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In this book a leading theorist on sex and gender discusses how hidden assumptions embedded in our cultural discourses, social institutions, and individual psyches perpetuate male power and oppress women and sexual minorities. Sandra Lipsitz Bem argues that these assumptions, which she calls the lenses of gender, shape not only perceptions of social reality but also the more material things-like unequal pay and inadequate daycare-that constitute social reality itself. Her penetrating and articulate examination of these hidden cultural lenses enables us to look at them rather than through them and to better understand recent debates on gender and sexuality.According to Bem, the first lens, androcentrism (male-centeredness), defines males and male experience as a standard or norm and females and female experience as a deviation from that norm. The second lens, gender polarization, superimposes male-female differences on virtually every aspect of human experience, from modes of dress and social roles to ways of expressing emotion and sexual desire. The third lens, biological essentialism, rationalizes and legitimizes the other two lenses by treating them as the inevitable consequences of the intrinsic biological natures of women and men.After illustrating the pervasiveness of these three lenses in both historical and contemporary discourses of Western culture, Bem presents her own theory of how the individual either acquires cultural gender lenses and constructs a conventional gender identity or resists cultural lenses and constructs a gender-subversive identity. She contends that we must reframe the debate on sexual inequality so that it focuses not on the differences between men and women but on how male-centered discourses and institutions transform male-female difference into female disadvantage.

Gender & Ethnic Studies --- Social Sciences --- Gender Studies & Sexuality --- Sex role. --- Sex differences (Psychology) --- Sexism. --- Equality. --- Gender identity. --- Sex identity (Gender identity) --- Sexual identity (Gender identity) --- Identity (Psychology) --- Sex (Psychology) --- Queer theory --- Egalitarianism --- Inequality --- Social equality --- Social inequality --- Political science --- Sociology --- Democracy --- Liberty --- Sex bias --- Attitude (Psychology) --- Prejudices --- Social perception --- Sex role --- Gender role --- Social role --- Gender expression --- Sexism --- Gender roles --- Gendered role --- Gendered roles --- Role, Gender --- Role, Gendered --- Role, Sex --- Roles, Gender --- Roles, Gendered --- Roles, Sex --- Sex roles

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In this provocative volume, Zillah Eisenstein uncovers the hidden sexual and racial politics of the past decade. Beginning where she left off in her award-winning book The Female Body and the Law, Eisenstein takes the reader on a feminist-inspired road trip, traveling from the thicket of recent abortion decisions to the revolutions of 1989 to the murky chambers of the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings. Along the way, she enunciates a wholly original conception of individual privacy and sexual rights. Eisenstein brings a range of topics to her discussion: the L.A. riots, crack babies, Murphy Brown, political correctness, the 1992 presidential election, the Gulf War. She seeks to redirect our thinking about democracy away from universal conceptions that mask racial and gender oppression to the specific realities of women and people of color. A respect for multiple differences--as represented in the needs of women of color and their bodies--is, she says, essential to inclusive universal rights. Reproductive freedoms and sexual equality, not abstract notions of civil liberties, provide the wellsprings of a meaningful democratic life. Using this perspective to evaluate the Eastern European revolutions of 1989, Eisenstein finds that the separation between their ideals and the reality of the market system illustrates the failings of democratic theory, especially for women. Eisenstein's controversial arguments will provoke a rethinking of what race and gender mean today.

Sexism. --- Racism. --- Patriarchy. --- Democracy. --- Feminism. --- Emancipation of women --- Feminist movement --- Women --- Women's lib --- Women's liberation --- Women's liberation movement --- Women's movement --- Self-government --- Androcracy --- Patriarchal families --- Bias, Racial --- Race bias --- Race prejudice --- Racial bias --- Sex bias --- Emancipation --- Social movements --- Anti-feminism --- Political science --- Equality --- Representative government and representation --- Republics --- Fathers --- Families --- Male domination (Social structure) --- Patrilineal kinship --- Prejudices --- Anti-racism --- Race relations --- Attitude (Psychology) --- Sex (Psychology) --- Social perception --- Sex role --- Critical race theory --- Political philosophy. Social philosophy --- Ethics of family. Ethics of sexuality --- Sociology of minorities --- Sociology of the family. Sociology of sexuality --- Social policy --- Political systems --- Infectious diseases. Communicable diseases --- Gynaecology. Obstetrics --- Eastern and Central Europe --- United States --- United States of America --- Feminism --- Aids --- Liberalism --- Government policy --- Patriarchy --- Racism --- Book --- Abortion --- Democracy