the authors insist that he saw ancient Greek sexual life as superior to ours, which Foucault explicitly denies. Second, they engage in egregious misinterpretation. For example, they read Foucault's book on the prisons as a plea for earlier forms of punishment. The first few pages of the prison book, detailing the excruciating torture of an attempted regicide, should be enough to convince anyone of the paucity of that interpretation. Finally, they misread Foucault's own sentences, in one case (p. 16) citing a long quote and then interpreting it as meaning something opposed to what it actually says.

Foucault insisted throughout his life that his work sought to deny the view that history naturally progresses from the worse to the better. The authors seem to think that this means that his view of history was that it moved from the better to the worse. It is harder to imagine a more fundamental mistake in the interpretation of Foucault's work.

All of this is unfortunate, particularly since Foucault, normally an astute observer of events, sorely misread the Iranian revolution. This requires explanation. The authors have provided the resources on which to base such an explanation. However, given their inability to understand even the basics of Foucault's work, the explanation itself will have to await another book.

Feminist Geographies: Explorations in Diversity and Difference

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Teaching Feminist Geographies

Feminist Geographies: Explorations in Diversity and Difference
Women and Geography Study Group of the Royal Geographical Society , and Institute of British Geographers
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Textbook Binding

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Customer Reviews:

Teaching Feminist Geographies.......1999-11-23

This book is intended to be a teaching text "which does justice to the breadth, diversity, intellectual vibrancy, debate and difference currently to be found in feminist geography." To encourage readers to do more than passively absorb information, the authors insert questions and activities at the end of most sections, asking the reader to stop and reflect and question, in short, to do something for a bit. In addition there are boxes, similar to sidebars, position to identify key concepts and highlight particular information. Finally, autobiographical testimonies are smattered throughout the book, in line with the feminist goal of situating the author in relation to her work. The book is committed to the premise that a focus on gender relations "greatly improves geographical analyses. It also attempts to make clear that feminist geography is so diverse it would be incorrect for any one book to claim to fully encompass the field. Gender itself is defined variously, depending on the context within which it is situated, its definers, and mitigating factors such as race and class. What the book intends to offer is the notion that because feminist geographies are so diverse, we must all of us keep thinking and adding our contributions, without which geography simply ceases to be, literally speaking, geography. At first glance, Feminist Geographies seems an attempt to add to and draw attention to gender and geography, an effort it performs both subtly and brilliantly. However, both by virtue of the way the book is structured and its incessant command that we should think just a little harder/broader/more creatively than we thought before, its net result is as transformative as it is additive. For instance, although the book takes up the same argument against the public/private dichotomy as other feminist geography texts, it also suggests greater movement yet: "Given the embeddedness of dichotomies like that between home and work...it is perhaps not surprising that feminist geographers have paid them so much attention. This attention has certainly been one of feminist geography's main contributions to feminism more generally. However, we would like to...suggest that perhaps feminist geography needs to push its diverse interests in the complexity of gendered geographies even further. Thus perhaps feminist geographies need to consider starting with non-dichotomous frameworks of analysis. What is needed then...is a non-dichotomous way of thinking about space and place." Clearly, such a move would transform the fields of both geography and urban studies. As the title indicates, the authors are committed to inclusion of difference and diversity--to this end they continually ask the reader to explore her own perceptions and conceptions about various discussed subjects, and remind us of the contested nature of and diversities within feminism, particularly feminist geography. The book itself includes a wide range of feminism, feminists, and brief reviews of feminist texts both in and out of geography. Chapter three includes a brief section on postcolonial feminist theory, "a large body of work which explores the interrelationships between identity, knowledge and power," especially as situated within the historical and geographical context of the colonialization of the Third World from the 16th century onwards. Although much to short for my tastes, it was a relief to read an urban studies text that contextualized itself within a geography that includes rather than peripheralizes/otherizes the Third World. The inclusion of diverse theories is important both because they offer an important and alternate perspective on existing geographies, but also because much of the newer poststructuralist theorizing going on within feminism is built on the back of this work to include a postcolonialist perspective. (I was sorry, however, that one of the earliest of these theorists, Gloria Anzaldua, was not given credit for her pioneering work on borderlands, work that in great part led us to this point.)

