Theorizing Gender

This accessible text aims to give a theoretical overview of approaches to gender. The book discusses the major theories concerned with the ways in which we ‘become engendered', and explains and evaluates naturalist, psychoanalytic, materialist and post-structuralist accounts.

Tensions between these different approaches are acknowledged , but stark polarities are resisted. Throughout the book it is recognized that becoming gendered implicates and is implicated by other aspects of social becoming. The work of Judith Butler is discussed in detail and its importance and limitations spelt out in key chapters on sexuality, the body, transgendering and political agency. Debates between ‘queer' approaches to gender and those prioritizing sexual difference are also brought to the fore.

Theorizing Gender aims to provide a framework for weaving together what are often viewed as opposing directions of thought. Students and researchers in sociology, philosophy and gender studies, and all those with an interest in gender will find it an invaluable resource.

Dr Rachel Alsop, Gender Studies, University of Hull


Dr. Annette FitzSimons, School of Social and Professional Studies, University of Lincoln and Humberside


Dr. Kathleen Lennon, Philosophy , University of Hull

Acknowledgements.

Introduction.

Chapter One : Natural Women and Men.

Chapter Two: Psychoanalysis and Gender.

Chapter Three: The Social Construction of Gender.

Chapter Four: Judith Butler; 'The Queen of Queer'.

Chapter Five: Gender and Sexuality.

Chapter Six: Theorising Men and Masculinities.

Chapter Seven: Bodily Imaginaries.

Chapter Eight: Sexual Difference.

Chapter Nine: Borderlands and Gendered Homes.

Chapter Ten: Gender and the Politics of Identity.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.