Shirley Ardener

Defining Females: The Nature of Women in Society - Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Women Shirley Ardener 1st edition

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Jacket Description/Back: To what are we referring when we speak of women? What is the nature of women in society; what is the nature of women in society? These are the central questions of this collection of essays, which has become firmly established as a classic, by writers on areas such as England, Greece, Mongolia, Africa. The essays consider the structural position of women, how they are defined by reference to physiological and social markers, and how they are required to behave, and present and assess certain theories about women by anthropologists, sociologists, ethnologists, neurologists and psychologists. The essays also consider some ways in which different cultures identify and deal with such 'natural' aspects of women as virginity, sexuality and childbearing. The broad variety of geographical perspectives reveals dissimilar as well as similar ideas about women - in their use of language and of space, matrifocality, and life trajectories. Review Quotes: ..."useful to anyone interested in the cross-cultural study of women, anthropologically, geographically or politically." --"Newsletter of the African Studies Association of Australia and the Pacific" ..." Ýa¨ historiographic landmark in feminist cultural analysis." --"Gender, Place and Culture"Review Quotes: .,."useful to anyone interested in the cross-cultural study of women, anthropologically, geographically or politically." --"Newsletter of the African Studies Association of Australia and the Pacific" .,." [a] historiographic landmark in feminist cultural analysis." --"Gender, Place and Culture"Review Quotes: ."..useful to anyone interested in the cross-cultural study of women, anthropologically, geographically or politically." --"Newsletter of the African Studies Association of Australia and the Pacific".".. [a] historiographic landmark in feminist cultural analysis." --"Gender, Place and Culture"Table of Contents: S. Ardener, Introduction - K. Hastrup, The Semantics of Biology: Virginity - R. Hirschon, Open Body/Closed Space: The transformation of Female Sexuality - C. Humphrey, Women, Taboo and the Suppression of Attention - J. Okely, Privileged, Schooled and Finished: Boarding Education for Girls - W. James, Matrifocus on African Women - H. Callaway, The Most Essentially Female Function of All': Giving Birth - H. Callan, Harems and Overlords: Biosocial Models and the Female - S. Macdonald, The Socialisation of Nature; The Naturalisation of the SocialPublisher Marketing: To what are we referring when we speak of women? What is the nature of women in society; what is the nature of women in society? These are the central questions of this collection of essays, which has become firmly established as a classic, by writers on areas such as England, Greece, Mongolia, Africa. The essays consider the structural position of women, how they are defined by reference to physiological and social markers, and how they are required to behave, and present and assess certain theories about women by anthropologists, sociologists and ethnologists. The essays also consider some ways in which different cultures identify and deal with such natural aspects of women as virginity, sexuality and childbearing. The broad variety of geographical perspectives reveals dissimilar as well as similar ideas about women - in their use of language and of space, matrifocality and life trajectories.

Contributor Bio:  Ardener, Shirley Fiona Bowie is a Lecturer in Women's Studies, at the Open University anda Lecturer in the Anthropology of Religion, at the University of Wales, Lampeter. Deborah Kirkwood is an Independent Researcher. Mrs. Shirley Ardener is at the Centre for Cross-Cultural Research on Women, University of Oxford.