Developing Power: How Women Transformed International Development

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Doing good, doing well

Developing Power: How Women Transformed International Development

Manufacturer: Feminist Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1558614850

Book Description

In these compelling testimonies, a distinguished group of 27 pioneering women from 12 countries tell how they fought to ensure that the unprecedented political and economic changes in the developing world would benefit women as well as men. At this crucial historical moment, when women in Afghanistan and Iraq are being excluded from "rebuilding" plans in the wake of U.S. wars abroad, Developing Power offers both instruction and inspiration.

Arvonne S. Fraser has been coordinator of the Office of Women in Development at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and is currently senior fellow emerita of the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. Irene Tinker was a founder of the Wellesley Center for Research on Women, the International Center for Research on Women, and the Equity Policy Center.

Customer Reviews:

Doing good, doing well.......2005-07-11

This book is a compendium of 27 women's brief and enchanting autobiographies. As pioneers, they broke glass ceilings in some of the most entrenched international bureaucracies, supporting and expanding the role of women in developing countries. Read it as history of women in development, as personal development of gutsy women, or for understanding how creative responses to implacable problems help all of humanity by supporting women.

America's Competitive Secret: Women Managers

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Actually, No Longer a "Secret" But Still Underappreciated

America's Competitive Secret: Women Managers
Judy B. Rosener
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Women & Business | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Workforce America!: Managing Employee Diversity as a Vital Resource
The Female Advantage
Gender in the Workplace: A Case Study Approach
Women at Work
The First Sex: The Natural Talents of Women and How They Are Changing the World

ASIN: 0195119142

Book Description

The United States has a large number of well educated, experienced professional women ready, willing and able to move into the boardrooms and executive suites of corporate America. Together they represent a great, untapped economic resource, a resource no other country in the world can claim. This is America's competitive secret, argues Judy B. Rosener in this refreshingly pragmatic new book for managers who want to improve their bottom line. A leading expert on women and men at work and a highly sought-after speaker, Rosener argues that not only are men and women different, so are male and female managers. Drawing on in-depth interviews with top-flight executives and middle managers and the latest research on working women and organizational change, she describes the unique contribution of female professionals. Her profiles of top women managers reveal that they cope well with ambiguity, are comfortable sharing power, and they tend to empower others-- leadership traits that Rosener contends lead to increased employee productivity, innovation, and profits. As businesses today struggle with corporate reorganization and an increasingly diverse workforce, America's Competitive Secret offers compelling evidence that the changes that help organizations more fully utilize the talents of women are the same changes that will give them an important edge in today's fast-changing, service oriented, global workplace. Rosener explains why the so-called glass ceiling still prevents many competent women from reaching the upper echelons of management. She analyzes why women and men are perceived and evaluated differently at work, and provides new insight into the feelings of men who are asked to interact with women in new roles when there are few new rules. Rosener shows that removing the glass ceiling can no longer be viewed solely in terms of social equity--it is now an economic imperative. Too many American businesses have limited their economic strength by viewing the promotion of women employees only within the context of federally mandated affirmative action laws and policies. America's Competitive Secret redefines the issue for a new era, showing that America's most successful competitive strategy is one that most effectively utilizes all its human resources.

Customer Reviews:

Actually, No Longer a "Secret" But Still Underappreciated.......2001-08-25

First published in 1995 by Oxford University Press, America's Competitive Secret suggests how to utilize women as a management strategy. It was an excellent idea then and an even better idea now as globalization initiatives of American companies increase and intensify. In the Preface, author Judy B. Rosener explains that her book is intended for executives and managers "who want to improve their organization's bottom line, and for women who wonder why their career paths so often seem to be shaped by the fact that they are female." Note the reference to "bottom line." For Rosener, it is prudent to leverage the talents of professional women" inorder to create "more innovative, productive, and profitable organizations." Also, for male executives, the principle of enlightened self-interest is relevant to their own success. It makes absolutely no sense to under-utilize the talents of women professionals, especially as the global economy continues to expand so rapidly and extensively. Rosabeth Kanter agrees: "Whatever the duration and objectives of business alliances,...in the global economy, a well-developed ability to create and sustain fruitful collaborations gives companies a significant competitive leg up." Hence the importance of women.

As Connie Glaser and Barbara Steinberg Smalley suggest in Swim with the Dolphins, the female temperament is better suited than is the male's to concluding "win-win" negotiations, resolving conflicts, reaching consensus, preferring to cooperate and collaborate rather than compete, keeping an open mind, asking direct and relevant but not insulting questions, etc. Rosener describes the female temperament in terms of "consensus building, power sharing, and comfort with ambiguity."

She examines five "stages" through which organizations must proceed if they are to undergo the transformation required by new realities as well as opportunities:

Stage One: Staying Out of Trouble

Stage Two: We Need to React

Stage Three: It's a Case of Survival

Stage Four: It's the Right Thing to Do

Stage Five: It's Part of Our Culture

Females as well as males within an organization will proceed from one stage to the next at varying speeds and within varying timeframes. Fair enough. However, all must reach Stage Five. Rosener recommends that, from both a strategic and financial point of view, structural reorganization "should be undertaken in concert with efforts to rectify female underutilization. Flexibility and diversity are two keys to competitive advantage, and both are closely related to the underutilization issue."

So much in the business world has changed since 1995 when this book was first published. However, many American companies and most companies in other countries have yet to take full advantage of -- and reward appropriately -- the talents of women. The companies which do so have a significant competitive advantage, a "secret weapon" if you will. Professional women know at which companies they will be appreciated and rewarded, where there are the greatest opportunities for their personal as well as professional growth. It is no coincidence that these are the same companies which, year after year, are the most profitable in their respective industries. At least until now, many of our nation's companies seem unaware of or indifferent to this "competitive secret."

Gender and Policing: Comparative Perspectives
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An important work

Women Police Internationally

Gender and Policing: Comparative Perspectives
Jennifer Brown , and Frances Heidensohn
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Law Enforcement | Criminal Law | Law | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0312233086

Book Description

This is the first book to offer a comprehensive and wide-ranging survey of women's role in policing, drawing both on the authors' original comparative research and on the questions, theories and findings raised by the existing literature. Within a global and historically sensitive framework, the book explores such themes as the gender dimension of policing, the representation of policewomen, the extent to which different national traditions diverge or converge, the strategies adopted by policewomen and their colleagues or organizations in order to address the particular problems and challenges that their roles raise.

Customer Reviews:

An important work.......2003-07-27

This is an important book that helps us prepare for a future where we recognize and appreciate the great strengths women bring to law enforcement. By understanding the global perspectives of women in law enforcement, we can begin to eliminate the stereotypes and encourage the entry and success of more women into this noble profession.

Women Police Internationally.......2001-05-28

One of very few books describing the experiences of women police across national boundaries. Based on the authors' extensive research and interviews with women police officers, this book provides readers with a finely drawn picture of the roles women play in policing around the world.

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Pragmatism, the Law, and the Political Economy of Sexuality
Fun and Fascinating
A Mind-opening Book
Posner and the Sexual Revolution
A Major Breakthrough

Sex and Reason
Richard A. Posner
Manufacturer: Harvard University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A Treatise on the Family: Enlarged Edition
Pay Dirt
A Guide to America's Sex Laws
Crime: Public Policies for Crime Control
The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory

ASIN: 0674802802

Book Description

Sexual drives are rooted in biology, but we don't act on them blindly. Indeed, as the eminently readable judge and legal scholar Richard Posner shows, we make quite rational choices about sex, based on the costs and benefits perceived.

Drawing on the fields of biology, law, history, religion, and economics, this sweeping study examines societies from ancient Greece to today's Sweden and issues from masturbation, incest taboos, date rape, and gay marriage to Baby M. The first comprehensive approach to sexuality and its social controls, Posner's rational choice theory surprises, explains, predicts, and totally absorbs.

Customer Reviews:

Pragmatism, the Law, and the Political Economy of Sexuality.......2006-12-08

Judge Richard Posner's 'Sex and Reason' has influenced me more then any book I recently read, lead me to a complete reevaluation of what the Law is, and what it should be.

In this review I wish to concentrate less on Judge Posner's approach to the regulation of sex, although we will get there, but to his general approach to Jurisprudence. Becuase if 'Sex and Reason' taught me anything, it is that the way lawyers 'do' the Law is in need of thorough revision.

From my perspective as a third year law student in Israel, most of what the Law deals with is the meaning of words. Lawyers and Judges argue about whether or not various actions fall into various legal categories, and, particularly, about ways of interpreting statues and precedents. The main questions are 'how should one interperate the law'? and 'By what method does one decide which interpretation of the Law is best'?

In the United States, the main 'field of battle' regarding these questions are between the various Originalist positions (roughly, those who believe that words in statues mean what the people who wrote them meant), textualists (those who believe that texts should be read to be internally consistent) and living conbstitutionalists (the ones who believe that times change and the constitution - indeed, all laws - change with the times).

In Israel, the main contribution is by former Supreme Court Chief Justice and professor of Law, Aharon Barak. By Barak's lights, statutory interpretation is not originalist, nor is it textualist ("the interpretor is not a linguist" is his famous catchphrase - sounds better in Hebrew). Rather, Barak subscribes to a form of Living Constitutionalism which for want of a better term I'll call contextualism (Sometimes, misleadingly in my view, refered to as 'Purposive appraoch') - Barak argues that you can learn about the meaning of laws and decisions from their wider environment - the principles, laws and mores of the society. When faced with a legal question, Barak will strive for Harmoney not with the language of other statues, but with their intentions, so that all Law would create a single, ideologically cogent, fabric. In paraphrasing Hillary Rodham Clinton, one may say that according to Barak, It Takes a Village to decipher a Law.

I emphasises these different approaches in order to demonstrate that the criteria by which we decide whether an interpretation of the law is good are very unclear. But accept, for the moment, that one of these goals is superior to the others, and that we can evalutate various interpretations based on these criteria; We are still left with the question of what the marginal untility of trying to improve our interprative approach according to one of these criteria is.

Suppose a new study slightly imroves our understanding of the original meaning of the U.S. Constitution. Let's say that after a great deal of historical study and analysis, professor A has improved our understanding of the meaning of a certain clause by 5 %. Now interpretations are 5% more likely to correspond to the original understanding of the terms in question.

Well, so what? Are we, as a society, better off because we get a slight improvement in statue interpretation? That is highly unlikely. Even if we accept that one method of interpretation is correct, that does not mean that its outcomes are good. Indeed, it is unlikely that s study of 18th century political philosophy, or a comperative study of the spirit of law, will lead to good social outcomes. If you accept that it will, congratulations: you have just passed from the domain of Jurisprudence to the realm of theology.

From of social point of view, imrpoving stuatory interpretation based on any of the above criteria is a huge waste of time; a great deal of effort and resources are spent on things that will not, frankly, matter.

What I glimpse in Richard Posner's 'Sex and Reason' is an alternative: Pragamtism. The alternative is implicit here; I assume, not having read any of his other books (but I do frequest his excellent Blog, written jointly with econmist Gary Becker), that this approach is developed further elsewhere.

'Pragmatism', as I understand it, is about making positive statements about the consequences of various legal rules, and then chosing the best one. This requires sound theoretical analysis (Posner, and I, see the foundation of it in economics, but in principleit can be founded on psychology, anthropology, sociology, or many other fields, and Posner used reasearch from all these fields in his book) of the situation, and especially empirical research to find if the theory holds. Thus, a pragmatic approach to the questions of legal interpretations and doctrine requires first making positive inquiries into the subject; Only then should we make a normative judgement.

An example for this kind of reasoning would be the case for the supply of contraception to Teenagers. In the United States, some conservatives oppose supplying sexual education and contraception to Teenagers, and promote abstinence instead (in prgrams such as "The Silver Ring Thing", "True Love Waits", and "Free Teens"). Reasearch, however, demonstrated that such programs rarely decrease the negative side effects of Teenage sexuality such as unwanted pregnancy and disease (pp. 270-271). As Posner writes "the idea that puritanism may actually increase ... unwanted births is difficult to accept, but ... only because effective puritanism... would have the oppositve effect. A Puritan ethic that has only a modest effect in reducing the amount of teenage sex may produce more teenage pregnencies and unwanted births than moral indifference to such activity would" (p.272).

Now, in my view, this kind of analysis should be paramount in deciding legal questions such as whether government support for abstinence programs should be deemed constitutional. Perhaps the legal rethoric allowing the government to fund such projects is powerful - but legal niceties should not obscure the underlining realities.

Fun and Fascinating.......2005-12-17

Judge Posner is the finest legal mind of the current age, and "Sex and Reason" is precisely what you'd expect from him. Bemoaning the lack of empirical study that supports modern day sexual jurisprudence, the author takes it upon himself to correct the oversight. Empiricism is not wanting in the book; footnotes are omnipresent, filled with broad support and delightful nuggets.

The book begins with an investigation of sexuality throughout the ages. Sociobiological principles are explained and taken as postulates (women, on average, seek quality, whereas men seek quantity). Posner builds his model of rational sex--dismissing easily typical objections to economic modeling of human behavior--and usng it, attempts to unearth truths about some of the more risque periods of history. We are treated to an analysis of Greek pederasty, the rise of companionate marriage in the Christian church, prostitution throughout the ages, countless other subjects.

Modern sexual jurisprudence is investigated: Griswold is discussed, critiqued, defended. Utilitarian approaches are ventured forth in an attempt to justify Roe. Posner discusses cultural policy issues at the helm of modern debate, and offers us his own bright proposals: a free market in adoption, for instance, coupled with a thorough and unabashed defense.

Richard Posner's mind is nimble. His arguments are fun, light, powerful, thrown forth quickly into the crucible. So criticize what he says: one gets the feeling Posner wants nothing less. Be fascinated as insights are bred from left field. The book will make you think (about sex, no less, as if a person needed any prodding in that direction), make you smile, and it will make you, as it made me, quite impressed with a certain seventh circuit jurist.

A Mind-opening Book.......2002-03-30

Reading Judge Posner's book is a humbling experience. Much of what I thought I knew about sex is a tiny fraction of what this book has documented, analyzed and argued.

I have known that many early Greek luminaries, such as Plato, Socrates and Sophocles were homosexual. This book puts these mere points of interest in a wholly different light by exploring the social settings of the early Grecian (Athenian) society: that the early marriages were not companionate, that women in that society, including wives, were sequestered, that boys and girls were raised separately, and not by the mother, that pederasty was almost an accepted social institution, etc.

I have always believed that homosexuality is a rooted genetically, although it is not binary factor. This book puts homosexuality, through the use of the "Kinsey scale", into different degrees and clearly distinguishes between homosexual tendency and homosexual activity, and defines the opportunistic homosexual in economic terms. With very simple reasoning, this book explains why urbanization seems (only seems) to foster homosexuality and the emergence of homosexual enclaves such as San Francisco and New York.

This book also explains, again through an economic model, why the black men in this country seem (again, only seem!) to be sexually aggressive and promiscuous, whereas sexual abuse of off-spring children (girls) have a higher incidence in white households.

I am also enlightened on how the child birth, which in the early days often caused the death of the mother, created serial polygamy (polygyny, to be more precise) and that the widower, who were older and more economically established men, puts young bachelors at a competitive disadvantage in securing a mate, especially in the early industrial society where the cost of marriage was high.

I am enlightened to the role of the Church as the promoter of companionate marriage and how its fairly profound effect on this social institution. And also why the Church "overtly condoned prostitution and covertly condoned monastic homosexuality."

There are many other issues, such as infanticide, fornication, adultery, divorce, coercive and abusive sex, pornography, adoption, surrogate child-bearing ... to which Judge Posner gave interesting and informative treatment.

The thoroughness with which Judge Posner analyzes a problem is unmatched. Although I am not always completely convinced by his reasoning (because some of the arguments are necessarily qualitative and intuitive,) but the plausibility is striking. And I am frequently amazed by the different angles with which he looks at an issue, and the amount of facts and data he brings forth to support his views. When facts contradict what his theory predicts, he graciously points that out. In the conclusion of the book, Judge Posner, with scholarly grace and modesty, points out that his work was exploratory, a learning process for himself, and was not being presented as definitive.

Judge Posner's writing style is very good. The book is never boring, though some of the information and arguments are repeated due to the inter-relatedness of many of the issues. Throughout the book, the Judge's remarkable analytic skill can be felt. At one point, the Judge mercilessly took apart the New Jersey Supreme Court's opinion of the Baby M case (Stern vs. Whitehead) and clearly showed how judges, lacking knowledge on the subject matter and often ignorant about economics, proceeded to vote their own prejudices, and substituted rhetoric and sloppy logic for judicial analysis. This one episode, which clearly illustrates the reason he wrote this book, as he stated in the introduction, is worth the price of the book.

How many judges are as good as Judge Posner? Since he has published so much, chances of his ever being nominated and confirmed to be a justice of the High Court must be pretty slim, considering the infamous borking effect. This is just as well. I wishfully think his publications probably has a greater influence on the society, especially the legal community, than if he were appointed a justice.

Having read several of Judge Posner's books, I mark him down as one of a handful of top-notch intellectuals in my estimation.

Posner and the Sexual Revolution.......2000-08-14

Chief Judge Posner's book is an erudite and interesting one. Whilst often regarded as a conservative for his scholarly analysis of economic issues in a market economy, this book is not conservative. It appears basically supportive of the sexual revolution. Its utility is at its greatest when it applies neutral economic analysis to the social aspects of sex. It is at its weakest when in the enthusiasm for the novelty and power of its analytical insights, it at least appears to derive moral or normative conclusions that do not necessarily follow from the positive analysis. It reflects the dangers that both libertarian Austrian economists, such as Ludwig von Mises and social democratic economists have both seen in trying to apply insights derived from markets to non-market transactions - here sexual ones. Accordingly, whilst Chief Judge Posner speaks supportively of certain aspects of Swedish policy in relation to sexual matters and expressly and by inference against the traditional conservative Judeo-Christian attitudes to sex in those areas, economic analysis does not dictate that viewpoint. Values dictate that choice, but economics can illumine the consequences of those choices. In sum, an able, readable, but a very personal work, which could be read by those who are not familiar with the limits to the economic analysis of law - an area Posner has brilliantly contributed so much to - as conclusively determinative of issues which cannot be resolved by that positive analysis alone. Whilst less accessible in view of the use of math, Professor Becker's works are closer to a neutral analysis of many of these important questions.

A Major Breakthrough.......2000-07-06

In this book Richard Posner manages to singlehandedly turn legal scholarship on its head. He examines human sexuality from a myriad of perspectives--literature, sociology, evolutionary biology, morality, and history. He does so with impeccable scholarship, demonstrating not only that he is widely read in these diverse areas, but that he has something to say. The book is worth reading for just that.

But Posner's more impressive accomplishment is his singular approach to the regulation of human sexual behavior. His rational choice, economics of law approach is compelling. Even if you are not entirely convinced, Posner builds a powerful case for both academic and policy debate.

Posner's approach contrasts with most legal scholarship, which is lifeless and rarely bothers to consider the social sciences. Posner's book shows the intergal link between law, politics, and economics. It is also approachable and direct. You can't read Sex and Reason and not feel your deeply held beliefs directly challenged by a kind and discerning intellect. He is passionate, articulate, and eminently readable.

Book Description

Catharine A. MacKinnon, noted feminist and legal scholar, explores and develops her original theories and practical proposals on sexual politics and law. These discourses, originally delivered as speeches, have been brilliantly woven into a book that retains all the spontaneity and accessibility of a live presentation. MacKinnon offers a unique retrospective on the law of sexual harassment, which she designed and has worked for a decade to establish, and a prospectus on the law of pornography, which she proposes to change in the next ten years. Authentic in voice, sweeping in scope, startling in clarity, urgent, never compromised and often visionary, these discourses advance a new theory of sex inequality and imagine new possibilities for social change.

Through these engaged works on issues such as rape, abortion, athletics, sexual harassment, and pornography, MacKinnon seeks feminism on its own terms, unconstrained by the limits of prior traditions. She argues that viewing gender as a matter of sameness and difference--as virtually all existing theory and law have done--covers up the reality of gender, which is a system of social hierarchy, an imposed inequality of power. She reveals a political system of male dominance and female subordination that sexualizes power for men and powerlessness for women. She analyzes the failure of organized feminism, particularly legal feminism, to alter this condition, exposing the way male supremacy gives women a survival stake in the system that destroys them.

Customer Reviews:

My favorite MacKinnon Text (so far).......2006-03-05

Wow.

If you've yet to lay your hands on anything "feminist" this is the place to start. If you've already dug around in the liberal feminist pit, and are looking for some original work, MacKinnon's work is the place to dig in.

MacKinnon's book is a collection of talks she wrote, and subsequntly spoke, for college campuses. They are witty, entertaining, and dig deep into the cores of how we think. That is the point. Her essays are scholarly and require deep reading (and definite re-reading, as I, for one, am looking forward to).

The speeches on pornography are definite favorites of mine. We all know major murderers have been known to video tape their murders to get off to them. Many of the cruel forms of pornography are not far from this, but our culture has become so woman-hating we cannot see...or do not care.

A Rosetta of Social Constructivist Radical Feminism.......2001-06-15

This eloquent book is a collection of insightful orations given by Ms. MacKinnon during the eighties with in their aggregation is a powerful text on social constructivist Radical Feminism and class analysis. Ms. MacKinnon's approaches provide needed shifts in paradigms away from patriarchy. Gender is understood in terms of the the only meaning it can have in this society: Dominance of one class over another. She provide incredible distinctions and indepth discussions on issues such as Full and Formal Equity, definitions and meaning of rape and pornography.

She has a requisite versing in philosophy as she appeals to provides epistemological shifts needed to question the meaning of difficult constructs such as gender. Being a lawyer, she is facile in illuminating basic assumptive inequities in Juris Prudence. I was most appreciative at her analysis of rape and shifting the definition of rape from penetration to violence and where rape is not an erotic act but one of dominance. She continues further and looks at how members of gendered class male define the sexuality of members of gendered class woman until we do not know what our sexuality really is.

She provides a variety of diverse topics but ties them together by pinpointing their interrelatedness in patriarchy. She skillfully examines issues of the first amendment vs pornography and aptly illustrates how the Bill of Rights is becoming a legal repository for male priviledge.

Ms. MacKinnon's messages are presented in multiple levels and at varying depths and accessibilities, one thing to know is that there is always another level of understanding to be attained from this book. The reader is assured that there is much here if she avails herself to it. Please do not short change yourself by a cursory reading. Ms. MacKinnon departs from Radical Feminist stereotypes in that she develops an experienced level of vulnerability in her speeches and the reader can actually feel the extent that she cares about women.

How fortunate that the paperback is hardy, because it travels with me often.

Thought provoking.......2000-07-02

How much you appreciate this book depends on what you want to get out of it. It is accessible to a non-academic reader, and although I disagree with her thesis, the speeches are well-argued. She basically thinks that gender *is* domination, and attempts to show that the meaning of woman-ness is in subjection. I think that if you care about feminism, you must at least understand this radical claim. She has definately made me rethink some of my kneejerk assumptions, which after all is the whole point.

Hateful Polemics.......2000-03-22

One of my law professors was a disciple of McKinnon's and recommended this book to me. After reading it I can only conclude that the author seems to be suffering from some serious unresolved conflicts.

McKinnon represents a radical, and in my opinion, unacceptable view of feminism. There are better authors in this field such as Steinem, who presents a more balanced and substantially less radical viewpoint. McKinnon is to feminism as Louis Farrakhan is to Afro culture.

Brilliant and Passionate, Thought Provoking and Easy Reading.......1999-12-17

Feminism Unmodified Discourses on Life and Law captures what it is to be an uncompromising and at times defeated radical feminist in the latter 20th century in America. Feminism Unmodified is a compilation of speeches that McKinnon delivered during the 1980's - at a time when "feminism" was fighting with "fuck" for status of the "F-word". The speeches are easy to read, really - to hear, and the arguments are clear and concise. My favorite sound bite: Rape is not illegal, it's regulated.- How True. She seeks to eradicate not gender difference, but gender hierarchy. Anyone want to argue with that? McKinnon is a prophet

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